Detailing's TOP 10 Bargain Products You Should Try 

B H - me too my favourite viewing on you tube by a long way. Jon provides a perfect balance on each of the products and takes into account quality and value, this top 10 is a great example. To maintain independent reviews we all need to do our bit to keep the channel funded for decent camera kit etc and, for me, as a thank you to him. A £ or $ is nothing when you look at potential savings from this episode alone and sheer entertainment value and frequency of top tips we all get.

Chemical Guys are full of s***t.

Ammo makes good products but you can't realistically make money using it. Even for personal use I saw the prices and immediately closed the site.

BSD lasts longer that any spray sealant Ive tested it again Patrick. I literally had about 20 other spray sealants on a sectioned off prep'd panel and it lasts the longest. Disclaimer, at least in terms of maintaining water repellency. your right about the finish its a grippy finish and yer theres nothing majorly brilliant about the gloss side of it. great feedback mate thanks

I found out that BSD is a great way to maintain that crazy water behaviour we love from Fusso Coat and complements the gloss very well in my opinion. I use it once a month and that's it. It's a great product to use after a Waterless wash routine with Pro-kleen. I've seen a lot of posts talking about mixing it up. I'll have a go at some point now that I got a bottle for £7 delivered off ECP store on eBay!

its hard work to get any views on you tube in the UK :( views are generally less about the content and more about getting the right hook and thumbnail and getting the video times very very short to cater for low retention (you tube is a low retention platform). generally the length of my videos prolly screws me with the algorythms, that and its all a bit budget and dare I say it, I aint all that. but it does half decent views more than it probably deserves, its more important to me maintain the enjoyment of doing it, maintain the passion for the industry , stay hungry and keep churning them out and hopefully good things will come from that. the day I get bored with it is the day it shutsdown. thanks ciaran for the kind words.

It sure is, your doing a great job regardless, if anything, it deserves more views, I have learned far more from your videos than any other detailing channel.

Yea was surprised not to see it,. BH Surfex works out at £3.39/lt when you buy 5lt.

I second that Bilt hamber is so good and really cheap. I use it around the house its so cheap.

To me the fact you have an APC, a Spray-able pre wash, a Snow foam, a wheel cleaner, tyre cleaner, degreaser all rolled to one makes it a hugely versatile product for next to no money.

Agreed, Surfex HD is a top product!

Definitely agree - not much it can't clean and dilution ratios make it excellent value.

Id still go with greenstar as its more concentrated and cheaper. Its also the corrosion inhibitors and the fact its been developed specifically by zee germans for automotive cleaning (with their very tough regulations on these sorts of chemicals). Theres a lot of similiar things in the UK (or anywhere) to super clean if your gonna look for just cheap then non retail cleaners will provide the ultimate value, trade chems etc. The problem is they are generally caustic and typically loaded with sodium hydroxide so when your soaking your car with them the product will encounter various metal components (engine mount brackets, suspection components, brake discs and shields, unpainted caliper, even nuts and bolts etc anything that the cleaner splatters onto when you presure rinse it off). caustic cleaners will cause that section to oxidise and rust quicker. Ive said before in other videos companies like bilt hamber avoid things like sodium hydroxide because of their concerns over the fact it promotes rust. If you care about your car.. get some bilt hamber atom mac and treat all the underside and archers with it. And then pick chemicals which dont promote rust. If you can get your hands on greenstar you should give it a whirl... cant believe koch are not in the USA...

