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How To Detail A Car - Throw Your Armor All Away

9K views 118 replies 31 participants last post by  bbusch 
#1 ·
I have run across entirely too many people, both online and at the dealership, that feel the need to stock their garage with $20,000 worth of crap off of the Advanced Auto shelves. Armor all does not make a car look more attractive...it makes it look cheap and ridiculous.

If you have never been into a showroom with $80,000-300,000 cars, go visit your local ferrari/mazerati/BMW dealership. You will find many BEAUTIFUL cars that do not have a spec of greasy crap on the interior or exterior, except maybe the tires. The stuff that is on the tires is a light solution that washes away with water, not the heaviest gel you can find on the shelf at O'Reilly's.

While opinions will vary, any automotive detailer will agree that less is more. The products they might squabble about are foaming glass cleaner vs liquid, and which brand compound is best.

Waxing should not be done more than twice per year. I'll wax my cars at the beginning of spring and the beginning of fall. Doing it every other week, while your head is in the right place and it makes you feel good about that vehicle that youre so proud of, will do nothing but gunk up your clear coat.

To thoroughly clean a car, you need nothing more than the following:

SUPPLIES

  • Soapy water - don't bother with buying jugs of the ice wash or dodo clean or whatever the hell they tell you is better on your paint. You're wasting money.
  • Non abrasive wash cloth and/or soft bristled brush - whatever style you prefer
  • Good quality Chamois (I prefer "the absorber")
  • light to medium rubbing compound (I prefer JAX)
  • Non abrasive cloth covered sponge
  • microfiber towels
  • Spray bottle filled with soapy solution (dawn and water, simple as that...pick out a scent you like for this one)
  • CHEAP hand cloths, like the box 'o towels (the blue ones) you will find at your parts store. The good quality absorbant ones will not work, they streak too much
  • Leather conditioner (cleaner not necessary) if you have a leather interior
  • Razorblade

EXTERIOR
  • Spray with water, wipe down with soapy solution and your choice of brush or cloth. Spray soap off with water. Simple as that!
  • Dry with Chamois. Don't forget to open your dooLrs and trunk/hatch and dry all of the jams and crevices. ***Take this opportunity to make a mental note of any surface scratches, pesky dead bugs, flecks of tar from the road, etc.
  • Go back to those scratches with a cloth covered sponge, a little dab of rubbing compound per scratch, and LIGHTLY rub in a circular motion.
  • When you have LIGHTLY rubbed each one, go back with your microfiber towel and LIGHTLY rub in the opposite circular direction until the haze of the compound is gone.
  • If this is a cleaning that involves waxing (only twice per year is necessary), wax the entire car now, and then remove with a good microfiber towel (substitute this step for the last one)
  • Don't neglect your wheels - when you're shining your tires with whatever you choose to use (lighter is better), put a little squirt on your wheel, too, and then take a cheap towel/rag and wipe your wheels clean of brake dust, dirt, etc.
GLASS will come later

INTERIOR

  • Vacuum
  • Run your wet chamois over the dash to get the main layer of dust
  • Take spray bottle with soapy water solution and your cheap cloths, and wipe the dash and plastics down. If you're super particular, look for small toothbrushes and picks at the grocery store to get inbetween the buttons of the radio/power windows/cupholders/etc. When you're done, everything will be nice and clean, streak free, and not greasy to the touch. For those of you that put armor-all on your steering wheel, and you know damn well who you are, hit yourself in the head with the bottle of greasy crap before you throw it away.
  • Use the mild soapy solution on the leather seats to get them nice and clean (you DO NOT need the special leather cleaner that is a part of two-step clean/protect process that the bottles make you feel inclined to buy.
  • After cleaning the leather, take your choice of leather conditioner, and sparingly apply to your seats, rubbing in a circular motion. Let this set for 10 or 15 minutes, and then rub the seats down with a dry cloth. The leather will absorb what it needs, and you can keep from sitting on a slick seat later.

GLASS

The trick to glass is maintaining a DRY towel, and using as little cleaner as possible. I personally prefer foaming cleaner in an aerosol can.

If you have any bugs on the windshield that washing did not get, squirt them with the foaming cleaner, scrape with a razor blade, and wipe clean.

Go around the car, inside and out, and do one window at a time. One or two small squirts with the foaming stuff is plenty for each window. Wipe clean, turning/exchanging the cloth as frequently as necessary to maintain a dry surface. Don't forget to roll your windows down an inch or so and clean the top edge of the glass (it's always the dirtiest)

You're done! You didn't have to wash the car with soap and water, and then dry it, and then wash it with specialized cleaner, and then dry it, and then wash it with specialized sealant, and then apply the oil a million dead baby seals to the plastic in order to make it clean. Your car now looks as pretty as it did on the showroom floor, and those driving past you are not having horrible flashbacks of John Travolta singing greased lightning.
 
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#3 ·
I hear ya. More particular with my cars than my trucks (jeep would be a never ending battle, suburban is fine through the cloth wash when its covered in road salt) but if I can stop even one person from covering their entire ****ing vehicle with armor all, I will have accomplished my goal.
 
