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Detailing Products

2K views 7 replies 3 participants last post by  Junkman2008 
#1 Ā·
Hello all,
I thought I'd share some detailing products that I have found to be worth checking out.
A bit of history on myself is I use to be a Professional Detailer back in my College days. I started that journey working for a Chevy Dealer as a lot guy and learned how to run a Rotary Wheel. My Manager was a former detailer and I had a midnight Blue Firebird that needed some attention.
One day after work, we went into the shop and he taught me how to compound polish and wax a car properly. It was an amazing experience the took me down a path of passion and love for extreme car on my vehicles. This was 1988. Fast forward to the 90's and I have been detailing for a company that sub in house at dealerships and was responsible for new and used car details. I got trained by Ardex, C-Bud, 3M and Maguire's top guys who came into the shop and gave detail lessons . It was amazing taking what I learned over the years and taking it to a higher professional level.
I worked my way up to manager then regional manager. I would go into a dealership, set up shop,, hire local talent, train them to my perfection or as good as they could be and off to the next shop I went.
When I got out of College and then switched to Mechanics I got an associates degree in Automotive Technology and became a Mechanic for Nissan, Pontiac and GMC trucks at a local Dealership. My Passion for all things cars drove me. I also became a switch hitter there as they learned my experience in detailing and wanted me to work in the shop a few days and then back in the detail shop doing their higher end used car trade ins. Then they pulled me all together from the Shop and made me detail manager.
I left that business as I was offered a job in the Audio Video business as a Installer which was another passion of mine. But the fire for detailing never went out and to this day I love doing it.

So my son and I are balls deep into testing learning and about all the available products of today and to my surprise they are very different and better then what I grew up with. Not everything but some things are better to work with.
I wanted to leave a few special products from certain brands that I found are gems. This thread can go on forever as there is so much to talk about on this subject especially for passionate people like my son and I.

1- Adam's Polishes CS3.
adams-cs3-gallon-with-free-12oz
Now this is a special product that I learned about and now buy by the Gallon. it's a multi purpose product that servers top notch function in what it does. First off it's a waterless wash. This is an excellent product for those in-between wipe's downs when your ride has some light dust or dirt and your not going to do a full bucket wash. You just want a touch up to hit the town or just stare in the garage. It glides and smoothes over your paint with a Special kind of slickness. It feels heavy and thick yet works light on it's feet.
You can use it as a drying aid. After a full maintenance wash, you want to use something to soften the drying process. I like to use a leaf blower on all the wheels to get them as dry as possible and then blow out all the emblems and cracks to make the drying process effortless as possible. Also limited the amount of towel contact to prevent surface scratches from drying. CS3 really helps aid in this process as a very light spray on each panel gives you a smooth soft towel feel that also ads gloss and slickness.
And finally a Topper or protection layer. It's great on top of a Ceramic Coating, spray coating or paint sealant layer. You basically use it like you would a spray wax. The gloss slickness and feel is amazing. It really feels like you spend hours with a heavy paste wax. It gives you that thickness.

2- Jay Leno's Tire and Trim Care.
tire-and-trim-care
I find it that most people don't try out Jay Leno's Products. I find that a shame. His line of stuff is amazing, all of it and this product is special. If you like a Satin like finish on your tires that actually holds up for weeks then this is something you want to check out. We picked up most of his line to test out and this is one that really stood out to me. It goes on like silk and deepens the rubber side wall of your tires. It's brings out a brand new tire look that is so inviting. It makes your rims POP and your Paint gloss deeper by not taking away from their beauty. By being a Satin finish the tires don't POP and take away from your rim and paint job on your car. They blend in and give it a look that really completes your fresh clean car. I'm proud to use this product and find it to really be special . I never was a fan of high gloss tire shine and especially when it slings all over the side of your car after a drive. That really sucks as most oil based dressings will do that unless you knock then down with a towel and then that takes away from some of the awesome gloss they add. It's like using those kinds of dressings is made for a car show when the car isn't going to be driven.
Anyway check out this product it's incredible.

3- P&S bead Maker.
i-23875428-bead-maker-paint-protectant.html
I'm sure many of you have heard of this stuff. It's probably one of the most hype'd products in the last few years BUT it has earned that in many ways.
First and foremost this is a spray paint sealant that doesn't have a long life. You can get 1 to 2 months out of it if you don't reapply it. BUT here is the kicker, if you use it as drying aid after a full dry application, you can maintain it for basically as long as you want. I would after a few months do another dry application to give it a full strong coating but let me tell you, it's shine and slickness might be the best in the industry. Sure other products might shine or have a slickness equal or close to this but look at the price? Bead maker is a super special product that does exactly what it claims to do. If you have not tried this out, and if you enjoy a silky finish with a gloss that is second to none, then you need to try this stuff out. With Adam' CS3 on the market this stuff isn't as special to me as it was when I tried it out for the firs time but when you factor in price, it still wins hands down. CS3 is on it's own level but if you where to compare these to to each other for slickness and gloss it's a tuff battle with bead maker winning due to it's much lower price. CS3 is a better product all around except value but the value is still there because it does more than bead maker does.
When I go for a topper , I stuggle on which one I want to use. I'm feeling that right now. I have a brand new Black Scat pack and I'm not sure what topper I want to use. They both are so damn good. I use bead maker on my Wife's Plumb Crazy purple Charger and man... it looks stupid good.

