Washing as a side job....WHAT PRODUCTS?!

J

Jake.K

New member
Ok, so i am about to start washing cars on the side, and need to go ahead and start ordering products. I need pretty much everything, from wash to wax. Pretty much the only products that i have that i think i will actually use is my lambskin wash mitt, glass cleaner, detailing spray, clay, and i have two MF towels, and one MF drying towel.



I need:

Wash-needs to be a good wash

wax-I need a wax that will really SHINE, and look good on all types of cars. ease of use is second most important, and durability third.

polish-I need a good polish that will remove inprefections, but not be too powerful. I might need more than one type of polish?

interior detail spray? i might just pick up some megs

dressings?

Anything elese you think a newcomer would need?



Now remember, in all of my products priority goes from A)how good it initially looks, B)ease of application, and C)durability.



Thanks in advance!
 
Wash - Chemical Guys Citrus Wash

Wax - Optimum Car Wax - Spray wax very easy to use and decent longevity. Remember the wax is not what makes most of the shine, it's the paint prep (clean and polish).

Polish - By hand I don't know, by PC/UDM/Cyclo/Rotary there is an infinity of them.

Interior detail - I don't use one... I clean with a steamer or just a wipe down then dress with PB Natural Look or Prima Nero



You need more towels, need buckets, grit guard, crates, bottles, sprayers, applicators, extension cord, hose, etc...
 
The others have pretty much covered it all. Here are some other alternatives for products that you can try out.



Wash: Meguiars Gold Class (available locally), Duragloss #901 (I've heard VERY good reviews of this soap, and the rinseless wash ONR.



Wax: OCW is not a bad choice. Collinite 845, Poorboys Natty Blue/Red, Optimum Optiseal, Pinnacle Souveran (might be too expensive for your needs), lots of choices for waxes



Polish: Are you going to be using a machine? Since you said not too powerful, Optimum Poliseal is a good choice. Optimum Polish would be more aggressive (relatively). Menzerna polishes, Poorboys SSR lineup...



Definitely get a lot more MF towels. Buy some cheap ones (Costco) for the grunge work, like wheels, interior, door jambs etc.. Then get some high quality ones for wax removal and such. Also get some WW's to dry.



Hope that helps.
 
Not to be the fly in the ointment here, but since you have asked some pretty fundamental questions, it would appear that you don't have very much detailing experience. Do you have a polishing machine? If you haven't spent a decent amount of time detailing your own or family/friends cars, you might want to think about gaining some experience that way before you venture out into the "professional" world.



My apologies in advance if you are an old hand.
 
i will be using a PC, and want a polish aggresive enough to really make dull paint shine, but not too much that it could possibly do damage to a car easily.



I had CG's citrus wash in mind, i have heard great things about it.

Sounds like OCW is a popular choice, ill have to look more into that. You said spray wax BTW; would that be as good as a liquid wax? Ive always thought that spray waxes were bad, but i have never really tried a spray wax.

is 303 aerospace good for interior use? The last vinyl and rubber dressing i had stunk up the interior for a week.



I hvae buckets, two MF's and a WW, but i do think i need a little more. I think ill keep the two i have as the "good towels", and find some cheap MF's for items like you said. Oh, and i need to buy a hose sprayer.



And yes, i know these are basic questions, but i have never bought anything except OTC, and when going online, there are thousands of products out there, and i need something that will really fit my needs. I have been doing my own car since i bought it, and before that, i was doing my parents cars.
 
With PC, you probably won't be doing much damage unless you are really trying to. I'd get OC and OP and a bunch of pads.



Spray waxes are not bad; it's just that their durability usually can't compare with liquid waxes.



I dunno, but two good towels doesn't sound like enough, especially if you are going to be doing polishing as well.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Not to be the fly in the ointment here, but since you have asked some pretty fundamental questions, it would appear that you don't have very much detailing experience. Do you have a polishing machine? If you haven't spent a decent amount of time detailing your own or family/friends cars, you might want to think about gaining some experience that way before you venture out into the "professional" world.