I've just ordered the wash mitts from amazon

Zain - I bought some Perl on Jon's recommendation but I didn't find it lasted long on the black plastic area below the windscreen. Internally it's fine. I used to use Aerospace 303 which is another excellent product and I think I will return to it for the external plastics. 303 is a little more expensive - not much though. It is also sold as a 'hot tub protector product' as it gives UV and Ozone protection so external car plastics can have added protection. Hope that helps :-)

@@gazgandalf4854 thanks gaz 👍. I applied some insta finish trim magic and that brought back the new look to my faded exterior plasrics. I was mainly looking at PERL to use in the interior. I do recommend you trying out insta finish trim magic. It darkened my plastic door handles and looks to still be there after a few months. Only thing I'd say to be careful of is applying it to the pad as I was spilling it on the floor

still a bit grabby though pewpew but yer you can do that.

awesome kevin thanks for that

yes its kind of all you need. high quality, versitile, and cost effective.

tis the same product. unfortunately this is the game we are involved in. See if I wanted to sell a leather brush, forensic detailing leather brush. I would be buying it from someone else and I would need to make a decent margin on it. So I can take a moral high ground on swissvax.. but at the end of the day as a consumer if you buying a BMW 340i and one dealer sells it for £35,000. And the one up the road is selling the same car for £75,000. Imagine the guy buying the car is the CEO of swissvax, he will buy the 35,000 offering and he wont go back to the other dealership because he has now realised they are asking him to pay more for the same thing (he will forever remember that) ... Yet the CEO of swissvax shares the same business model as the expensive dealership.... thats the game we play in life in general. the better you play the game, the more you understand it, the more chance you have of doing well.

Jason Wilson not to mention you get a discount code with CP4L too

@@gj3045 no way, I didn't know that, thanks Gareth 👍

jesus thats awesome ill update the description to mention that.

Forensic Detailing Channel anything you see on euro car parts. Copy the product code and paste it into the search bar on car parts for less then apply the discount they’ve got on (currently 14%), it will always be cheaper than Euro car parts... you just can’t search for things directly on CP4L, it’s like a little hack 🤙

@@gj3045 great to know of this hack! I got the MG Quik Detailer for £6 delivered from there but it was a direct link from Google and I was wondering why I could not find it any more searching for it the next day! I've just tried using the product code 549992160 for the BSD and it's on sale and you still get a discount and free delivery! I'll think of doing the rounds in the area selling this stuff to neighbours at this rate! :)

I dont think you get as much product in those rattle cans. Its decent value though BPS for sure. 10 most overpriced products jesus yer would be interesting :) I can think of a few like obvious ones there was a pot of wax I think for like 20grand or something.

yer I think your right would be interesting. Ive used products from all those brands. (not aa or RAC though). theres not too much wrong with it but also some of it isnt great. Its kind of just bulk standard retail stuff. turtle wax and simoniz did great things back in the day lots of developements and patents and cool formulations and got their products on the shelves of halfords and in b and q etc... but then it all stops and the ranges dont really keep up with the detailing scene and the ranges start to feel old fashioned and get overtaken by brands that develope using more recently developed speciality chems (cooler raw materials).. thats kind of how I feel about it without being disrepectfull. But also these older brands dont compete in value with some of the stuff I rave about. that being said I try and do it fairly. Ive got the turtle wax interior cleaner stuff which is a retail product really and I have a bit of a soft spot for it its pretty handy, so I did a vid on it.

I do similar I mixed it with dodo juice basics of Bling 50:50 sonax BSD, since as it is more watery I found the sonax spray bottle will fan it on the paint and isn't sticky, but still beads water.

Same for me except I use Sonax BSD 50:50 with Finish Kare #425. Has the ultra slick, easy to buff properties of #425 with the beading and longevity of BSD. Wouldn’t mind trying some of the other combos mentioned!

@@SolidestSnake I haven't tried that mix but I do have both, I bet it smells nice one is coconut one is like candy floss lol 😂 Jon should start mixing and see if there is any amazing concoctions.

Also works well with BH Auto QD and Bouncers Done and Dusted

Reload and bsd works as well 😄😁

its just too cheap really isnt it, for such a good formulation its sets a benchmark thats going to be hard to follow. To be fair you cant expect Autofinnesse to compete with that price 5 litres of citrus cleaner for 35 quid is not outragous but its just hard to justify it however good when you have a very strong brand like koch with a lot of expertise (one of the oldest brands as well) selling at this price.

