As a 100% mobile detailer whose main focus is ceramic coating and paint corrections, I could not survive without the tips in this video. Circular motions for applying the coating and using a pad washer and damp pad shave hours off the process and deliver top notch results. I can do an exterior detail/decon with the clay towel and iron remover, single step machine polish and ceramic coat in a single day in the comfort of my client's own driveway. Thank you, Yvan!
Thank you for the tips! Disclaimer: I only wash one car, mine. Instead of washing mitts between panels, I put six mitts in a soapy bucket. I use one side of each to wash two adjacent panels top to bottom. Then I flip it over and wash two more adjacent panels. Then the mitt goes in an empty bucket and I grab a new mitt out of the soapy bucket. It usually only takes five mitts, with the sixth as a backup in case I drop one on the ground. At the end, all of the mitts go into the clothes washer along with all of the other microfiber products I used in the process, and they all get washed (gentle cycle) and dried (low heat). I don't need to wash anything but the car during the process. Mitts are cheaper than time.
This has been a life changer for me! I have a LOT of huge trucks with colossal, knobby tires in my market area and that tiny foam applicator wasn't cutting it for me. Initially I thought the flag tipped brush was going to be too sloppy but legit on the first tire my technique was locked in and my accuracy was pinpoint. I'm NEVER going back. From low-profile tires to mudders it's the ft brush every time.
I've done testing with foaming the car, followed by a contact wash vs. foaming the car, let it dwell, rinse, foam again, contact wash, and the latter option keeps my wash bucket way cleaner. I use clear buckets, and I can see how much less grit is in my bucket utilizing the latter method.
Dont skip the 2nd foam. use your high ph cleaner first and after a dwell and rinse hit it with strait foam for LUBRICATION. care care is a marathon not a sprint. I use only the best.@@Zoranurai13
@@Zoranurai13 I mix KC gentle snow foam with KC Green Star and I get 10.5 ph in the foam canon. I use half for the pretreatment and the other half for the contact wash
Thank God this channel exists; kept thinking to myself after years of watching car detailing videos ‘all of this seems like overkill’, obnoxious almost and you guys clearly explained that here.
You had me at “preservation” and “shiny scratches” …detailing Gandalf sounds very knowledgeable, this is my first video, I’m gonna keep going but could it be I finally found the most complete diy automobile paint detailing in here? Will keep you posted, thanks guys.
Yeah, buddy. The FRF method has been my go-to for the last year. I've saved so much product and most importantly TIME. I have an LLC for my detail company but I only take appointments on the weekend so saving time gets me back to my Saturday and Sunday. My family has no complaints.
@@diydetailofficialhow do save product? I see more soap is being used. Foaming has been around for eons but only recently has it claimed that is removing enough grit to not do the 2 bucket method.
What I use for tire dressing is just a 2-inch natural bristle paint brush. Between 1 and 2 dollars from the hardware store, and they deal with all the sidewall patterns and ridges beautifully.
This method is further improved with the use of some plush microfiber towels. Then you get 8 clean sides per wash media and are never using potentially dirty media to clean a panel.
I have been a dealership detailer for a couple years but I actually wanted to be good at it. I’ve done full paint correction on a car in less than 12 hours out of pure necessity and just stumbled on using my pad washer every panel.
Another overrated point is thinking that products can be used in 1 way only. It may (or may not) work better but it will certainly cost much more long term than having 1 product that can be used multiple ways (ex rinseless as wash, clay lube, interior, pad washing, etc)
you nailed it there. even carpro immolube which I tested recently I told Avi the owner of Carpro all the other things I can use it for that he never designed it to do. I cleaned my whiteboard with it and although not ideal, as I had no dedicated cleaner and couldnt get the blue marker imprints off with the duster, the immo at 1:1 sure did. it also can be used as polish extender and a pad cleaner in a pinch. spritz the stained pad, give it a rub with a glove on or use a brush then compressed air blow or or rinse it and bingo, super clean pad. no more stains and it doesn't soften the foam or discolour it. this is why sometimes manufacturers send me stuff as I test things with outside the box methods and on surfaces never designed to be used with it. using polishes on exterior trim is another, not all will stain trim, they fix them.
