Best care care kits for my cars?

joestang · 06-23-04, 12:16

Well I am about to order about $150 worth of stuff and I want to make sure I have everything I'll need.

I like the kits that this site has put together. I gotta say I am VERY impressed with the amount of info that each contains.

From what I've been reading I like the Sonus kits.

Perfect Shine Base Kit

How many clay bars should I buy to clay 3 cars, all medium sized? None have ever been clayed and all have light surface contamination.

After that is where I am stuck I'm not sure which topcoat kit will work best for all of my cars. The Soverign Kit says its great for dark colors, which all of mine are, but I dont have a PC yet. Will the paste wax be very difficult to remove by hand? And is it worth the extra $25 over the Klasse or Signature kits?

My cars are a 94 Mustang - Laser Red, 03 Acura CL-S - Aegean Blue, & 03 Maxima - Gray Lustre. All are metallic.

I also am going to get some extra detailing towels, namely the UDT, but what towels are best for removing the wax/polish? I know that both Sonus kits contain detailing towels, but for the amount of work I'm gonna have to do I think I'll need some extras.

Thanks

scottabir · 06-23-04, 12:26

1 clay bar should work for the three cars as long as they are not in horrible condition.
I believe that souveran is extremely easy on/off...I have yet to try it but thats what I have heard about it. *I* would get the Souveran if I had the extra money.

*I* like the concours buffing towels from Autopia and the Ultra,super duper yellow towels from Pakshak.com those are my favorites.

6cyl's_of_fury · 06-23-04, 12:33

I would consider these 2 kits in combination as they are:

1. effective to do by hand
2. cheaper
3. contain more goodies IMO

Performance Wash Kit

Showroom Shine Kit

With the leftover $, pick up some more car wash ( the 1z Perls should be saved for a "date" wash

), clay and towels also, or if you dont mind shopping around, Patrick at

Exceldetail

has a good range of MF towels to complement the ones you get with the above kits. There are other vendors such as Pakshack but I havent used his towels although they come highly recommended also.

I think the above should get you started on the right foot! And for the same dollars or maybe even a bit less

joestang · 06-23-04, 01:02

Well I thought about that exact same thing, but doing it that way seems to be a little too helter skelter. I would think the Sonus kits are designed to work together and would be worth the extra money if the results are better.

I know what you are saying though. And thanks for the link for the towels, thats a decent site.

edit: And also, the showroom shine kit doesnt have a clay system, or the scratch remover, both which I do need.

6cyl's_of_fury · 06-23-04, 01:14

buy the clay and scratch remover from the shop - no more than $20 at a guess. you can get autopia clay for $6/bar, at that price I'd get 2 or 3! Then buy a tube of scratchX, people here are getting some great results with it by hand.

But hey, its your money, so spend it how you want!

joestang · 06-23-04, 03:01

I also took that into consideration, buying some of the products in the stores. I'm going to do some price looking today at the local autozone to see how the Meguiar's prices compare to autopia's. Even if it's not any cheaper from thissite I'd rather support a nicely managed and awesomely informative website than a huge corporation like AZ. Plus, I'm pretty sure autopia is competetive price-wise, or else they wouldnt compete.

I do plan on buying a couple extra clay bars, just in case one gets dropped/dirty. It would suck to do halfway through a clay job and drop the bar and not have another one handy.

6cyl's_of_fury · 06-23-04, 04:13

As a tip, cut your bar into thirds or quarters. That way if you do happen to drop one, you will be ok with plenty of back-ups. Plus it stretches out the clay usage.

Macgirl · 06-23-04, 05:29

Great tip on the clay.....cut into at least thirds as soon as you get it out of the wrapper. As for the kits, that is up to you, but I haven't read anything about the condition of your paint? Are you going to need something more abrasive than than the paint cleanser? You may want to try 1Z polishes, very easy for hand application and they work! I can't say for a topper if you should get the Souveran or what, that is for you to try and decide. Me, I just use 1Z Glanz Wax or Klasse.

About towels, I would suggest the following:
SONUS Der Wunder Drying Towel - smaller but absorbant, you get two per package instead of one
SONUS Polishing Towels - good towel for windows too, may want 2 packages
At least one Concours Buffing Towel - the champ of final buffing!
Khaki Towel - just a good QD towel and very cost effective

joestang · 06-23-04, 02:50

All are original paint, still very shiny. The Mustang has the worst amount of swirls, but its nothing horrific. Just the normal amount from washing and drying without knowing that cotton towels are not the best.

I think any of the major scratches can be worked out with the Scratch-X. However, for the Maxima I do have some concerns. I had some very deep scratches from a cat that I had a neighbor wet-sand out. He did an awesome job with it, but I havent gotten around to buffing out the swirls yet. Is that amount of abrasion going to need something stronger than what these kits contain?