Absolutely. Hope no one from Koch Chemie is following this! I do love the Auto Finesse range, but as the saying goes, “can’t touch this”. Look forward to the best of snow foams soon.

you could do yes. But I just dont think its a match made in heaven. I would wait a month or so for fusso to settle down before then topping with wet coat.

@@ForensicDetailing Ah I get you. Cheers Jon. 👍

Im obviously a fan of optimum I like their chemical products I like their simple systems that save time and Ivans a legends. But yes the big red sponge for close to 30 pounds I feel is too expensive and because of that no one is buying it in the UK as far as I can tell and thats a real shame because it works well with the ONR system (yes the sponge holds up really well but people just wont try it because of the cost). It really needs to be able 10-15 pounds max. You could try the kamakazee sponge? I think in2detailing might be looking into a cheap wash sponge for waterless washes as well.

Forensic Detailing Channel Forensic Detailing Channel thanks for the reply, top tip! You mention in your vids how safe this product is. Would you feel safe pressure washing your car down, maybe use a snow foam or traffic film remover like the one you recommend in this and then just use a spray and wipe of ONR detail diluted ratio with some sort of cloth... I’m trying to work out how safe that is or am I asking too much of the product and compromising safety here. If this is safe, what would you recommend as the cloth for the wipe down... obviously keeping the clean edge/side technique with that cloth. They get stinking like this, I have tried it on an old car but not sure about doing it on my more expensive car. It feels like I’m pushing it to far against the safe wash method. It’s hard enough using ONR and a sponge but spray and wipe seems to much. Any thought you have on this would be much appreciated. Thanks Rich.

yo richard. the one thing ONR doesnt do is degrease. so sometimes when Ive used it (like in the washing your car in 5 minute video) Ive noticed little like bits of dirt stuck on the car or bugs. So yes soaking the car in a pre wash first can soften and breakdown some of the crap you dont get off with the ONR system. but if you get your pressure washer out and prewash it, you better off just use a car shampoo and a mitt and a detail brush and going the full whammy really and thats how I generally like to clean my car. But a lot of guys do prewash and use ONR so theres no right or wrong. I tend to use it when the car is not that dirty, I dont want to do a massive clean that could take an hour or hours and I just want it looking kind of clean if that makes sense. you can still go to town on it with onr and spend longer and get it really clean. In terms of safety. the more dirt you get off with a contactless pre rinse the better. The more you ask any rinseless or waterless wash system to do in terms of lubrication or encapsulation the more risk you run of scratching. saying that pound for pound I actually thing these products offer more lubrication or protection from wash related marring than a shampoo.. but I think the process or prewashing and using a nice soft mitt with low pressure and shampoo is better. ONR is something I will always have though as an option because it works and its good value.

Forensic Detailing Channel Thank you once again for the detailed response, always learning and you are easily the best UK Detailer offering instructional videos... top job, saved me a few bob also when I started out by getting the best value and the stuff I needed... detailing products are a bit of a minefield and can be a money pit. I’ve clearly watched too many of these videos though.... I hear your voice even in your written comments. My misses doesn’t thank you for these videos either.. Late at night I binge through these and she constantly has to put up with it haha. I did a pop detail quiz with her the other day based on the vids I’d been watching she easily scored 80% + I think given that score, I may have a problem...

It’s basically Forensic, Pan, Chem Guys, Obsession and our other fellow Brit... Car Cleaning Guru (who sounds like Christopher Eccleston/Dr Who)

buy autowash for that.

or autofoam even sorry. can use GS or surfex as your apc and spash some of the lower panels if you like, you really dont need to with autofoam though m8

@@ForensicDetailing thnx for the answer. Ive been using autofoam for a year now (partly because of your reviews ofcourse :)) and its brilliant, no doubt. A lot of ppl beleive its not as powerful as GS/Surfex tho, therefore my question about the difference between those two... I just want to get the best possible result with the precleaning before i touch the car. Traffic film is nasty in the winter, maybe autofoam would not perform as good in those conditions as the two APCs.

I dont think Im gonna do the awards video this year. not sure yet though.

May sound thick here so I do apologise but what types of things do you use it for?

