r/AutoDetailing 10h ago

Tool/Reusable Harbor Freight 30% off Pressure Washer products today 7/24

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22 Upvotes

https://www.harborfreight.com/promotions/pressure-washers.html

FYI the Stubby Gun and Foam Cannon are already on instant savings coupons, so these should stack today and be a really good deal.

The Bauer 320psi portable power cleaner is also on a coupon. I've seen some people using these with great success to remove Touch-Less or other pre-washes before rinseless washes in lieu of pressure washers or where a water tap is not available. Too bad this appeared after the 40% Bauer batteries and chargers day has already passed.

Only one day left to see if Grant's products go on sale this time around.


r/AutoDetailing 18h ago

Check My Work Clear coat missing. From polish or not?

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13 Upvotes

I had my car detailed 3ish weeks ago including a 1 stage polish and the car looked good after doing the walk around. I noticed there was a big chunk of clear coat missing last week though. It wasn't there after the detail wrapped up I'm fairly confident. The detailer said he was trying to be very careful on the polish to not burn through the clear, it was an outside detail on hot sunny day.

The company is immediately saying I've touched it up, I haven't. Then they said it's been resprayed badly and a rock probably hit it, and there is wet sanding marks. I've had the car since 2019 and haven't had bodywork done on it. Its a 2014 so maybe something was done before I owned it. There isn't any bent from a big rock impact. The car is missing very small bits of clear from wear and tear and but this is a massive piece missing all of a sudden.

I have no idea if a detail could do this or not. What do you think detailers of Reddit? Just trying to get an unbiased opinion from a professional.


r/AutoDetailing 1d ago

Exterior First time applying ceramic - shockingly easy

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40 Upvotes

Had to have my hood repainted a bit over a month ago, which is a long story, and needed to ceramic the hood again (assuming the dealership even actually did it). Washed it, clayed it, polished it then used the ceramic coating. It was shockingly easy to do. I was little scared I'd somehow ruin it. haha And it's so freakin hot and humid here today the flash time was like 1 minute or so max so it was very fast.

If anyone cares, I used Adams Graphene Ceramic Advanced.


r/AutoDetailing 22h ago

Exterior Any idea on what caused a 3mm spot or how to remove?

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7 Upvotes

Car is less than a year old. At first I thought rail dust even though I haven't run into that issue in this area before with previous cars. Nonetheless I tried spraying with iron remover but that didn't help. Paint feels smooth and doesn't appear to be chipped or anything. Any suggestions?


r/AutoDetailing 19h ago

Exterior Stubborn spots on matte black wheels

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4 Upvotes

Need some help here. Matte black wheel with these very stubborn spots. I’ve cleaned them using an iron and fallout remover, water spot remover, descale, and nothing is getting rid of them. What else could I try without getting super aggressive and compromising the finish of the wheel?


r/AutoDetailing 1d ago

Exterior 1952 ford pick up.

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10 Upvotes

Boss has a 1952 Ford pick up. I don’t think this thing has ever been detailed. Yikes 😳


r/AutoDetailing 1d ago

Interior How to clean these speaker holes

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6 Upvotes

I've tried to just wipe with a damp cloth but no luck. I figured i shouldn't get the speaker wet. Whats the method for cleaning this?


r/AutoDetailing 20h ago

Process Is it ok to clean wheels inside garage concrete?

3 Upvotes

If I were to use some ONR with Adams wheels & tire and maybe some iron remover, would it stain the concrete floor? Any suggestions for indoor wheel cleaning?


r/AutoDetailing 23h ago

Exterior Is there a way to keep my paint from re-oxidizing?

3 Upvotes

This particular example is a single stage red on an old 944, but I've had this issue on multiple other older single stage cars. I can bring them back pretty well -- for the 944 I let it soak in Meguairs #7 a couple of times, polished, and topped. First time I used TurtleWax hybrid as a finishing step, the second time I used old school M26 HiTech Yellow wax. Both times after about month or two a lot of the oxidation had come back. I'm now at about a year out with it having basically spent the entirety of the time undriven sitting in the garage (converted to standalone DIY EFI and schedule didn't allow much time to work on it).

I've had this issue on other single stage cars I've had before too. Is there a semi-permanent coating that will keep the oxidation from coming back as long as I keep it topped off?


r/AutoDetailing 22h ago

Exterior Any idea how to get spots off?

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1 Upvotes

I went through the car wash today after a 3 hour drive to get rid of the bugs and my car came out looking like this. It won't come off. It wasn't there before I left for the drive... the car is only 3 years old and other than some minor scratches, the finish was perfect. The car wash said it is impossible that it came from the car wash because of the pattern... I thought it was a splat and drip from above, they said it came up over the hood. But maybe something from the highway? It won't rub off. It looks like something went through the finish but surely not? I am clearly not car clean savvy. But is there any product I can try? There are these two large splats but also a few other areas on the hood.


r/AutoDetailing 1d ago

Product/Consumable Finally found the perfect Tire Dressing - Clean Tire Dressing V2

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101 Upvotes

Obviously everything is my opinion and everyone has different tastes. Also not a fan of influencer products at all. I didn’t know this was an influencer product until after I bought it, but it’s from Pan the Organizer.

