what is needed?

[dX 412]

Whats up guys. Heres my story/ questions. I work at a new car dealership so im not a detailer by any means. Who cant clean a new car lol. Im really interested in the buisness and am looking to buy some start up products. Im 18 and make very little money so i dont have much to work with. I was looking at aome polishers and it looked like you could buy an attachment to make it into a carpet cleaner. Seems like a good investment. Anybody have any recomendations?

[dX 412]

Sorry if i posted this in the wrong spot i wasnt sure

[SeaJay's]

Welcome!

First - your comment about "who can't clean a new car?" - the answer is a lot of people can't. Even with a new car proper technique needs to be used to ensure swirls are not being put into the paint. This would be why most cars come from the dealer with swirls in the paint.

And if your looking at polishers I'd suggest a Dual action polisher like the porter cable or griots garage polisher. They are easy to pick up and you can get great correction results with them. They also set packages here at AG that comes with some pads and products.

Start up products, here's a list of what you'll need and what I personally use

2 - 5 gallon buckets with grit guards
Car soap - Megs NXT and DP Xtreme Foam
Car wash mitt - Schmitt & 2 sheep skin mitts
Clay bar - Adams (not available thru AG) and griots garage clay
Clay Lube - I use ONR (optimum no rinse) diluted to quick detail solution
many quality Microfibers
Various brushes - daytona wheel brush, tire brush, wheel brush, wheel well brush, various small detailing brushes
Windows - Sprayway or stoners invisible glass
Tire dressing - DP tire gel or wolfgang black diamond tire gel
Wheel Sealant - DP wheel glaze
Wax - Pinnacle Souveran, Pinnacle XMT 180, Collinite 845, Dodo Juice supernatural
Sealant - Menzerna power lock or DP poli-coat


That should get you started.

[dX 412]

Thanks for the reply. Im going to have to find all that stuff when i get home and see what i can afford, haha.

[SeaJay's]

That's a pretty penny worth of stuff. Don't know what you budget is but you can shop around for items that fit into your budget.

[Crazy Amos]

Welcome!

First - your comment about "who can't clean a new car?" - the answer is a lot of people can't. Even with a new car proper technique needs to be used to ensure swirls are not being put into the paint. This would be why most cars come from the dealer with swirls in the paint.

And if your looking at polishers I'd suggest a Dual action polisher like the porter cable or griots garage polisher. They are easy to pick up and you can get great correction results with them. They also set packages here at AG that comes with some pads and products.

Start up products, here's a list of what you'll need and what I personally use

2 - 5 gallon buckets with grit guards
Car soap - Megs NXT and DP Xtreme Foam
Car wash mitt - Schmitt & 2 sheep skin mitts
Clay bar - Adams (not available thru AG) and griots garage clay
Clay Lube - I use ONR (optimum no rinse) diluted to quick detail solution
many quality Microfibers
Various brushes - daytona wheel brush, tire brush, wheel brush, wheel well brush, various small detailing brushes
Windows - Sprayway or stoners invisible glass
Tire dressing - DP tire gel or wolfgang black diamond tire gel
Wheel Sealant - DP wheel glaze
Wax - Pinnacle Souveran, Pinnacle XMT 180, Collinite 845, Dodo Juice supernatural
Sealant - Menzerna power lock or DP poli-coat


That should get you started.

This is a pretty good list. Also check out the Megs Detailer Line and Mirror Glaze Lines. They are nicely priced and produce excellent results.

[sullysdetailing]

2 - 5 gallon buckets with grit guards
Car soap - DP Xtreme Foam (Find a local distributor for detailing supplies like Ardex I got a gallon of Wash and Wax for $10)
Car wash mitt - Corbra Microfiber Mitt
Clay bar - Pinnacle Utra Poly(Mild) or DP (Medium)
Clay Lube - DP Rinseless Wash and Gloss
Microfiber Towles - I like Corba or Chemical Guys
Various brushes - Daytona Speed Brush, Long Handle Green Brush, 1'' Boars Hair Brush
Windows - Megiuars Detail Line Glass Cleaner
Tire dressing - Meguiar Detail Line Hyper Dressing
APC - Megiuars Detail Line APC+
Interior Dressing - DP Interior Dressing
Wheel Sealant - DP wheel glaze or a good sealant
AIO - Megiuars Detailing Line D151
Polisher - Groits Garage DA (with 5.5'' Backing Plate)
Polishing Pads - Lake Country 6 Pack Flat 5.5'' Pads
Wax - DP Max Wax, Porrboys World Natty, Poorboys World Liquid Natty
Sealant - DP poli-coat, Porrboys World EX
Shop Vac - A good wet/dry shop vac will do I like Rigid

I made sure that I listed the things you can buy in 1 gallon and dilute as needed. Meguiars Glass cleaner makes 10 gallon, Megiuars APC make between 4-10 gallon, and Megiuars Hyper Dressing make 2-4 gallons :)

If you have any other question feel free to ask away

[dX 412]

Can anyone explain what claybar is?

[HeavyMetal]

Can anyone explain what claybar is?

Not to be insulting, but if you don't know what a clay bar is, you're not even close to being ready to go into detailing. I'd suggest you spend the next 3 - 4 months reading everything you can find on this and other detailing sites.