Use it as a pre wash mainly but it’s great at lifting sticky grime out of carpets. Also it’s great as a gentle interior cleaner. It’s a product I’ve recommended many many times.

@@sarahlord819 good stuff mate, thank you, I'll get some ordered

Honest you won’t be disappointed. I’ve not found a product from Koch Chemie that I’ve not loved. They are all easy to use and great value

strong knowledge. I was speaking to jackie the other day about getting more soft 99 stuff on. Ill ask about the spray. I used greenstar mainly as a lower panel prewash. engine bay cleaner. wheel aches and alloys as well. all at 10:1 Ive not used it for interiors I know other peeps do. 100:1 anything gonna be fine at that ratio. most of the time with my 140 interior a wet cloth is fine. so I may well just use green star as my only interior APC but I like surfex HD a lot as well. Perl works great on my 140 seals as well though. really brings back the finish and lasts for ages, can get some white dots if you over concentrate it. awesome stuff mate thanks. Sounds like the polish stuff is offering awesome value. I may well dive in and check it out. tenzi reached out a while back but honestly I had not heard too much about it and I just didnt have the time back then to get it in.

Sorry Jon I should have stated the Wilko large microfibre solely for use as a drying cloth as opposed to a cloth for wax or polish removal. The Wilko clothes have a plush thick nap and hold a lot of water. Another tip for people on a budget is to use a trigger sprayer filled with their favourite shampoo watered down 10:1. In car Chem's case I suppose the ratio would be 190:1 and spray the solution directly onto a hosed wash mitt or panel. Car Craft detailing has a video expaining how do it. It really is so much more cost effective and quicker than the 2 bucket method.

holy cow sorry I misunderstood. if its a thick drying towel for 2 quid that is a bargain! awesome carlos.

have a watch of the koch chemie brand review Mychalt. but 10:1 for pre wash of road film. 10:1 for tyres and alloys generally. 20:1 through to 40:1 for interior. 10:1 for engine bay degreasing. something like this mate.

yo nigel. collentite better gloss. fusso more durable and more repellent.

I would just use gyeon wet coat to put on top of a ceramic, but I would apply it onto wet microfiber applicators panel by panel and then level with a seperate dry cloth (dont buff). Carpro have hydro2 lite which is think is the same sort of product. I think these are great better than like reload or cure for me.

spta I dont have link mate but these guys make cheap version I think they have their own website.

@@ForensicDetailing Ok thank you mate, will have a browse.

Yo Lucid I would use both (and I do use both). But I know you want an answer on what to pick. So her we go. say you said to me I can pick one or the other to maintain my M140 with . I would go with moonlight topped with wetcoat over say fusso and a detail spray or something. But if I was less into detailing fusso would prolly suit me more. Than really because I have a leaning towards silica based products right at this moment in time than waxes.

@@ForensicDetailing Thanks for the reply! If you use both, I will use both. I take it you put the moonlight on first then the wax? I really enjoy watching your videos, it's only since I got a decent car that I've started washing it myself and your help has been invaluable!

I would not put fusso on top of moonlight mate. Have a watch of the video on the channel called "waxing on top of a ceramic coating"

Imagine polyster as hard plastic like nylon. Imagine polyamide and soft gummy like marshmellow. they blend the 2 materials and them chemically split it to product the yarn. softer microfiber can not take as much punishment as harder microfiber. but softer microfiber will have less ability to marr very soft surfaces (clearcoat doesnt normally fit that description) saying that from what Ive heard you can take the quoted blend rations with a pinch of salt. The paragone 70/30 are a pretty soft microfiber compared to like bulk standard microfiber terrys you can get really cheap.

tardis pretty cheap ray. Or any mild mineral spirit really as long as its not left to dry on the paintwork.. thing is when you go offpiste your using something that has not really be tested. So really I would maybe suggested getting one from a detailing brand that offers value and formulation expertise. koch will no doubt do a good one.

I think possibly double speed for me. hard one that though. I just prefer the look of the car with a nuba wax. I will review soft 99 kiawammi (sp?) soon on the channel though that might be a cool option.

