r/Detailing

I recently purchased my car from the dealership and didn’t do enough research on my car. I decided to cerame coat my matte car thinking it would protect my car from dust and rain. I reached out to a local mobile detailer and they provided me service. Today it rained and i am just questioning if the car is properly cerame coated.

Hello everyone, last week I bought 2026 Hyundai Tucson ultimate with grey interior ans just wondering how you guys are maintaining seats any leather products you use ? What you recommend for maintaining?

Edit: should have noted that yes, I used my garden hose, not a pressure washer.

I just tested out my new Armor All sprayer/foam cannon and it's cool to use so far.

I followed the instructions on the box and my foam came out super loose instead of a thick coating like I expected. I used the ratio of water to car wash soap as the box described: 6oz of soap and 32oz of water.

The soap I used is Meguiar's Gold Class.

Any tips on how to make the foam super thick and coat the car instead of it running off?

(See pics for reference.)

I'm trying to clean/polish the chrome wheels on my truck, and there are some isolated spots/tarnish on them that I can't polish out. I've tried using Griot's Heavy Duty Wheel Cleaner and Chemical Guys Heavy Metal Polish. I've been told that I shouldn't use acid based cleaners to remove the tarnish, so what other options do I have to remove this? I'm nervous about getting too aggressive with it, and it's very distracting when they are cleaned and polished otherwise.

Edit: I should probably mention that these are chrome coated aluminum wheels, if it changes the recommendations.

For starters, I’m not a highly educated individual, I don’t do this for a living, i simply have adhd and like spending money on random tinkering projects for our vehicles. I’m not claiming to know what I talk about nor have I coated a windshield before. I have used UK3.0 with success though.

Looking to see if I did things right, maybe pointers on my next go around, or maybe I’m just used to the old fashion Rain-X? I get that this isn’t a high dollar product but it was $10 bucks (half off at Advance when I bought my headlight kit).

Anyways, I cleaned the windshield, then wiped it down with a diluted ipa mixture, then applied. It flashed rather quickly (less than a minute). Dampened the applicator, cross hatched it. Leveled then buffed. All of this was in a shop on a cool surface.

Finally got some rain after 3 days. Water beads away exceptionally fast, however it seems to leave a bunch of ‘lingering mist marks’ that get produced when the water makes contact with the windshield,
and doesn’t exactly seem to sheet it away like paint.

Maybe this is normal? Maybe I didn’t use enough? Maybe it’s just junk?

amazon flag tipped brush

Trying to figure out if this thing is going to be good at bugs guts and ALSO be fine for using on some "customers" giant trucks. One is too old to do much and the other is in construction and beats his truck to hell, but uses it to tow his boats so his wife is sick of riding in the dirtmobile, point being it doesn't need to be perfect or fancy, I just don't want to make it any worse or peel off the decals by using too harsh a scrubbing tool.

Is this from the battery acid? Cause the battery IS right above this. the paint on the upper control arm is chipped and peeling up and I’m certain it wasn’t anywhere near this bad when I rinsed it a couple of days ago and I rinsed it again today and then saw this after checking for a grinding sound in the brakes after cleaning (seemingly rust as the sound got quiet and stopped and they looked fine). Last pic is the other side.

Edit some things to add. I replaced the battery roughly 8 months ago and it wasn’t leaking + I’ve done lots of rinses since then. Also brake fluid and power steering fluid are full.

Also 4 months ago I had 2 white zip ties tied around the frame in exactly this spot. I used them to hold my phone to get a video of the upper ball joint. I had just left them and I always noticed them when I cleaned it because I thought they looked really stupid. Well 3 days ago when I was washing it I noticed they were gone and I just thought the heat somehow broke them off. I’m wondering if this doesn’t have anything to do with it. That’s also how I KNOW FOR A FACT it was not at all like this even after the battery change.

I've been detailing my own cars for like twenty years and I swear to god the interior vent louvers are the bane of my existence because the detail brushes always push the dust further back into the duct and those gel slime things just leave a sticky residue behind so out of pure frustration yesterday I used my new electric air duster for car air vent cleaning while i had the shop vac running next to it to catch the blowback and honestly it took me three seconds to clean what usually takes twenty minutes of tedious swabbing... The velocity on this cordless blower is insane and it blasted out caked dust from deep inside the hvac system that i didnt even know was there and now my cabin actually smells fresh again instead of stale plastic so why is nobody in the detailing community talking about using an electric air duster for interior blowouts instead of just spending hundreds on compressed air lines??

What’s your go to for one step corrections for when you want to whiz over the paint fast and easy? Basically just to cleanse the paint and add some gloss.

Specifically looking for a Tire cleaner, I’m in a clay environment daily and would like a decent tire cleaner. I know of Adam’s, Chemical Guys etc.

I washed my brand new car a few days ago and just noticed these scratches all over the hood. They’re over the whole car, but not as noticeable than the hood and you can only see them in the direct light. But I can even barely feel some with my finger.

I followed YouTube videos to a T using ONR, the gray sponge everyone uses, and a microfiber towel. It turned out great, except for these scratches. I used this exact towel (https://theragcompany.com/collections/all-microfiber-towels/products/the-liquid8r-m22-drying-towel) and realized I didn’t wash the towel prior to use. How screwed am I? Are these easily fixable? Or am I just being paranoid since the car is 1 week old.