#4 ·
:D Man thats extensive and would take a lotta time/effort-

I wash my jeep generally 2/3 times a year/wax once/treat the synleather seats twice a year and vacuum monthly--

Still looks pretty good-

I'm too busy drivingit to detailit !

:rofl::rofl: JIMBO
 
#5 ·
I agree....a lot of effort....but much less than the post that prompted me to throw this up:

Spent a lot of time detailing it.

Washed it with diluted citrus degreaser, clay barred it including the glass using Clay Magic blue and Dodo Juice clay lube, washed it with Dawn, polished it with Dodo Juice polish, washed it with car shampoo, sealed it with Dodo Juice sealant, washed it with car shampoo, waxed it with Dodo Juice Orange Crush, washed it with car shampoo, dried it, Armor Alled cleanered all the plastic and rubber inside and out, Armor Alled all the rubber and plastic inside and out, vacuumed it, used Stonard glass cleaner inside and out, Rain X'ed all the glass. Started Friday and finally done and its now supposed to rain the next two days...

If I can save the next guy from wasting all that money on all that junk, and spending AN ENTIRE WEEKEND detailing a car, I'll have done my good deed of the day.
 
#7 ·
I would never spend that much time detailing my Jeep....rattle canning the under carriage, maybe :rofl:, but not washing 20 times and sealing and whatever the **** else.

The wife's I can having looking twice as good, because it won't be covered in grease, in 90 minutes.

Getting off topic here...not trying to dig at the guy, he was just a good example of doing 20 times the work for the same end result.
 
#9 ·
We just cleaned the JK today for the first time in months. No matter which expensive chemical we tried, the tar from last fall would not come off. Rubbed with a little gas on a rag, then immediately washed with soapy water. May wax the areas where the gas was used, but according to the wife, "it's a Jeep, I'm not waxing it".
 
#11 ·
I just wash the car (not Jeep) with dawn water and use the air hose for most of the water removal. After that it's liquid wax and a micro fiber cloth to finish it up.

I live in the desert so the interior gets the vacuum and carpet cleaner on the interior when it gets danky in there. Other than that, just vacuum and a little bit of Meguiar's and that's it. Maybe an hour at most spent detailing the car.

EDIT: Oh yeah and tire shine. Not wet status but just enough to keep the tires looking new for a few days at least.
 
#14 ·
I live in Phelan, CA these days. Constant wind gusts that will make any chick regret wearing a skirt, which in turn kicks up a lot of sand and dust. Then it snows in the winter in the high desert so... road salt. It's a real ***** and a half to maintain a car where I live, it's also tire shine hell since there are only a handful of paved roads where I live. The detailing really only happens when I go down the hill to LA for a night on the town.

... lmao! I still can't believe he clay barred a Jeep. Hahaha!
 
#16 ·
SunDevilJeeper said:
I live in Phelan, CA these days. Constant wind gusts that will make any chick regret wearing a skirt, which in turn kicks up a lot of sand and dust. Then it snows in the winter in the high desert so... road salt. It's a real ***** and a half to maintain a car where I live, it's also tire shine hell since there are only a handful of paved roads where I live. The detailing really only happens when I go down the hill to LA for a night on the town.

... lmao! I still can't believe he clay barred a Jeep. Hahaha!
They use road salt? What is this nonsense.
 
#19 ·
Yup! Next time you head up the 138, look for CalTrans trucks, they dump salt. Same with Route 66 as well. I avoid the 15 like the plague in bad weather conditions.

EDIT: There's also a big *** mound of salt that they use on the side of the 15 when it snows, they have front loaders dumping it into the trucks after it snows.
 
#17 ·
I Zaino my Jeeps every other year (process is: wash twice, clay bar, wash again to remove any clay, then put three different products on it). Yeah, it's a bit of a long day. :D

Sure they have scratches, etc., that photos don't show from wear, but the paint still looks shinny like they looked when new. My TJ does get dirty, and in fact the wife's KJ is currently covered in road salt.



P.S. I don't like using tire shine... that's one thing I don't do.
 
#18 ·
no wax

If you are not familiar with products from Klasse you are missing out. I havent waxed in years, this stuff is way better, and does not attract dust or dirt like wax. Wax is old school

My detailer never heard of it and was pretty shocked how good it was, not it is all he uses after washing the exterior

I have no financial interest in the product btw

http://www.concoursdirect.com/klasse.html
 
#30 ·
if you are not familiar with products from klasse you are missing out. I havent waxed in years, this stuff is way better, and does not attract dust or dirt like wax. Wax is old school

my detailer never heard of it and was pretty shocked how good it was, not it is all he uses after washing the exterior

i have no financial interest in the product btw

http://www.concoursdirect.com/klasse.html
"hi folks, billy mays here..."

EDIT: Alright who's the ****er that programmed the forum to cancel out caps lock?
 
#21 ·
I'm assuming you're no longer a detail or body tech because you took three days to complete a 90 minute job? That fits right in with what I know of insurance :laugh:

Don't want people commenting on your waste of money, don't post it to the internet. Nothing personal, you just happened to be the perfect example.

