Any detailing products for the lazy?

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CharlieS

CharlieS

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Full disclosure, the last time I waxed a car was 1993 - some silly hard carnuba wax that took a whole afternoon to apply. Don't get me wrong, I love working on my car (mechanical and upgrades), but hate the thought of spending more than a half hour on washing and primping. I can think of so many better ways to spend several hours of my life.

Then again, I'm too cheap to pay someone hundreds of dollars to clean it. I tried to book a detail last year and they were booked four months out and wanted north of $300 for my full size SUV. If they'd had an appointment in the next month, I admit, I would probably have paid the coin despite my general cheapness. I live in a rural area, so the options are limited for professionals.

So now I see these spray on hybrid coatings on infomercial style ads. My mind screams snake oil, but I'm tempted to try one. Their advertising is targeted at the slacker like me that wants ceramic shine with spray on effort.

Are there any of them that are passable? Not Pebble beach good, but good enough to add a little shine without much effort...

Can you recommend any easy to apply products that can increase the shine on my (otherwise decent) factory paint?
 
I know you realize there's no such thing as a free lunch....

But once your truck is clean and swirls removed, the easiest I've found is Opti-Seal. You can source it from Amazon or other places. Basically you apply a very thin layer then walk away and let it dry - no buffing off. But it should be stressed that opti-seal has no cleaning or polishing ability, it needs a good clean base to work from. It wont give you the shine of a ceramic, but it does work. Used it for a couple of years on my wife's Avalon.

The easiest ceramic I've found is Armor Shield IX. It too requires a good condition paint as a baseline, but it isn't as tricky to get it off as some ceramics are. That likely means it's not as good a ceramic either, but it works pretty good on my truck (so far, I've only had it for 6 months).

Both mentioned products won't discolor rubber or plastic if you get it on there. I applied Armor Shield on all my truck's glass, including the windshield and outside rearview mirrors - and no longer use Rain-X. I even put it on the head and tail lamp plastics - hoping it will delay the dreaded plastic discoloring. Time will tell.

But I'm not a pro-detailer. Others might have better solutions, these just work for me.
 
I'll tell you lazy.

Costco carwash, $7.99. Approximately every month. DA orbital buffer about once a year with some good wax.

It's what happens when it's the utility vehicle amongst three in the garage.
 
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TeCKis300 said:
Costco carwash, $7.99. Approximately every month. DA orbital buffer about once a year with some good wax.
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That's not detailing. That's essentially grinding the dirt off the paint with a big belt sander. <shudder>

I've used a couple of the spray-on ceramic products, and they do work... OK. They don't last very long though. My Miata got a complete pro ceramic treatment last fall and it's soooo easy to take care of now. But it's not a cheap process. They quoted me $2100 to do the Cruiser. Not happening.

You can do really well with a foam cannon on a pressure washer, a clay mitt/towel, dry, then some sort of spray on sealant or detailing spray. Once you get the paint really clean and polished, it's much easier to keep it clean. I've been using a waterless cleaner recently, and I'm pretty happy with it. I always give the car a good water rinse first to knock off all the bigger stuff, then you just squirt this stuff on, wipe it down with a wet MF towel, then buff with a clean dry MF towel. The one I use also has a sealant/wax in it:

Amazon product ASIN B00X04JRMU
 
How lazy? I'd say I've embraced the pinstripes and am considering turning over a new leaf.

I don't drive around with it all muddy (most of the time...). I hit an automated car wash every couple of months (more in the winter to wash off salt), and hit it with the one with a wand on the garden hose if it gets muddy. I don't think wax has ever seen the surface (unless you count the stuff in the automated car wash). I don't own an orbital buffer, and don't plan to buy one.

In a perfect world, I could hit the car wash, get it pretty clean, spray something on (maybe buff it off with a microfiber towel) and do that once a year to keep it more shiny and repel more dirt.

I am definitely not in the market for the professional ceramic stuff. It's cool, but not something I'm willing to spend on.

I just ordered the Turtle Wax stuff and will give it a shot.

Thanks all.
 
CharlieS said:
I am definitely not in the market for the professional ceramic stuff. It's cool, but not something I'm willing to spend on.
Thanks all.
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I said the same thing. I wanted to freshen up the finish after buying used & get a wax swirl mark or two out from previous owner. Went to a couple of places for detailing and there were $150 options, $250 options, etc for traditional wash and wax at the typical car wash places that I pass daily.

Then I went to one that was recommended by a friend later that week a bit off the beaten path, and they said their large SUV $900 clay bar & full ceramic job has a 1st time price of $600. I thought they were nuts. I started researching it and looking into the process. I let my previous 4 runner paint get a bit neglected later in its life, so after some thought I did it since I just don't know how to do it myself properly.