I wash the wheel wells when I wash the tires and wheels. Makes the finished car look so much cleaner with clean wheel wells. The plastic and carpet look darker and mat which I feel helps frame the wheels and helps the paint pop and look shiny. Especially effective on light coloured cars. So I foam the car, tires, and wheel wells let it dwell then rinse. Foam again, wash the wheels, tires and wheel wells and rinse and foam the paint again for the contact wash. I live in Taiwan and we get lots of industrial fallout and the trees leave a soft sap that will stain your paint if left in the sun to bake. The third foam helps soften and dissolve the sap and makes removing the sap easier.
Brilliant guys. Seriously, I’ve just purchased a new, second hand gem, that I want to preserve, so I have had a deep dive into youtube detailing. You blokes are the best information, without any BS. Simply excellent advice. So very well done and keep up the good work - from Queensland, Australia. Sláinte Patrick H
I'm so glad I found this channel and this video through Pan's channel. I used to dread detailing my car. I would start early Saturday to get it washed and clayed, then spend Sunday trying to polish and wax. It almost always take up my whole weekend and I was not doing anything other than working on the car. I would even bike or walk to lunch because I didn't want to drive the car in the middle of everything. Most importantly, I would be so exhausted and sore after the whole ordeal. I still did it because I wanted the car to look great but it did wear down my passion over time. After I replaced my car with an SUV I actually never properly detailed it because of the amount of work and time I'd spent. I would just hand wash then a coat of wax at the beginning of spring and then again at mid-fall, while just going through automatic car wash in between every other month just to save time and effort. The car is clean but it's not great, and I can still see swirl marks since the day I took delivery (yes it's kind of like Pan's new car that came pre-swirled). Now that I saw this video and Pan's on prepping and detailing his new car, I think I'll invest in some tools and pick up detailing again on mine. Thank you so much for your advices.
Threw my clay bar out. It marred the hell out of my last car and without a machine polisher recovery by hand was painstaking. Now just good practice low contact washes combined with glazes and waxes/sealants keeps paint looking brilliant. It’ll take a long time until a polish is needed.
Howdy! I've been relearning how to buff/polish without an 8k rpm angle grinder while also learning paint correction. Since I've been watching your videos, I'm learning all about one of your topics. If it doesn't look right, apply more pressure. OMG I'm having a hard time kicking that bad habit. I picked up a 7" cordless rotary polisher, Meguiar's M85 and M210, TW hybrid ceramic acrylic polish and my 20 year old black vehicle is shining once again. Thank you very much for your honesty in this video, and also simply thank you for creating and publishing it!
Pro Tip - Unlike where you show yourself washing the rocker panels, then washing the hood of the car, wash the rocker panels last. The rockers tend to be dirtiest and less chance of carrying that dirt and grit to the hood of the car.
For me, as a hobbiest who just have (hopefully had) this mentality of "I just have to try this and that", the most overrated processes I've found is: 1) Washing with soap vs. a rinseless. A rinseless works, even in Norway where I live, but people don't seem to believe me 😔 I'm tired of rinsing suds... 2) Using a clay bar. It's inefficient, but I agree: sometimes you have to use it, but in general you don't. Use a clay towel. 3) Cleaning wheel arches. Lasts maximum a day, and never seems to be perfectly clean on a daily driver anyway. 4) Using specific interior products 😂😂😂 My God I have tried many interior products. I remember I was quite shocked when I saw the interior of my friends car, and I asked him what he used to do when he detailed the interior: "Oh, I don't clean the interior, I believe my girlfriend just use a damped microfiber towel." The interior of the car looked so good 😂 Keep on the good work guys 🇳🇴
Hi guys, best thing I ever bought a pad washer (lake 4000), I'm in my mid 60s and still detailing, and I go to is the rotary just let the machine do the work, most vehicles I detail are pre clear coat one stage paint. Keep up the good work and info
So glad I don't need to use the 2 bucket method anymore. I felt so guilty when I was using it and accidentally forgot to dip into the rinse bucket. I thought I ruined everything!
I prefer these types of videos. Yes. The pad washer is fantastic. I just hated hand washing pads after a polishing. It's hard on your hands, too. There is something to cleaning the pad in the washer and cooling down the pad. Thanks guys for the video.