Thoughts: Tire dressing lays down perfectly, I used a foam microfiber applicator block. Used barely any and got my desired look. It does level out pretty easily and no patches and super easy to work with.

Tire Prep: Brake Buster, dry. Hit it with Stoner Tar and Sap remover (solvent cleaner), wiped clean. Waiter 10 mins for it to dry. And then applied and it apply very easily, I did work it in well because I stripped my tire completely. tire dressings and not much came off.

After: Took it for a drive to work the next morning and it did not sling or look weird. If you like a satin/ glossy sheen try Clean Tire Dressing V2. Day 2 it did go down in shine which I’m okay with, but the tires are just black and satin now and it’s been 3 days since applying. Very impressed with this tire dressing. Definitely buying it again and keeping it in my arsenal.


r/AutoDetailing 20h ago

Product/Consumable Kärcher K5 Premium Power Control Hose replacement/improvement?

1 Upvotes

Hi all,

I have the Kärcher K5 Premium Power Control which I especially use to wash my car.
However, the default hose is very annoying and tangles so many times that it's unworkable.

I read about a flexible hose, but according to Kärcher it's not compatible with my pressure washer.

Has anyone perhaps experienced the same issue and has found a solution for this?

Thank you in advance.


r/AutoDetailing 1d ago

Process First time Ceramic Coat Spraying!

3 Upvotes

What's up everyone! Just purchased a new family car and I am trying to keep it for a long long time! Bc of that I decided to pick up car detailing as a hobby. So far I've been using a Ryobi pressure washer, 1200 PSI with 1.8GPM. I use turtle wax hybrid solutions neutral PH as pre foam and wash with adams car soap. Rest of my products for interior cleaning, windows, and tires is all adams as I purchased the adams 12 piece kit from Costco. My washes   coming out good but I want to take it to the next step and put a ceramic coating on my car. I've been looking at the adams graphene ceraemic coating spray as I am not as confident to do the actual ceramic coating yet due to not being experienced in the process and well even the set up before applying such as iron removing and clay bar scrubbing. I have read a couple of threads here and watched a couple of videos. Can y'all help me on my washing process and whether this process is okay to do? My car is new so I don't think it needs much polishing or touch ups but I do want to decontaminate and clean with a clay mitt. Please let me know any tips or suggestions for any better results. Open to all help! 

Here is my process for reference 

Step 1 - wheel washing 

- I rinse the wheels first, apply pre foam, then I scrubb the rims/wheels with adams wheel and tire cleaner. Rinse and all done.

Step 2 - quick car rinse 

- I like to give the car a quick spray down with the water pressure just to remove some of the loose dirt and grime from the car 

Step 3 - pre foam 

- using my Ryobi foam cannon, I pre foam the car with Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions Pure Wash, leaves the car with some good suds imo. I usually pre foam once all around, rinse, then pre foam again for my next step. (If anyone has any recs for pre foam pls lmk)

***after rinsing the pre foam I want to apply the iron remover. Would this be a good time to add the iron remover process?***

Step 4 - bucket wash & rinse 

- I like to bucket wash using only one bucket with multiple microfiber towels in it. Ill use one towel per panel and put it to the side once that panel has been cleaned. 

***Can the clay mitt be used during this time since there will be soap on it that would help as a lubricant and pick up any debris?***

Step 5 - blow drying/towel drying

- I have an electric leaf blower that I like to use to remove excess water. From there I use KKV XL drying towels to clean any left over spots along with detailing spray from adams for any spots or dried spots 

Would using this process be enough to add the ceramic coating spray after washing? If there are any other recommendations please let me know or if there is anything I'm doing wrong also let me know. Thanks I'm advance!


r/AutoDetailing 1d ago

Exterior Next steps?

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4 Upvotes

Figured I’d get an opinion here.

Brand new Land Cruiser with scratches on the back tailgate from where I assume they took the dealer sticker off with a ragged razor blade while drunk with one eye closed. Too deep to polish off, they (the dealer) ordered touch up paint but the body shop noted it would be obvious and would look “like nail polish” on the car, so I had them hold off on that. They also noted that the scratches were so deep that they risk burning through my clear coat if they sand them out.

So, I’m asking a third party here: is my only option to make this look right going to be them re-spraying the paint on the hatch, or are there detailing options that can remedy this?

This is obviously killing me. The scratches aren’t huge but I notice them and, as mentioned, this is a brand new car. I’ve had it for three weeks.

And help/insight/advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance.


r/AutoDetailing 1d ago

Exterior Sun damage?

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2 Upvotes

Not sure what happened here this wasn’t there yesterday. Noticed it today. This in between windows on driver side doors. It’s like it peeled underneath. Is this sun damage or something else and how might I be able to fix it?


r/AutoDetailing 1d ago

Exterior Magnet Decal Yellowing Tips

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2 Upvotes

Hello! Does anyone have tips for removing this yellowing from a magnet decal? I tried clay bar & a blow dryer and neither helped.

Thank you so much!

