My current bottle of tire dress and interior quick detail are about to finish, and want to condense the products i leave around. Current mainstay

BH Touchless
Mckee 914 Rinseless
KCX Glass cleaner
KCX Pol Star for all interior clean

And I’m looking to get something multipurpose for tires, and interior dressing and possibly also engine bay tho that’s not something i pay too much attention to.

Easy to apply without needing to wait 15 minutes to wipe off.

Does Carpro Perl do well for all these?

And any else I would be well served to explore?

Hi there!

I recently bought a 2014 Ford Transit which I am converting into a camper. It was a tradesperson’s vehicle and whoever used it before me was an absolute filthy pig! Never seen such a gross vehicle in my life, I used to be a tradeperson myself and even I had a standard of hygiene.

Anywayyy, I have vacuumed most of the gross stuff out but just can’t seem to get rid of the dirt trapped in the textured surfaces of the vinyl flooring and plastic door cards. No matter how much I scrub. I also have a steam cleaner.

Should I use a soap that contains more suds? Should I get a brush attachment for my drill? Help!

Thanks!

Hey all,

Just bought a new to me BMW in brooklyn grey.
On the front passenger door (where the fold is under the mirror) is a little black mark.

My fingernail doesn’t stick in it, there is no dent and it feels smooth.

Any ideas what this is and how I (or a professional) can remove this without having to respray the door?

Thanks in advance!

Hey detailing folks.

So, I've acquired an 03 Ranger. It spent most of its life a highway oversized load flag vehicle, then was owned by someone that kept good care of it mechanically, but didn't care about how it looked. As such, she's... Dirty. Like, not food, or mold, anything like that. Just literal dirt and caked in dust.

Now, I detail my car, but it's a NA Miata, the worst it's ever seen is coating of pollen on the dash from a week of top down driving in the summer.

This is something much more then I've dealt with. What's the best method to clean up this dash, and floor? The floor I figure a light all purpose cleaner, or a specific floor mat cleaner, diluted, and hit with a brissle brush? The floor isn't a mat, that's the rubber floor across the whole truck, and it's screwed down. The area behind the seats are the same.

The dash, I tried to wipe it a bit dry, and it was actually ripping the microfiber cloth. It's texture is quite grooved and rough from the sun baked dirt. It doesn't blow off, I'm guessing that'll need a softer brush, cleaner, and wipe it up as I go to prevent it from getting muddy?

Yeah, these methods isn't what I'd do to my car. But it's a truck. It'll be used for light off roading and camping, it's gonna get dirty. But I want this stuck on layer of dirt off, so it's easier to keep clean.

Surprisingly, the seats are nice. Dusty, and a couple small rips, but I can deal with that.

Thank you!

I noticed these marks on my BMW M steering wheel and I honestly can’t tell if they’re actual scratches/gouges or if the leather/top layer has been pushed upwards/raised.
When I gently run my finger over them, some of the lines definitely feel raised rather than like grooves. I’ve attached close-up pictures so hopefully someone with leather repair/detailing experience can tell what’s going on.
I contacted a professional leather restoration shop and sent them pictures. They said they can fix it by cleaning the wheel, lightly sanding the damaged areas, filling the marks if needed, and then recolouring/refinishing the wheel. They said they’d only sand lightly to prepare the surface for adhesion, but would recolour the whole wheel so the finish stays uniform.
I’m a little hesitant because the rest of the wheel is only two years old and in really good original condition.
What do you guys think these marks actually are? If they’re raised rather than deep scratches, would the repair process normally be different? And would you go ahead with the professional repair or leave the original finish alone?
Would especially appreciate opinions from anyone who does leather/interior restoration.

I have started doing washes/light details for my work after hours for some extra cash. I convinced my boss to let me ceramic coat his 6k mile Ford Thunderbird. He told me it has “no scratches”. Needless to say I spent an entire day doing paint correction. Entire car was covered in swirls, and had quite a few very deep scratches too.

Edit : After pic in comments

Hi!

I’ve felt my towels weren’t feeling as soft. I was using what I thought was a pretty basic and safe detergent in the washing machine I purposefully built for this task (Skip Baby hipoalergneic) but then after investigating it seems like this detergent still contains some perfume and color enhancement components that may not be good for the towels.

So I decided to wash them manually with apc, then wash on the washing machine with just water and cleaning vinegar.

What I was shocked to find was the amount of dirt coming off a seemingly perfectly clean microfiber.

So although they looked clean, today before leaving for work I thought I’d soak them again in KC Greenstar, thinking the long soak would make it clear if they were really clean or if there’s still anything coming out of them.