Foam, rinse, foam, contact wash with clean mitt or microfiber towel, one wash bucket, do not put a dirty mitt or fiber towel back in the wash bucket. Always use a new clean mitt or towel to wash a section at a time. Only need 4 or 5 clean mitts or microfiber towels to wash most vehicles. Do a section, put the dirty/used mitt or towel in a different empty bucket to be washed later. Take the new one, dip it in your clean wash bucket, wash another section, discard it in the bucket with the other dirty mitts and towels, and repeat. Then rinse, blow off most of the water with an air gun or leaf blower, then dry with microfiber and a drying aid, some type of a quick detail spray to help lubricate the surface and add glossy shine to the vehicle while drying it.
new to your videos. I like your delivery and knowledge. I appreciate you. I've always been into cars, but taking care of them has always been a learning curve. I am really listening and trying to be more like you guys. Thx for a SHINNY bunch of cars
I love this video seriously so much insight! Actual real clarity, knowledge, and experienced being showcased and explained, great video!!! Thank you, you two!
I washed one of the company cars at work today using the foam-rinse-foam-contact-rinse-dry method and thought I was going to die after getting used to the rinse less wash coat-contact-dry method I use on less dirty cars like it was, but I didn't have any rinse less wash with me.
I did the circular motion with my ceramic coating and it works with any coating. I had 0 issues with high spots and I used way less prosuct. You can do circular motion with a microfiber applicator too, same good results.
Detailing is just elbow grease which should be minimized by keeping up on it with regular washes, but not too often. What also should be minimized is the need for an array of supplies and tools. We're just cleaning cars here, it's not rocket science. Most people do more damage to the paint with excessive washes and unnecessary techniques . Unless you've got a black car or your talking about 20 years of neglect, you don't need to buff the thing. Most of those surface scratches cannot even be seen unless your specifically looking. Get yourself a $10 clay bar, some spray wax, some microfiber towels and hit he paint good once or twice. Then throw a simple coat of wax on it. You will see dramatic improvements. If your not satisfied after that, you can explore other techniques or seek pro assistance. But please don't just throw $$ at it without exploring all options.
what about a "foam, rinse, chemical" method? Foam and rinse with pressure washer in driveway, then pull in inside the garage to be out of the sun and do a rinseless wash (one bucket, multiple mitts), I could also spray the panels with rinseless solution right before contact with mitt. I'm talking about extremely dirty car only, otherwise just go straight to rinseless.
I would love to use foam rinse foam method. I think it may be a bit risky for me given my footprint. I don't have an indoor wash bay so all washing is done in the driveway in direct sunlight. Letting the foam dwell for just a few minutes may be bad. On that note though, I agree it's most likely the easiest option for those that don't have to worry too much about using more product on one vehicle. (When I first started detailing I was pinching pennies.)
I would love to see a video showing Yvan’s process for completing an interior detail in a well used vehicle. Not sure if you have done such video but that’s where I struggle with efficiency. During the winter I seem to get mainly interior jobs and some jobs take me longer than I’d like them to. Would love to see what I could do for increasing my efficiency
The best thing to increase your efficiency is take a video of you doing a job, then watch it to see where time is getting away from you. Like a professional athlete, you need to evaluate your performance.
Hi guys, great video!! I hope lot of people out there listen and use those methods and techniques because they are really great and that's how I do my job. I always say - let the tools and chemicals do the job for you! pad washing - excellent, 😃 I 100 % agree with all your points except for the first one. I think the way you talk about it and explain it is nonsense. 😉
What are you're thoughts on using gas line anti freeze with a micro fiber towel to remove fresh overspray, has always worked well for me, also removes tree sap & other harmful contaminants.
You guys touched on tire dressing so I've got to ask ... Does modern tire dressing actually DO anything for the tire? Does it increase tire life? Does it stiffen the sidewalls to improve handling? Is there any actual advantage of any kind over a simple but good brush wash? Tire dressing used to be just all show but it's been awhile, so maybe things have changed ...
I have less than 5 hours polishing experience atm. One of my Griot's orange pads I applied too much pressure... I did the other sections with correct pressure. I realized it wore the pad down compared to a new one. Lol
Thank you for stating that about clay bar. I see too many detailers try to upsell with a clay bar and polish for every detail and it is not an ideal long term method, The synthetic clays are great and I still try to only use it on full decon steps if organic clay is not needed.