I suggest you start here: Auto Detailing Facts, auto detailing Tips, How to detailing Guides, how to polish, how to wax, DIY detailing, do it yourself guides (http://autogeek.net/detailingtips.html)

Once you've read ALL of that material 2 or 3 times, then you can start reading some of the posts in the Auto Detailing 101, Detailing University, How To forums. That's what I did.

In 6 months you should know whether this is for you, be able to ask some intelligent questions and be ready to start developing a business plan. Sorry, but there are no real short-cuts to developing a successful business and knowledge is the first step. You clearly do not have the knowledge. Start there.

[Blackthorn One]

Can anyone explain what claybar is?

A clay bar is an elastic type of clay that is similar to modeling clay in how you can work it, but it's much more plasticky, and it doesn't come apart when it is wet. Most detailing clays come in medium to fine texture, which will need light polishing of the paint to remove the slight marring/dullness it leaves behind. There is also ultra fine clay, which does not require polishing after use. Finally, there is coarse or heavy duty clay, which has the coarsest texture, and is only used on paint that is in extremely bad shape, which also needs a lot of oxidation removal, which the coarser texture of the heavy duty clay facilitates.
Clay is used to grab embedded contaminants in the paint that cannot be removed by washing alone, and then pluck them out and absorb them into the clay, away from the paint. You also need a clay lubricant in order to use clay, because it allows the clay to slide across the paint surface. Some lubes work better than others. Lube should be used liberally and you should work small areas at a time, so that you don't waste lube by allowing it to dry out too fast on too big an area for you to work quickly enough. The clay lube also serves to prevent marring the paint with the contaminants you picked up during the claying process. Water alone is not an effective lube.

Detailing Clay was invented in the 1980's, by a Japanese company, I think.
Before clay, if there were any pieces of grit embedded in the paint that you couldn't wash off, then they would break loose during the polishing process, which would invariably cause harsh scratches in the paint, which would then require even more polishing of the paint in order to remove them.

I have found it best to use small pieces of clay at a time, and not the whole bar, because if you drop it, it's trash, unless you can carefully use a very sharp knife to slice off ALL of the area of the clay that touched the ground, to be sure to remove ALL grit that it picked up from the ground. Of course, you want to work in as clean an area as clean as possible, but there is almost always some dirt laying around.
As you use the clay and it gets dirty, you knead the clay so that you have a clean area to work with. Eventually, the clay will become so dirty that it should not be used on paint anymore, but could be ok to use on some wheels, so somewhat dirty clay can still be useful.
When you use clay, you want to glide it across the surface, and not actually rub with it, because that will increase chances of marring and streaking the clay. You can clay faster, but not rub harder, to make it go quicker. Just be careful not to fling the clay out of your hands working fast.l

If you do not use enough lube, then you will get smear clay on the paint, which has been mistaken as primer by some people. Often times, you can pick up some of this clay again by more claying, only with more lube this time. Otherwise, you will need to try some detail spray, waterless wash, polish, or solvent and a cloth to remove it.
Claying greatly increases the reflectivity of the paint if the paint has a lot of contaminants in it, because it makes the paint smoother and flatter, and a smoother and flatter area is always more reflective.

To test whether a car needs claying, you can feel it with your hands, or put your hand in a plastic sandwich bag, and see if it feels rough at all. If it feels rough, it needs clay. If not, no need to clay. Usually the horizontal surfaces of a car are the ones with the most embedded contaminants, and often only the horizontal surfaces need claying at all, because that is where the contaminants settle.
There is another use for clay, and that is overspray removal. Clay is the best stuff there is to remove overspray with, and the sooner you get to it, the better. If you get to it in a day or two, it's actually pretty easy to do, because the clay removes the overspray paint droplets which stick up from the otherwise smooth surface of the paint.
If the overspray is very severe, then perhaps the heavy duty clay is needed. Otherwise, if you remove the overspray in a day or two, (preferably immediately) the medium to fine grade will suffice, and perhaps even the ultra fine, although I have never used the ultra fine for that purpose.

Always start with the gentlest clay to see how it works, as you can always go coarser, but if you start out too coarse, you will make a lot more work for yourself.
Be careful with clay around rubber trim. It can leave a difficult to remove stain in just one swipe.

That is most of what you need to know about clay, other than actually doing it.
There is a lot to know about detailing before you have a full fledged business. Never do more than you are fully capable of doing on a client's car. Always practice on junk cars, junk parts from body shops, or your own cars until you PERFECT your technique.

[dX 412]

scratch this post

[dX 412]

Thank you to everyone that has replied. I've decided to go with this guy linked at the bottom, can somebody please link me to a few pads i'd need for this. Thank you! Porter cable 7424xp, 7424xp, Porter Cable 7424XP Dual Action Polisher, Porter Cable polisher, car polisher, buffer, sander-polisher (http://www.autogeek.net/porter-cable-7424xp.html)

[ExoticAutoDetai]

:buffing:I would have gone for the griot 6" it also comes with life time warranty.

[dX 412]

I was originally going to go with that one, but I can't find the brush attachments for it : /.

[Blackthorn One]

:buffing:I would have gone for the griot 6" it also comes with life time warranty.
I agree. I hear it is more powerful than the XP, and I read that the XP has a hollow spindle that has broken on people before, whereas the original 7424 had a solid spindle. I am leery of the XP for that reason.