When I went to pick it up that evening (all day process for two guys on just my truck) they were in their showroom with like 5 shop lights pointed at it finishing up what looked like a piece of art. It looks exactly like a brand new LC now. It is slippery af. It beads like crazy, and washes up to that new-look again easily with a quick soap wash. I never thought I would say it, but it was a very good $600 spent. Said that coating should last 18-24 mos. Call me crazy/take it for what its worth.
 
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KLF said:
That's not detailing. That's essentially grinding the dirt off the paint with a big belt sander. <shudder>
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Guilty as accused.

With my proprietary belt sander process, she does clean up well.

Couple hours of effort running through the Costco carwash, Porter Cable DA orbital with Meguiars medium polishing compound, DA orbital with Meguiars NXT Tech Wax.

No credit to me. The 200-series paint durability is as good as they come.

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The primary reason I bother with wax (technically polymer sealant) is to avoid UV damage and hopefully keep the paint in good shape for decades. Toyota isn't immune to oxidized paint on even their expensive vehicles. If I scratch up some bumper skins off-road, get a few pinstipes.. whatever. But I won't tolerate the paint on the roof and hood starting to degrade from neglect.
 
Turtle wax Hybrid Solutions Ceramic Polish and wax Is an all in one for the lazy. Good paint correction and hydrophobic property is amazing. I usually use Meguiars compound, polish, and wax but wanted to try this new stuff. Affordable, easy to work with, and results!

I used a machine to apply the polish & wax and wiped it off with a microfiber. Gave it 24 hours to cure and topped it off with their ceramic spray coating.

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I went the spendy way to make life easier and had a ceramic coat done. World of difference cleaning the car, takes 15 min with a sprayer and a bucket to get show level looks. My car sees so much mud, snow, salt, and dust all the time, the coating is worth it to make washing faster.
 
CCinSD said:
Turtle wax Hybrid Solutions Ceramic Polish and wax Is an all in one for the lazy. Good paint correction and hydrophobic property is amazing. I usually use Meguiars compound, polish, and wax but wanted to try this new stuff. Affordable, easy to work with, and results!

I used a machine to apply the polish & wax and wiped it off with a microfiber. Gave it 24 hours to cure and topped it off with their ceramic spray coating.

View attachment 2291948

View attachment 2291949
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Looks great, when can I drop my truck off?

Seriously I need to do something with mine. It looks great from a few feet but I can feel some light grit when I rub my hand over the paint after a good wash / wax. I may need a clay bar or something. It's been many years since I have done anything more than a good wash and wax on a vehicle.

Can you recommend a good affordable place in San Diego?
 
If you hand wash your car, just get a clay mitt! You can get it at amazon for a good price. Basically, one side is a microfiber wash mitt and the other is a clay side. Makes it so much easier to clay, as the wash soap is the lubricant. 2 birds with one stone. Supposedly, the clay mitt isn't for heavy duty embedded particles, but it should clean up the surface pretty well that it'll feel smooth again. Plus its 100x easier to use!
 
Adam's H20 Guard and Gloss. Been using it for 2 years, it's amazing stuff. Wash rig, don't dry it. Spray Adam's and then start drying it. Once over again with a dry cloth and done. Very nice ceramic-like finish, I'm not totally lazy but his definitely is a short cut to a nice finish.
 
Def not for the lazy but I just took a dual orbital and some different pads and compounds to the passenger side of my truck to remove some pin striping from big bend.. then some synthetic wax applied the old school way. Holy s*** it is nice now. Like, you can’t lean on the truck or you’ll slide off nice.

Thinking I’ll do the rest of the panels and find a way to get the corrugation of the roof done then apply a couple coats of wax to the whole thing.

It’s easy to forget how nice fresh paint and wax looks when it’s been so long.. plus I’m pretty sure bugs will come off the front easier as well.
 
Lots of good info in here. Interested to try the TW Hybrid.
A lazy thing I’ve been using is HydroSilex Restorer. It’s a spray on wipe off coating. Beads like crazy all over for about 2-4 months depending on how I wash. Have done clay bar then compound and finished with this and was slick as heck. I like that you can put it on every surface- paint, plastic, rubber, etc. I got so tired of cleaning way off black plastic. All I’ll use are counting which can go on everything.
 
This is my new favorite detailing tool:

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I swear they made this thing for detailing, blowing water off your car when finished washing. The nozzle is soft rubber so if you bump anything painted it won't scratch anything. My favorite place to use it is after I've finished washing under the hood, all the engine nooks and crannys. But it's also great for blowing water out of the hard-to-reach places, like inside the mirrors, around the headlights & taillights, door jambs, etc.

It's also super handy for cleaning out the garage, blowing all the crap off the floor out the open door that the cars track in (sand, leaves, etc). I keep a battery on mine so it's always ready to go.
 
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