Question about polishing with a damp pad (If you guys see this): Whenever I'm using your gold standard polish I wash the pad just like you guys. However, I recently decided to use the Rupes Uno Advanced, which says to not get it wet and has to sit and cure for the coating. Can I still use a damp pad for the AIO products?
I appreciate the video as your videos are always educational. Only one time have I had to break out a clay bar on a heavily contaminated vehicle. For applying tire lotion the brush is my go to. I will say machine cleaning tires is great for truck tires and then follow up applying the tire lotion by machine.
@@diydetailofficial I so appreciate all of your incredible and thorough information! I am starting a small detailing business in the Nashville area and am looking to get a hose (and a foam-gun, probably the Adam's version) rather than a pressure-washer. Is there something you would recommend? There must be something a little lighter and less cumbersome than a garden hose out there. Also-- would you say a 50 foot hose would be the right length? This is for mobile detailing-- something I can throw in the back of our old Range Rover Sport with all my other supplies. Thank you so much for your kind help! You and Pan the Organizer are my heroes... All best, Dana :D
If I don't beat the sun I'll foam, rinse, then pull into the garage and do a rinseless wash. My goto when I can't get to the wash early enough in the day.
Vertical or horizontal strokes to stop circular scratching, hahaha anyone would think the clear cote was jelly, and we used sandpaper to apply the ceramic coating. I've been involved in preparing cars and selling them for 35 years, and logic with common sense is the secret, unfortunately from my experience of a lot of the so called Ex-spurts in detailing has not been positive.... Guys thanks for your logical approach to your work. Time equals experience and qualifications.
Thanks for some great new learnings on things I haven't thought about. Especially the "applying too much pressure to your polisher" in terms of created heat, pad-wash, velcro-harming behavior etc. Thumbs up! To answer your question for personal use on tire applicators, I use the mentioned hexagonal-roundshaped foam-applicator with a tire dressing. I'm not sure if it works any better than a brush, but massaging the dressing into the tire feels more durable than just applying a coating with a brush. I have no idea if my "feeling" works better than a brush in real life though 😄
Been learning from your videos. Ordered your 8 year coating and decon clay towel and it arrived today. Getting a list together of additional DIY Detail products to order so I can clean, polish and ceramic coat 2 cars early fall. Wish me luck. Is there a place to post pics of the finished results for DIY detail?
I don't have a pad cleaner. For those of us who don't have a pad cleaner how can we determine what a damp pad is ? I have some pad conditioner spray I have used a couple of times, 2 or 3 sprays. Since I am in Florida and it is currently hot out I have been trying to practice on this old car.
This might be a stupid question, but can you mix a bit of PH plus or minus to your foam cannon to increase or decrease PH of your shampoo? The PH plus or minus is a spa additive….great channel 👍
a little pressure is fine but any more than that you increase heat and wear the pads and can push the marks in the paint down further if you use too much. move slower or make your work area smaller instead of more pressure. the faster your machine speed is, the shorter the working time you have before the paint heats up too much and the abrasives no longer work unless using fast arm speeds more passes. better to change pad and or liquid than crank the speed up. deeper defects need to be left alone or reduced only with paint being so thin now. the other enemy for foam pads is soaking them in a tub or bucket of water whilst you do the car or even longer. water soaking them for a while or too many times speeds up the reduction of density and foam rebound. it takes me ten seconds to clean a pad by hand without a pad washer. spritz my own pad cleaner on the dry pad, rub it, rinse it, squeeze the pad with both hands (don't wring it) and done, no suds and little water usage. reduce pads exposure to alot of heat cycles, that's what the pad washer does best, as soon as you've heated up the pad, the pad washer is cooling it as it cleans it. the two bucket method is obsolete in my world and has been for over a decade and a half, zero bucket or one bucket with several mitts for better efficiency or pressure rinse the one mitt as you wash. I don't use tyre shine anymore its obsolete to me. hoping that carbon nanotube and urethane based tyre coatings or something even better will become the norm and dressings go the way of the dodo, I haven't used them for ten years anywhere on a car. I would never high pressure pre rinse now, my black toyota 86 GTS I pre soak with rinseless, wait then rinse then rinseless soak it again and dry if dusty or rinseless wash properly and then dry if grimey and after three years all I had to do to correct my paint late last year was 3D One with a kamikaze black foam finishing pad and the paint isn't more than soft medium hardness, that's how little marks it had. if your not getting years or decades out of pads like I have for yonks whilst testing for myself and manufacturers, your doing something wrong. some of mine are 24 years old and look 90% like new and have lost little density after 50 to 100 + cars. marine detailing is a different story, that kills pads
If your car is well waxed and protected.......then I rinse with pressure washer, then heavy foam, let it soak out of the sun, rinse again , then two heavy micro towels to dry the car. No scratches to problem. Your much better to wax more often then worrying about a foam rinse foam rinse approach
I stick to actual clay bars because I got a Nanoskin when they first came back and, even following the directions and tons of lube, it left this orange peel like look to the paint that I had to buff out
Foam, rinse and foam has been my way for awhile. I still use a bucket with soaked wash media and use 5 or so towel. I never return a dirty towel or mitt back to the wash bucket. Which is not a waste as you can wash and reuse the towels or mitts.