So there's just a few awesome products I like to use but I have so many more we can talk about.
 
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#3 Ā·
Adam's Polishes General Information
Manufacturer of premium car care products based in Thornton, Colorado. The company manufactures a range of products including interior and exterior automotive cleaners, waxes, polishes, ceramics, and other car care accessories for cars, trucks, RVs and boats.
 
#4 Ā·
I use to work with those guys. They don't manufacture anything. If they did, you would see them with their very own booth at SEMA and not sharing one with someone else. Only manufacturers can setup booths at SEMA. That doesn't mean that their products are bad but I have seen Adam's pricing style and they tend to be way above what they are worth. If you can locate a duplicate product (and I have done that before), you will find out just how much markup they have in their goods.
 
#7 Ā·
Some Interesting words and heart breaking . I haven't found a single bad product or felt I was purchasing something that was over priced. Adam's Polishes to me is a top brand as they compare to everything I have ever used.
BUT I use other brands as well. I'm not married to any brand but I have a few I really like.
Maguires is one of my all time favorites as I was trained by them and they have been around for a long time. They have mostly great products and a few I don't care for. Griots Garage is fantastic at everything they do. I think they are very bit as good as Adam's and some things are arguably better. I have their G9 D/A as well as I felt it was the best choice for the money.
Even Chemical Guys makes great stuff. I'll never understand why people online bash em as their prices are great, all their products work exactly as intended. They excel at just about all areas and make some of the very best car washing soaps I ever used.
 
#8 Ā·
The problem in the detailing industry is that there are only so many chemical manufacturing facilities. Look at it like cup cakes. Any cup cake you eat is made with flour. Everyone who makes cup cakes doesn't necessarily make the flour they use, they get it from some place that sells flour. Now some places will start with nothing but flour, but other places may use a certain flour that has a distinct taste to it. This is why you may come across a brand of cup cakes that taste exactly like another brand that you have eaten. Imagine that. šŸ‘€

The detailing industry is like that. I have had a few companies contact me about coming up with my own line of products. I told them that I don't know anything about making detailing products and they responded with, "You don't have to know anything about how they are made, you just sell the product using your videos." Now to me, that's about the most dishonest thing you can do to someone who trust your word because when it is all said and done, the only thing you leave this world with is your reputation. Once I started digging into it, I found out that I can contact Chemical Guys, and they would produce me my very own line of products with MY name on them or I could call them anything I like... for a price. You know, rebranded products. The only thing I had to do was pay the price and they would handle the rest. The only thing I had to worry about was some hardcore Chemical Guy's user sniffing at my products too close and figuring out the truth. My dignity as a Marine and definitely as a man is worth more to me than that.

That's when I found out how much this practice goes on in the detailing industry. I never was a product snob and I definitely wasn't going to get caught up in that arena after finding out how much of that goes on. To have your very own line of products, you have got to have a team behind the entire process. From the chemist to the manufacturing facility, you need a major force of funds and personnel to pull off a operation that large, if you want to make any real money. If you enroll in a rebranded program like the one Chemical Guy's offer, you will never have to worry about impacting their bottom line because they are making money whenever YOU make money. So you could become their major competitor and they will laugh all the way to the bank.

There are a lot of detailing brands on the market today which are like that. SEMA is the real test. ONLY manufacturers will have a booth at SEMA and anyone who is a player will be at SEMA. I always wondered why Adam's never setup a booth at SEMA but he always attended it. That's how I found out. Also, everything that he had in his warehouse was already packaged or in 55-gallon drums. There was no "manufacturing" going on, just some "pouring it into the right bottles." Some other stuff was going on too that really pissed me off but I'm going to leave that alone. Maybe things have changed since then. To this day, you won't find a manufacturing facility called Adam's. That's because there is none. That part of his business is outsourced.

I have been sent so much detailing stuff from companies that I haven't even opened all of the boxes. The reason why is because I don't "hunt the shine," I find a product that works exceptionally well and I master that product. There are MULTIPLE good products out there on the market, including some of these rebranded ones. All you have to do is find one that meets your needs in availability, price, ease of use and smell. When you find that product, master it. You never bad mouth another product unless you know its origin because the very product you bad mouth, could be the very product you swear by. I am not in the business of selling detailing products so I don't have an allegiance to any brand but I do understand that my word carries some weight. That's why I always stress technique. I can get the same exact result with product A that I can get with product Z, if they are both quality products. It's not so much about what I use as it is about how I use it. That is the MOST important thing to know. Sure, there is some garbage products out there but most of that stuff weeds itself out over time. The brands spoken here will do for you what you need. Just realize that all that glitters is not gold.

I tried to get Griot's to tell me for a fact that they manufacture the polisher they sell. It was like pulling teeth out of the mouth of a swimming shark. They were EXTREMELY careful not to say that they made them inhouse but they never would say that they actually manufactured them. Now understand this, they sell a SWEET orbital polisher. I would say just as good if not better than the PC-7424XP. But I know for a fact that they don't manufacture it. That doesn't make it a bad polisher by any stretch of the imagination but it tells me that there is another polisher out there that doesn't have their name on it that is just as good, and it might even be cheaper. šŸ˜‰
 
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