My apologies in advance if you are an old hand.
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Yeah, we covered that in the professional discussion. He seems to be interested in just car washes and will eventually introduce polishing after practice with a PC.
 
^^aye. I will start polishing as soon as i get my PC and feel confortable with it. I have three vehicles to test it out on, two being large vehicles.

And I cant really think of when i would need more than two towels, but then again i dont know too much about polishing...
 
Just to add to the wash ideas... Meguiar's Hyperwash will cost you about 16 cents a wash. 400:1 dilution ratio, and it's a great wash.
 
If you really wanna make it simple you can keep it OTC will all DG products. None of them received less than a good review here. Their wash, polish, apc, sealant etc... all are good.



If you wanna go internet, go to Chemical Guys and get some gallons of the stuff you would use the most. I'm assuming that since you are doing mostly washes that product prices will be important (when you are doing full details the product prices won't matter as much as they get diluted). Other options are Autogeek.net (use the autopia code for 10% off) or Danase (he also got a 10% off discount) or Top of the line. These stores carry multiple brands and you can save on shipping that way. Danase is also the only store I believe carries both PB and CG which could be benefitial to you.



Another thing to pay attention to: most, if not all, PB products can be used in the sun. I carry a few of their products to detail customer cars that do not have a garage or a shaded area.



If I were you and had a Carquest near me, I'd start with DuraGlos to see if this is what you really want to do. K-Mart also has good quality MF towels called Viking. The company that makes these also makes some high end MFs.



I think you should be good now... Good luck
 
Jake.K said:
... I cant really think of when i would need more than two towels, but then again i dont know too much about polishing...
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Even though I'm a fanatic about thin applications, I use at least two MFs to buff off LSPs (or one and a few MF bonnets if I'm removing by machine), even on small vehicles. For that matter, I usually use more than one WW to dry, even though I get almost all the water off with my AirWand first (there's doorjambs, under the hood, wheels, etc. and some of these areas will soil the drying towel sooner or later). When polishing, I'll go through a scad of MFs, as dried polish residue is not something I want to rub into the paint. And that's not even taking into account the ones that'll get dropped (and yeah, it'll happen...[stuff] *always* happens ;) ). I'd get a multi-pack from somebody, with more than you think you'd *ever* need; I'm utterly confident that you'll find that was a good idea.
 
I think Duragloss is a great all around choice. If you run out of anything you can always run down to your local Carquest and grab a refill.
 
Well i'll tell you what i'm using right now...



car wash - Duragloss 901 is a good car wash. It's cheap AND IT SMELLS LIKE CHERRIES!!!



wax - Haven't used any in a while. I have 2 full containers of s100 in the garage. Been using sealants for a couple of years now. I'm using blackfire right now and i think it's fan-frickin-tastic.



polish - I use Menzerna ip with a orange pad for correction. Then blackfire fp on a white pad to get rid of any hazing/micro marring (left from the menz ip) and too bring out the gloss.



interior - I use the trusted woolite mix unless i need something stronger. Then i use megs apc. But i hate the chemical smell of it so i need to pick up some the their apc+ (IT SMELLS LIKE ORANGES???????) Then i dress interiors with 303 aerospace protectant. You can find that stuff at a local boat store/dealer.



You might want some tire/trim dressing. If the wheels are real dirty you might need a wheel/tire cleaner. Wheel brushes help. Interior brushes for vents and crevasses. If you are doing interiors then you'll need a wet/dry vac at least. 3 mf towels isn't going to cut it. I'm not sure how many cars you are planning to do a day, but you'll be lucky to dry 1 car with those 3 towels. You need to dry the paint, windows, door jams, wheels etc. Then you will need towels to do the interior. You are going to need more than one wash mitt. What happens if it rips, falls apart, or gets contaminated with something like tar off a rocker panel? Need back ups.



I dunno man. In my opinion, if you are going to start charging people then you should have all this stuff figured out already. Good luck.
 
kleraudio said:
Yea +1 on the Kmart drying towel by Viking, its so plush, more so than some of the "boutique" MF's that I have.
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+2, they're just as good as the boutique brands... :up
 
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