I personally think people care far too much about products being ph neutral. personally use higher ph snow foams as they clean better as a pre wash imo and the trade off for having an effect on the lsp doesn’t bother me - in fact I bet you’ll probably do more degradation to the lsp with abrasion when using foams that don’t clean as well
Why are you washing from the rocker panels up? I personally wouldn’t take that chance. Always top to bottom rinsing not with fresh water after a pre foam , rinse and refoam. If I saw someone washing cars from the bottom up, I’d def find a different retailer.
5:05 lol! Thanks for the laughter Yvan 😄 Completely agree with the swapping pads. Ive saved so much time just by using the pad washer every after one panel. Also as a 4x4 enthusiast, im happy to say that i also apply tire dressing by using flagged tip brush. So easy to apply on knobby sidewalls compared to a hexagon or small sponge type applicator. To me, the most overrated method in carwash, is the wheel wash using several type of brushes every time. Sure you can clean the barrels with a long wheel brush, use a paint brush-type for the nuts and crannies, or even a lugnut brush, iron decon, APC, foam. But if you regularly wash your car, all you need is APC, small mitt for the wheels, and a flagged tip brush for the rubber. You guys are teaching us how to efficiently clean and wash our cars eeeeverytime, thank you so much, Yvan and Nick! 🤘🏽 Keep it up 💪🏽
Does the pad wash work the same for MF Pads as it does for the foam pads or should MF pads be swapped out once they are saturated with product? Also, is compressed air not a good idea for them as well?
If I've never deconned my Jeep, never used a clay bar, or whatever, just used Chem Guy's products, like foam cannon with Mr. Suds, diablo wheel cleaner, and tire shine etc. Should I use a clay bar? I just bought the kit for it, but I also don't want to polish the Jeep because frankly, I am not that invested in DIY car detailing. I just want to have the water run off fast and not have it sitting and drying. Is it worth my time to clay bar? I also want to put a coating on it using Adams spray on graphene. I watched a video from Adams where it took him 13 minutes to clay bar an entire car, but I feel like that car has been properly detailed and coated. Any tips for making the process quick?
I had a fellow detailed shadow me to see how I did things and see rinselss wash. I told him the exact same thing about not hitting the car with pressure washer first. What sense does it make to take the car at its dirtiest and hit it with the most pressure?
If you use the pad washer, at the end of the detail you don't have to use some other cleaner? What's the highest speed you should use with the Gold Standard Polish? A damp pad with any compound or polish will cut better?
Hello, great video again thank you for you work. I was thinking of putting rinselless to foam canon to speed up the process of covering the car with it (using typical 1:256 dilution). WIth sprayer bottle it takes ages. What do you think of it? Can you demonstrate it in a video?
First of all I love your videos and think they are great. I can't watch all your videos but when I do they are not in order. So, I bought 5 of your red pads and 5 yellow and now the pad washer. Seems like I overbought pads if I only wash pads and don't change out each panel. Thoughts?
Fantastic video, once again. Would you recommend applying foam over a layer of iron remover and then decontaminating with the clay towel? Another time saver perhaps?
In the first minute of the video you were applying ceramic coating on a TRX hood decal. My 16 Challenger has black decal stripes on hood and almost the whole roof is covered with a decal. What’s the best way to clean and protect the decals?
Clean with DIY Detail Rinseless Wash, decontaminate with DIY Detail Iron Remover , continue with DIY Detail Water Spot Remover, then ceramic coat for protection