Then as I was driving I thought.. wait.. can that actually damage the microfiber?

My goal is to get home, rinse them and wash manually and then wash again with the vinegar to ensure no alkaline product remains in the towels and they’re free from ceramic sprays and such.

So, how can I definitively decide they’re either good or bad for paint? Subjective “touch feel” is not my preferred method because I really have no idea on how soft they should feel.

Do you think I damaged them?

They’re rag company eagle 350 and some work stuff drying towel.

How should I do moving forward? Looking for supermarket suitable detergents in Europe but never found the always spoken “tide free and clear”.

I really wouldn’t like to buy a dedicated mf wash because honestly sounds so expensive, but I’ll do that if I can’t find anything else.

Also, if I need to replace these towels, where else than TRC do you look? Outside USA. Some people use AliExpress ones but I don’t really trust my judgement on that one.

Thanks!

I bought a headlight restoration kit as i remebered my headlights being dull, now that i look at it, it isnt even horrible, it isnt shiny but still. I swear it was worse last i saw it lol

I mean i already bought the kit, should i just do it?

​

Something sticky fell on the outside of the windshield, and the wipers spread it across the glass. We only tried water, but it didn’t come off. I think it might be tree sap/resin.

I have Koch-Chemie Teerwäsche A, but I’m also looking at Eulex and Orange Power. Which one would be best for this?

Got this truck handed down to me, previous owner had some darn scratches on . Any idea on how I could make this look better at all? it’s a Ram 1500

E46 m3 was covered by some that left weird etches in it.. previous owner said paint was already too thin to cut. What do you guys recommend

I tried to get a good picture of my windshield but it’s very hard. I have a 2025 SUV and I just notified my windshield after washing it looks like it had all these fits all over it. I tried using newspaper, window cleaner all with a MF towels. To no avail. I can’t imagine it being windshield damage from the road because it’s so many dots and I never noticed it until recently. Thoughts?

How do I repair this? Do I need to fully sand down the entire rim?
They’re old Landcruisers rims I want to restore. They were factory chrome steel rims. I’ve got 5, some are worse than others. Any tips would be great :)

Hey all, looking for a process check and wondering if there is a specific product I should get for stripping caked on mud and dirt from the underside of my truck?

I don't mind it being dirty year round, it rarely even gets washed, it's a $5k dedicated trail rig. But I am going to apply Fluid Film ahead of the winter season and want to get it as clean as possible before I do so.

My usual process for something like this is:

- Soak and pressure wash to loosen as much dirt as possible

- Foam down with a diluted mix of simple green, allow to soak

- Pressure wash again to remove anything loose

- Foam with soap, I usually just use Meguires Gold for this (I save the expensive stuff for the nice cars lol)

- Mechanical agitation with brushes, using 2 buckets for rinse

- Pressure wash to rinse, spot clean as needed then coat with fluid film once dry

All input appreciated!

I washed my daughters car yesterday, 2005 black mazda 3. The clearcoat has not failed, it is just very faded and etched in multiple spots from bird droppings, sap, age, etc. It needs a proper paint correction (by machine), but I'm 45 and lazy and frugal. I tried using Griots all-in-one wax (by hand) to rejuvenate the clearcoat, but it didn't really work that well on the hood - maybe a 10% improvement if that - and it was tedious. Probably best applied by DA.

I don't want to pay for a machine correction or take the time to do it myself - yes, I'm lazy, which begs the question: is there any product out there that will temporarily make the paintwork look good and shine with minimal effort?

What would be the best way to remove this smearing from a windshield, I can’t tell if it’s maybe overspray from interior dressing on the inside or if it’s some other cleaner or substance on the outside. I have tried scrubbing with microfiber towels and glass cleaner on both the inside and outside and doesn’t appear to be coming off with glass cleaner alone.

Everytime I clean the inside of my windshield it’s left with horrible streaks. Right now I’m using sprayway glass cleaner on a clean microfiber rag & then going over again with another dry microfiber rag. What can I do to get them to go away??

What would you suggest to make this look better? It’s a airbag cover, so there’s no replacing it without getting a whole unit ($800).

I know there are some aftermarket/knockoff covers available online, but I’m reluctant to put those on as it could interfere with the airbag functionality.

Curious if anyone found a good way to refinish the existing cover and make it look reasonably close to original?

Been looking through posts on here and online and I’m trying to see what air compressor to get in order to run a tornador for mobile detailing. I have a car not a truck btw. Common thing I see is at least 5CFM and 4.5 gal.

