Weekend Warrior Supplies

[lancerplayer]

Hey guys,

I’m getting more serious about detailing and would like to turn this hobby of mine into a weekend or “on the side” type of business. I truly enjoy the transformation process and seeing a dirty vehicle turn into a clean vehicle in a few hours does it for me. The money is only a bonus.

I plan on detailing vehicles that belong to family and friends to start out. Of course, I want to do the best job I can and provide the customer with superb results.

I would like to make sure I have the proper supplies to accomplish my goal of providing the customer with a clean and shiny result.

***Note*** - I work by hand. I do not use any power equipment at all - no polisher, no steamer, no hot water extractor. Is this something I should look into? Majority of my customers will be happy with “making it look clean and shiny” and do not know about paint correction. Will I be alright in the beginning working by hand?

Here is what I currently have on hand:

Exterior
Wash: Dawn dish soap (neglected vehicles) and Meguiar’s Gold Class Shampoo
Clay: Meguiar’s Smooth Surface Clay Kit
Polish: Meguiar’s Color X
Wax: Meguiar’s NXT Tech Wax or Meguiar’s NXT Spray Wax
Tires: Black Magic Bleche White Tire Cleaner
Wheels: Meguiar’s DUB Wheel Cleaner
Quick Detailer: Chemical Guys Detailer & Spray Wax
Bug & Tar Remover: WD-40 or Goo Gone
Minor Scratches: Meguiar’s Scratch X
Wheel Wells: Simple Green

Interior
Dash and Doors: Meguiar’s Quick Interior Detailer or Chemical Guys APC diluted 5:1
Glass: Stoner’s Invisible Glass or Sprayway Glass Cleaner
Leather Cleaner: Woolite diluted 8:1
Leather Conditioner: Meguiar’s Gold Class Rich Leather Cleaner/Conditioner
Protectant: Lexol Vinylex
Carpet Cleaner: Folex


I am open to all suggestions. Do you see any red flags anywhere? What would you do if you were in my shoes?

[RevitalizeAutoSpa]

I would recommend getting at least a PorterCable 7424XP or Harbor Freight DA. Being able to use an AIO (all in one) with a machine will get you AWESOME results compared to working by hand, and it won't take as long.

Some specific recommendations:

Wash: Dawn dish soap
Not very good for trim. You're better off with something like Chemical Guys Citrus Wash.

Meguiar’s Gold Class Shampoo
There are worse soaps out there, but for the money some of Chemical Guys' offerings are better.

Bug & Tar Remover: WD-40 or Goo Gone
I would recommend using a product formulated for automotive paints. CarPro Tar-X or Stoner Tarminator are both great.

Glass: Stoner’s Invisible Glass or Sprayway Glass Cleaner
The Meguiar's Glass Cleaner D120 is an awesome value. One gallon concentrate for $20 makes you 11 gallons.

[allenk4]

For the interior, you can dilute your APC at 10:1

It will still work great, will be safer on delicate finishes and will save you $

[allenk4]

When using Simple Green on wheel wells, make sure you don't get it on aluminum wheels

If you have a Dollar Store close, I suggest switching to LA's Totally Awesome APC. It's $1 for a half-gallon and works well enough. I use it undiluted on wheel wells and tires

[glh17]

Two 5 gallon buckets with grit guards.

[conman1395]

I understand what you mean about customers only caring about their car being shiny. I used to work at an automatic carwash and people with black cars don't even care/notice what's being done to their paint.

You cannot do correction in a reasonable amount of time (it could take a few days to do by hand what can be done with a DA in a couple hours) without a machine, so if you do not feel you will be doing much correction then you can save your money and not buy a polisher.

To be budget conscious I suggest going online and finding where you can buy Duragloss products locally; they're cheap online too, but I'm very impatient. It's good to see that you are already using Woolite and Folex too.
Meguiars APC (D101) is really good and can be diluted for many different purposes.
That said: Here's my list (my budget conscious list)

Wash: Duragloss 901 (DG 901) and to strip Chemical Guys Citrus Wash. Although I don't use Dawn anymore, some still do.
WASHMITT: Megs Microfiber Washmitt
Clay: Use whatever you have.
Polish: If you're working by hand I believe an All-in-One is your best bet. Or even a very good cleaner wax. This is because you're just not going to remove many swirls by hand.
Wax: Duragloss 105 is great. Collinite 845 is probably better by hand. It is also inexpensive. Duragloss Aquawax is also a very good spray sealant/wax. Even on its own.
Tires: You're fine with what you've got. Lots of cheap suggestions for cleaners for tires on here too.
Wheels: Great choice.
Quick Detailer: Never used the Chemical Guys one before, but I'm sure it fine. Mother's Showtime is a good OTC choice.
Bug & Tar: Stoner's Tarminator
Minor scratches: Good choice. I do everything by machine now, but I used to use ScratchX by hand with good success.
Wheel Wells: I'd say any of the suggested APCs are a better choice. I don't like Simple Green on the car if I can avoid it.

Your interior choices are good. I love Megs QID. The only changes I'd make is to use Lexol's leather cleaner and their conditioner too. I never liked Megs leather conditioner.

What's your microfiber supply like?

[lancerplayer]

What's your microfiber supply like?

I have a few of Meguiar's Supreme and a few Chemical Guys for my "nicer" paint microfibers. I also have a few bulk Microfibers that I use on the vehicle when not touching the paint.

I will need more, however.

Any recommendations for a good bang for the buck paint microfiber and a good bang for the buck general purpose microfibers (seats, dash, doors, etc)

[lancerplayer]

I would recommend getting at least a PorterCable 7424XP or Harbor Freight DA. Being able to use an AIO (all in one) with a machine will get you AWESOME results compared to working by hand, and it won't take as long.

Thank you for the Harbor Freight DA suggestion. I will definitely look into it seeing how it will give me great results in less time.

[dennis hiip]

I agree that you'll get better results with a DA in most cases.

[expdetailing]

Buy a cheap hand held brush to help scrub upholstery and leather.
A good degreaser , i.e. meg's, will work wonders on stains and coated leather when water and woolite does not work well enough.

[Setec Astronomy]

Did anybody else say this? You're CRAZY to work by hand.

[Garyhw48]

If you really enjoy the satisfaction after hard work go ahead and take the plunge. If you can swing it get the Flex 3401 and the Wolfgang 4. Watch all of Mike Phillips videos and practice on your families vehicles. You will get good results quickly and get your family and friends to recommend you by showing your work to all of the people they know or even casual friends etc. My family did this for me when I was a young man and in a few weeks I was covered up with work. A few weeks ago I did a four step job on a red '99 F150 and within a week three or four people came to me and asked it I could do the same to their vehicles. Word of mouth and excellent work will get you all the jobs you can do. The interior is easy, anyone can do it, it's the outside that counts. I used WG Uber, WG Finishing Glaze, WG Deep Gloss Paint Sealant 3.0 and toped it off with WG Fusion, all applied with the Flex 3401. If this combo doesn't impress them nothing will. All the products you mentioned are good also but sometimes keeping it simple makes the job easier. When I say four step I mean after cleaning and claying, that's a given. Not everyone will want to pay for this intensive detailing but you need to WOW some people to show them what you're capable of doing even if you don't make a lot of money at first. Raise your prices as you can, Good luck!