Newbie needing advice

[ironmike12]

I just bought a black mustang gt with chrome wheels on it and I'm looking for advice on how to detail it and protect it. I drove a ranger through high school and college and was never real concerned about it being a head turner. I just washed it once a month. I'm totally new to detailing. The mustang is a daily driver and sits outside at an apartment complex. What are the steps I need to take and some not too expensive products I need? I live in TN and we get some snow but lots of salt if snow is forcasted. Thanks.

[OCDetails]

I just bought a black mustang gt with chrome wheels on it and I'm looking for advice on how to detail it and protect it. I drove a ranger through high school and college and was never real concerned about it being a head turner. I just washed it once a month. I'm totally new to detailing. The mustang is a daily driver and sits outside at an apartment complex. What are the steps I need to take and some not too expensive products I need? I live in TN and we get some snow but lots of salt if snow is forcasted. Thanks.

That is not a simple question. lol "How do I detail?" is the question that launched a dozen detailing message boards. The advice I would give is in my Detailing For Beginners (http://ocdetails.com/html/basic_detailing.html) article. There are no links on that article, so you'll have to find the products yourself, but most if not all of them are products you can find locally.

However, if you are truely concerned with maintaining a showroom shine to your vehicle, you will want to invest in some tools and better products. You can probably take $80 bucks with you to an Autozone and come out with what you need to maintain it, but if you want to have the tools to remove swirls/scratches and really give it the royal treatment, then you are looking at probably $300+ of products and tools. Autogeek.net is a great resource for that kind of thing. They have fantastic articles which will really help point you in the right direction.