$350 - $400 budget to get started detailing my cars.

[Cessick7]

Hi everyone. This is my first post. I am getting ready to retire this summer after 31 years in the Army and want to start taking care of my family cars (1 Jet black BMW, 1 Black Saphire BMW and 1 Jet Black Audi). I will have plenty of time on my hands and want to care for these cars (and then expand to other family and friends cars) properly. Anyway, I do not have anything right now and would like to purchase everything I will need to get started. I have seen some starter kits advertised with the Porter Cable or other polishers with different types of starter products. I am not sure if those are good deals and the way to go or if should go ala carte and purchase individual items. If you were king for the day and had $350 - $400 to get started, what would you purchase? Looking for any suggestions. Thanks.

[AeroCleanse]

If you are just starting out and have no experience, then I suggest you look at this kit: Adam`s Complete Dual-Action Car Polisher Kit (http://www.adamspolishes.com/p-338-adams-complete-7424xp-da-car-polishing-kit.aspx)



If you go there, you can use the live chat and Ashley will help get you setup with everything you need.

[Kaleb G]

It`s all a matter of opinion as far as which brands and everything to use. Some of the things I would look at for your budget is one of the PC kits that comes with a few pads for you. You will probably want to order a few more pads than just the ones that it comes with. The popular ones are orange, white, and gray. As far as swirls removal goes, I love Meg`s 105/205. That isn`t saying that they aren`t products that are better or easier to use, those are just what I get my best results with. A good sealant like Opti-seal or BFWD or Klasse along with the wax of your choice would be a good place to start. The waxes I use most often are Collinite 845 and Poorboy`s Natty Blue. It may not hurt to get a better finishing polish for between 205 and a sealant and/or a good glaze, but you would be able to get decent results with just the the things above.



That`s just my opinion. There are also polishers out there that cost as much as all the listed products combined, and a million different combinations of products you can go with. There isn`t one specific product that is the best for every situation for every person using it. Best of luck to you. It`s a lot of fun.



Kaleb

[imported_Ivan Rajic]

My take on this...



Purchase the proper washing, drying and waxing kit, along with some interior care products. This includes, at a minimum and without getting too specific, 2-3 buckets with grit guards, few wash mitts, few dry towels, soap, wheel cleaner, wheel brushes, few dressings, interior cleaning stuff (leather cleaner/conditioner, UV protectant), exterior dressing, exhaust/metal polish, wax, quick detailer and possibly even some clay. Plus microfiber towels for both interior and exterior use.



This is what you`ll need in order to properly maintain the vehicles. Once you have all of this, then and only then would I look into a polishing kit, such as a Porter Cable with some pads and polishes, along with some more microfiber towels.



You should be able to fit all the necessities within your budget but it will be tight, so in all honesty I`d try and either expand that budget to include everything, or trim it down to the maintenance stuff, then create a new budget later for a polishing kit.



Hope that helps.

[Cessick7]

Thanks for the quick replies. I will definitley check out the Adams packages and will also look into the products Kalem recommended. Eventually I will just have to make a decision. All the choices are making me dizzy. Thanks again.

[AeroCleanse]

Thanks for the quick replies. I will definitley check out the Adams packages and will also look into the products Kalem recommended. Eventually I will just have to make a decision. All the choices are making me dizzy. Thanks again.



Adams has a 110% guarantee so if you buy and don`t like it you can get your money back and a little more.



If you go to - YouTube - Adamspolishes`s Channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/Adamspolishes) and watch "Volume 6" you can watch the Adam detailing video series.

[P1et]

My suggestion:



Porter Cable 7424XP w/ backing plate and four pads: $170

Showroom FX Waffle weave drying towel: $15

Uber Sponge: $6

Showroom FX Tire Dressing: $15

5 gallon buckets from Lowes: $10

Grit Guard: $10

Menzerna Power Gloss / PO203S / 106FA / Power Lock 16 oz: $102

Microfibers: $30

Applicators: $5



That`s $363 right there and you`ll be off to a great start!

[tucsondude]

-If I started my collection off fresh today:

-$80 Lots of microfiber = laundry less often 100-Pak Premium Microfiber Towel (http://www.autodetailingsolutions.net/ads-tw-100.html) xx

-$20 mothers clay bar kit

-$10 Dual action(ie portercable) compatible polish.

-$10 wax

-$10 2+ 5gallon buckets XX

-$10 grit guard XX

-$13 meguars apc (great around the house) XX

-$13 meguiars apc+ (great around the house) XX

-$10 leather conditioner

-$10 glass cleaner

-$15 car wash

-$10 interior dressing

-~200



-plus

-Gallon of distilled water

-Miscellaneous spray bottles

-brushes

-Porter cable 7424xp + backing plate + 2 polishing pads + 1 soft pad for wax; this is a minimum (buy a kit) XX





-I am sure you have some of the above categories already, and therefore do not need more anytime soon. Last detail on my car I went through ~25 microfibers. Anything with an XX I would highly recommend. The above list should give you an idea of a good spectrum of products to have, the APC products above are NOT necessary I just like them.



-Good o’l amateur me who only does my car and families cars has probably spent ~800 on detailing stuff in the last 4 years (18-22). I have way too much stuff sitting on my shelves. If I didn’t have such a backlog I’d probably invest more in meguiars detailing line (apc/+, glass cleaner, all season dressing, last touch)



-“Find something you like and use it often”

[Accumulator]

... Eventually I will just have to make a decision. All the choices are making me dizzy....



Welcome to Autopia!



Some sorta-random thoughts follow:



-Regular maintenance washing is the most important thing as that`s how most vehicles get marred up. Washing without marring the paint is extremely difficult (and the how-to is too involved for me to get into here/now). Polishing should be an extremely rare occurence even though it seems to get all the attention.



-Between the Jet Black BMW and the Audi, your paint covers the gamut from extremely soft to quite hard, so when you *do* polish you`ll have a lot of bases that need covered.



-For the polisher, I`d choose the Griot`s Garage 6" Random Orbital. Hands-down, no question, end of discussion (how`s *that* for an opinion :eek: ).



-Before you buy *anything*, I`d try to figure out what you need/want to do, *why*, and how you plan to do it. Whole lotta thinking/researching to do and yeah...it *does* get mind-numbingly complicated for "just waxing the car"! But I see too many people jump in the deep end without the requisite knowledge base. With three black cars, I`d hate to see you get off on the wrong foot.

[Cessick7]

Wow, some great advice. thanks all for taking the time to send your thoughts and opinions. I will be finishing up my Army Career in the next two months or so and then I will have a lot of time to figure this out. I am starting to think that $350.00 - $400.00 might not be enough to get everything I need to do the job right. Anyway, thanks again all.

[Accumulator]

Cessikc7-Hey, thanks for your service.



And yeah....you can burn through money pretty fast with this stuff!