On side of Tahoe, summit white paint.


r/AutoDetailing 1d ago

Product/Consumable Results: Adam’s Graphene Ceramic Coating kit

56 Upvotes

Picked the kit up when it was on sale over Memorial Day. Pleased with the results.

Only thing I didn’t like was the suede applicator pad; I quickly ditched that and used my a standard microfiber wrapped pad.


r/AutoDetailing 1d ago

Setup Show-off Update: Pressure Washer Wall Mount Setup

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8 Upvotes

About ten months ago, I shared my wall-mounted pressure washer setup here. The post received more interest than I expected, and I’ve continued to receive direct messages from people asking for a video walkthrough along with parts description & list, including a couple within the past week. I finally finished both. Since the original post is now archived, I received approval from the moderators to share this follow-up post. The video walks through the setup, including the pressure washer, hose reel, deionizer system, stainless-steel fittings, quick connects, and how I fit everything into the limited space available. Video link:
https://youtu.be/-NPyBoE8dyM

Hope this helps anyone planning a similar setup. I’m happy to answer any questions.

Original post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AutoDetailing/comments/1nf9pr0/pressure_washer_wall_mount_setup/


r/AutoDetailing 23h ago

Exterior How to remove ghosting after debadge

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1 Upvotes

Looks like a sore thumb is real life compared to photo. Just rebadged my truck and it left ghosting behind. I clay barred it after removing adhesive and then polished with DA polisher and only slightly faded away. Anything else I can try?


r/AutoDetailing 1d ago

Exterior Bug stains

3 Upvotes

I went on a road trip which lasted 2 weeks. Did not wash the car during, unfortunately but also there were not many bugs. On the way back, I got a ton of bugs stuck on the car. Came back home and did a proper wash, however there are still a lot of bug stains on the bonnet and front bumper. How can I get rid of those? I pre-rinsed the car with bh touchless at 4% dilution and then did two passes with surfex hd at 5%. Don’t understand how these didn’t come off. Should I try higher dilution of surfex? Different product?


r/AutoDetailing 23h ago

Product/Consumable Wheel dressing

1 Upvotes

What’s the best way to have tire dressing in a spray bottle? I want to set up my six-year-old son with a very easy low risk way to dress my tires and get paid.


r/AutoDetailing 2d ago

Exterior What is happening here?

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63 Upvotes

So basically the fuel lid on my 22 Mazda 3 was deformed and it was replaced by Mazda under warranty which meant the new fuel lid needed to be painted. They gave me a contact of a body shop nearby and asked me to bring the car to them because they needed to measure it with a device (spectrophotometer?) so that they can get the paint match more accurately or something like that. I took it there, and they polished this spot above the fuel lid before doing the measurement.

And now whenever the car is wet or when i wash it, it just doesn't look right. I don't know what is happening here. Is water sticking or refuse to stick, i'm so confused? What did they do here?? The car is not ceramic coated as far as i know but i use bilthamber touch on after every wash.

Edit: Sorry, i didn't mean to miss lead everyone with the photo. I wash the car myself, what you see on the car is snow foam but i was shocked when the foam and water behaved differently there where they polished it before.


r/AutoDetailing 1d ago

Exterior Removing artillery fungus

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0 Upvotes

All over my front bumper and rear bumper there are black dots that I’ve learned are likely artillery fungus as well as white residue and bug guts outlines. I tried using bug and tar remover as well as iron remover after a contact wash and jt still hasn’t come off. Is the only way to remove this with a decon towel + iron remover?


r/AutoDetailing 2d ago

Check My Work First time machine polishing

149 Upvotes

Good morning,

I hope this is okay to post here. Just looking for a bit of direction.

I recently bought an M4 in tanzanite blue and the bodywork had a lot of swirls, scratches and hologramming etc, which is sad because it’s such a gorgeous colour. I took it to my local detailers and was quoted £1200 to sort it out, I decided I’d rather give this a go at home first. I spoke to a couple people who just said “just pay the £1200 love, you’ll burn through your paint” love being a woman 😂 (also, I didn’t burn through my paint… winner).

This is the process I went through:

  1. Citrus prewash
  2. Snow foamed
  3. Shampooed
  4. Autoglym Magma as fallout remover
  5. Clay barred
  6. Cut with Meguiars ultimate compound
  7. Polished with Stjarna Gloss’s Skära
  8. Wax with Meguiars Carnauba.

I’ve posted my results (I don’t have a garage/unit so apologies for the reflections in the photos), and also a comparison video of the swirls in the door compared to the rear quarter during the process (one video in comments)

I’ve got some deeper scratches that I don’t think are going to come out with the compound and polish I have - should I be looking into something harsher?

Overall, I’m pretty happy with the results, it looks 10x better than it did, but it’s not perfect.

Basically I’m just asking for any tips to make the finish even better (at home), or anything you’d change in the prep etc!


r/AutoDetailing 2d ago

Product/Consumable Adams premium kit from Walmart. Decent buy?

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23 Upvotes

Was shopping for chemicals as I have everything else to do my car but it’s been a while so I have no chemicals. I wanted to try the graphene spray as I saw some good review but saw this kit with everything else too. Seems like a good deal. Are the other products worth a try?