Getting re-started with auto detailing my own car

[walletless]

Hello,

Several years ago, I had started detailing my own car. At that time, I used Porter Cable DA polisher, 2 bucket method for cleaning, clay bar, meguirs compounding chemicals and collonite 845. This was almost 8-9 years ago.

At some point, I stopped detailing my car due to personal injury which prevented me from doing this work. I sold all the equipment I had, and donated some of the fine chemical (like collonite 845 & some pads) to some forum members who lived close by.

I'm now looking to get back to detailing my own car once in a while. I suppose things have changed a lot in 8+years, so I was wondering what would forum members recommend I purchase to get started. I don't want to over spend since I'm only detailing my own car (not to run a business or anything).

Which DA polisher (or is there something else people use these days?), What do people use to wash the car (I see few neighbors using foam canons hooked to their pressure washer), etc. If you want to dm me with recommendation of things to get started again, that's fine too (or just post a reply here).

Appreciate all your help in advance!

[Texchappy]

I haven’t got much energy due to injury and I probably wouldn’t do much of any detailing if it wasn’t for rinseless. Been using ONR (optimum no rinse) for over a decade. It’s just so much easier than dragging around a hose and two buckets.

I recently bought a Griot’s G9. It’s nice but it doesn’t blow away my old PC.

Just applied my first coating to my wife’s car today so we’ll see if it’s worth the fuss. Applied some Griot’s 3in1 ceramic to my son’s car a couple of days ago. I’ll be seeing how a spray ‘ceramic’ compares to a lite ceramic coating over the next several months. I’ll also see if either of them are better for me than the Optiseal and OCW I’ve been using for the last several years.

All over the place I know but maybe something in there will help you.

[robwoodgto]

Well, your list of supplies with the PC DA is great. You could start there. To some, I am old school and a fan of Meguires 105 and 205. I guess if it isn't broke I don't want to waste my time fixing it. The Collinite is great stuff too. The reason I like the PC is it is cheap and does the job for what I need. Meguires has recently came out with M110 and M210 which you may want to check out as well, but seriously you can't beat the Ultimate Compound/Polish.

As far as pads, Lake County flat pads work great for me and I seem to get by using the orange and white ones.

What year, make, model and color is the car you would like to detail?

[walletless]

Thanks for the detailed responses!


.

What year, make, model and color is the car you would like to detail?

2012 Altima Sedan. It's a pretty old car, quite scratched up, and frankly it needs a good Clay bar to lift the dirt that's been accumulating for years.

[walletless]

I haven’t got much energy due to injury and I probably wouldn’t do much of any detailing if it wasn’t for rinseless. Been using ONR (optimum no rinse) for over a decade. It’s just so much easier than dragging around a hose and two buckets.


I remember trying ONR back in the day and liking it. I'll likely go with foam canon+ meguiars gold wash + onr as well. I remember that washing and drying were the two things I hated the most back then!

[glen e]

I have been detailing my own car for about 10 years. You can see my “join date” on the left here. My fascination with products and skills looks like a bell curve, I started out knowing nothing, reading everything here and a few other sites, and over 5 years And a few thousand dollars, buying every conceivable Detailing product out there including a power washer, Griots polisher, flex rotary , five or six different pads, a dryer, and everything else to basically as discussed here. I attended a few of the workshops and festivals at Autogeek in Stuart, and have had direct communication with Mike here. I worked with him launching their marine products. (I have over 20 different polishes, waxes, coatings and polymers on my Detailing shelf right now).I then moved on to coatings and wet sanding and everything else that is considered the next level up. I wouldn’t change a thing if I had to do it again. I learned so much. But mostly I learned that it doesn’t take much to get good gloss. And it’s not terribly better if you spend thousands of dollars , if your car is in good shape to start.

I now have come back down to using a rinseless wash , my local touchless car wash for when the car is really dirty, and applying a spray ceramic- to be more specific the graphene spray. The reason is because I do like to work on my car, I don’t need unbelievable 1 yr protection, I just want a good gloss and I get that by polishing my car once a year with a medium pad, and wiping on a 303 graphene spray about every 3 to 5 months. And the gloss has never been better. My cars always get comments no matter where I go.

[Texchappy]

I remember trying ONR back in the day and liking it. I'll likely go with foam canon+ meguiars gold wash + onr as well. I remember that washing and drying were the two things I hated the most back then!

I started using ONR because you couldn’t wash your car living on post but the time and energy savings keep me able to take care of our cars once the IED effects caught up with me. See you’re in California, do you have many water restrictions?