My background is managing a GM dealership, full service, detail, and body shops included.

We disagree. Suck it up and move on.
 
#27 ·
I'm assuming you're no longer a detail or body tech because you took three days to complete a 90 minute job? That fits right in with what I know of insurance :laugh:

Don't want people commenting on your waste of money, don't post it to the internet. Nothing personal, you just happened to be the perfect example.

My background is managing a GM dealership, full service, detail, and body shops included.

We disagree. Suck it up and move on.
Why not do it, I have nothing better to do. I am no longer employeed as my wife has her own practice now I take care of the kids and house so I got bored and detailed the crap out of her/our Jeep.

Oh yea please tell me where I spent too much money?

250ml Dodo Juice Orange Crush wax wholesale 75$ took about 10ml to do the entire Jeep = 25 waxings per tub. So that's what 3$ per wax.
500ml bottle of Dodo Juice sealant 40$ wholesale used about 50ml 4$ per year.
Household citrus degreaser costs next to nothing as it gets used everwhere not just the cars.
1 pack of Armoralled wipes 5$ wholesale. Lasts a couple years.
Clay Magic blue bar 10$ lasts years.

I spent less than maybe 15$ including the water to do this one job using very good materials.
 
#23 ·
Mol said:
I'm assuming you're no longer a detail or body tech because you took three days to complete a 90 minute job? That fits right in with what I know of insurance :laugh:

Don't want people commenting on your waste of money, don't post it to the internet. Nothing personal, you just happened to be the perfect example.

My background is managing a GM dealership, full service, detail, and body shops included.

We disagree. Suck it up and move on.
So should I buy the car care kit they try to sell you with a new car? It looks like a good deal at the $299 they knocked off $50 bucks for me.
 
#28 ·
I thought it sounded expensive. They were going to just add it to car price.
They're all different...I dunno what it includes. The one we sold came with a warranty, that I thought was a pretty cool program...similar to ziebart but it warrantied against acid rain, fading, interior stains, etc. I loved selling it because I thought it was a great product that was professionally applied, and then came with a home care kit...until the company that we sold it for twice would not honor valid warranty claims for a few of our clients. I ended up having the cars done by and paid for by the dealership, and I told David Downey he could shove pro-tec up his ***.
 
#29 ·
Doctor - let it go. I'm not taking a shot at you, and I'm sorry you're so worked up over a conflicting opinion on the internet.

I merely posted an alternative method, with less expensive materials, that will have a very similar result, minus the armor all shine. Yuck.
 
#32 ·
I just want to say one thing. Waxing your car 1000 times a year will not strip clear coat. Waxes go on top of the paint, non abrasively, and protect the paint. It is compound and polish that strip clearcoat when used excessively. I recommend waxing 4 times a year. Most waxes last about 3 months and if you really want your paint protected, do it. Otherwise when salt season hits you'll have nothing on your paint that you waxed 6 months ago.

Dawn soap is not car wash soap. It's dish soap. Get a cheap car wash soap. Dawn does two things that you don't want to do to your vehicle. First thing is unlike car wash soap, it does not contain any lubricating oils. What does that mean? It means when your wiping down your car, microfiber towel or not, your creating swirls in the paint that over time will turn to haze if not corrected. Secondly, it's a degreaser and STRIPS WAX! So to the op saying use dawn soap and wax no more than twice a year, you strip off whatever wax you applied is being removed the next time you wash your car with dawn, leaving it unprotected until the next wax.

I'm not saying go spend hundreds on car care products, I'm passionate about these things but more than anything want people to know the facts, not opinions. What's in this post is fact.
 
#36 ·
15 years ago it may have been important. With today's paint, its really not.

I haven't waxed any of my vehicles since our regal turbo, because it was a nice car and I treat them differently/my wife treats her car like **** so I make up for it.

If it's a sunny Sunday, I'll wash and chamois dry the suburban or the jeeps so they look nice. Exterior clean doesn't take more than 20 minutes each....I will spend time vacuuming and cleaning the inside though, because its where I spend my time. Except for the '08...dusting is it, the floor boards are perpetually messy. If I could take the '08 through a machine I would...the paint is already ****ed from thorns and trees, and keeping the salt off of the steel armor is a priority, but the soft top gets in the way of that.
 
#35 ·
I haven't waxed anything since @1986, I don't plan to change that streak. I wash/vacuum my 13 yo jeep after every run, I use soap sometimes most of the time it's just plain water and rattle can the rock rash.
Mother Nature washes the DD 99% of the time.
 
#37 ·
SunDevilJeeper said:
I just wash the car (not Jeep) with dawn water and use the air hose for most of the water removal. After that it's liquid wax and a micro fiber cloth to finish it up.

I live in the desert so the interior gets the vacuum and carpet cleaner on the interior when it gets danky in there. Other than that, just vacuum and a little bit of Meguiar's and that's it. Maybe an hour at most spent detailing the car.

EDIT: Oh yeah and tire shine. Not wet status but just enough to keep the tires looking new for a few days at least.
I like that Meguiar's. Auto body guy told me about it.
 
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