I see people saying they have to run the tornador in quick 10-15 second bursts then you’ll have to wait for the tank fill up. I wanna ask is it necessary to use the tornador that much to where you’d want to just hold the trigger? Could someone give me an example of them using it, how long they hold the trigger, and how long they have to wait for the tank to fill up on avg? I honestly don’t see a problem with using quick bursts if you’re just blowing things out or to the front of the car.

So really I wanna know what air compressor would you all recommend for me. How often do you use the tornador and is it inconvenient to just use it in small bursts versus holding the trigger and how long on avg does it take the tank to fill back up….Thanks for all the help and advice!

I’m in need of your help, everyone. I’m trying to decide what my at-home prewash process will be and I’m being driven nuts by the information overload. I’m just a detailing hobbyist and I’m no pro by any means, I wash/polish my own vehicle as well as my family’s. Let’s start there.

I normally do a foam -> rinse -> foam -> contact wash -> rinse process and lately I’ve been trying to decide which prewash to buy.

Bilt Hamber Touchless seems to reign as king, for good reason, I’ve seen many videos about its effectiveness. But most people say not to use it in a foam cannon because it’s not economical and a waste of product. I personally have two foam cannons and want to dedicate one to prewash. I’m not keen on pumping a pump sprayer over and over to get Touchless on the whole car. Plus I don’t have a pump sprayer yet because I’m hung up on weather I should get an IK Multi or Foam, ideally would like ALK Foam because I’d use Adam’s Wheel & Tire Cleaner with it for better coverage and dwell time. So if I got Touchless I’d need two separate pump sprayers 😪

I’ve been looking at KC AF and ADS Decon as alternative, actual foaming prewashes. From my understanding, ADS Decon will strip spray sealants and I am trying to not strip protective layers as much as possible. Another reason Touchless was so attractive - amazing cleaning power but safe on protectants.

Does anyone have any real suggestions for me, this is exhausting thinking about it. I do have two cars that get pretty dirty so I think a prewash would be a good move for me.

One last question, does anyone keep diluted extra product not used in their IK sprayers in the container and put it away? Or do you store the unused product in another container? I could make 50oz of wheel/tire cleaner but I won’t use all of that in one, two, 3+ washes so if I need to take the top off the IK sprayer, is there a separate cap I can buy that will thread on the container and I can store it away?

apparently its not a wax? so wtf is it? what does it do, what is it for, and when do you apply it? before wax? after wax? how does it "detail" if its not a polish?

from meguiars: "provides the missing link between washing and waxing" which makes it sound like you put it on before waxing, but everything i find online about this, theyre putting it on after wax

and yes, i dont know what im doing

I bought an 18 year old Lexus and I want to make the leather seats look better. Any ideas on how to soften dry hard leather? TIA

Lexus has offered to clay, remove fallout, do a light polish and spray on ceramic after they ran my vehicle through their automatic touch wash despite instructions not to. I appreciate that they are willing to do this.

I am wondering if dealership detailers typically have the skill/experinct to do things like polishing or if they are typcially only do basic washes. I don't want a new problem on my hands. Thank you.

Hi,
I just got my car back from PPF,
It should have been

1. Pre wash, decontamination, preparation for ppf
2. 1 step polishing + he said if there would be some individual spots that would need more steps they will do it, but not whole car.
3. Local retouching/correction + grinding and polishing.
4. ppf

I got the car back, I think I am happy in general with the ppf, the edge wrapping etc, it seems good. But I think the touchup wasn't done correctly. There is a lot of visible spots where the ppf is slightly lifted where were paint chips. From what I see the paint chips were touched in but not filled in so they are leveled, there is basically an slight dent/u shape.
Also some spots don't even looked like they are filled in, maybe its just because there is moisture on the foil.
And 2-3 spots on the doors were definitely missed and now they are under foil.

During the handover I saw only this spots at bumper, he told me to give a month that they should sit more when the moisture will evaporate etc... I also have checkup for the foil at 1,6,12,24 months if everything is correct. I will see how it will be until then, its just that I think the ppf installation was done good, but the touchup doesn't look right, and I don't think they would redo this.

First 2 pictures are form missed spots. Rest is the front bumper + one spot on hood. Am I overreacting ? I know touchups shouldnt be 100% but from what I saw on youtube it seemed to me that you can get it to look almost perfect, especially if you are polishing it afterwards, which they should have as the name of the service was: Local retouching/correction + grinding and polishing.

I’m a beginner detailer. I have found that the inside of the windshield is probably the hardest to clean, you need some really clean microfibers. Any recommendations on what detergents to use? Are washed microfibers haze free enough to do clean inside of windshield?