@@ForensicDetailing Thanknyou Jon! That would be awesome for you to review Kiawammi.

hey wendy most car protection products cannot instantly be chemically stripped with either "stripping" type detergent washes or even strong hydrocarbon degreasers or panel wipe products. they need to be scrubbed off the surface with some sort of abrasive polish or abrasive cleaner polish. however if this protection is like say 5 months since application into its 6 month durability.. most of that material has now eroded away and you get to the stage where you can strip it with strip washes and panel wipe degreasers. Its very hard to tell. So the belt and bracers way is to wash, and then decon the car with claybars bacause there will be bonded contaminatnats anyway.. and then polish the car.. and then degrease and apply a sealant or wax or ceramic. that belt and bracers approach (full prep) is guerenteed to work.. the down side is full prep like that is a lot of work.. so if your not massivly into doing all this work on cars, you could just wash the reminants of the protection off at the end of its shelf life and apply more protection.

Thank you so much that was most helpful. Can I ask we're are you located and discuss you maybe doing my car.Thanks Wendy

@@wendycartmell534 hey wendy, I dont do it professionally. have a look here though pro-valets.co.uk/ and you can locate near your postcode full vetted qualified detailing services and fiter on your requirements (mobile, studio based, ceramic, coating etc)

Once again I thank you and will be watching you on RU-vid.😀

stay tuned for a video on this very subject ;)

@@ForensicDetailing Good deal. Can't wait to see the video because I'm very interested.

its a no from me.. sure for a van or something you dont care about.. sure Id use it on the golf. biggest problem with a wash mitt on a stick concept is your gonna loose the ability to just wipe the panel with light pressure.

Forensic Detailing Channel my roof is mostly glass... that’s why I thought it wouldn’t be to bad for those parts? My roof is 90% glass... would it be ok for that if I kept from paint? It’s a pain washing my roof. I have a Ford Edge ST-Line with the Pan Sunroof and I’m only a 5ft 8 short arse lol.

hmmmmmmmmmmm :( could do :)

Wheels engine and tail pipes

Koch Chemie Green Star is a highly-concentrated, phosphate- and solvent-free alkaline universal cleaner. Due to its enormous dirt and oil absorption capacity it is suitable for universal use in areas, such as workshop floors and industrial cleaning, cleaning the inside and outside of cars and trucks, as well as cleaning your engine. Special corrosion inhibitors ensure a high level of material compatibility for sensitive components, such as anodised aluminium. thats from the product description jimmy. Im guessing its safe for what you need but just check it first on a small area.

@@ForensicDetailing thanks john! Ive changed my valetpro bilburry because of its chemistry and bought bilt hamber auto wheel. Damn that wheelcleaner is good. Twice as powerful as the vp bilburry.

hi ya if your after some good value for sure. why not.. but Ive only used like 2-3 products so Im hardly an expert in their line up but it was all decent.

the shampoo will be out therein the USA with other labels on it. but I cant say what and who and I dont think you can utilize that awesome price tag for 5 litres unless you are in the UK.

I have a drawer of blue original rag company eagle edgless and I use these for waxes. Im waiting for these blues to like go stringy or die on me but again their quality is great.. but eventually when they do die ill probably just use these 350 yellows because of the price point. Some other towels you should check out though beyond paragone and 350 yellows. TRC edgeless 300's decent price about 1.50 in the UK but like 70cents in the US if you buy like 100. If I could get that price in the UK I would use those instead of the paragones, they are superb. still looking at those and edgless 360's as well to see if I need them. Check out also samples of the rag company eagle 350, 500 and 600. I would not bother getting your microfiber from halfords alex, no disrespect to halfords I shop there and I like them as a business but microfiber wise they have nothing worth using compared to what im telling you about. get your microfiber from In2detailing, The rag company (ragmaster, clean and shiny stock them in UK), also check out ALL the paragone car detailing offerings because they are the cheapest so it gives you a base comparison. If you want to go all in and explore it all, check out microfiber madness and klin as well. If your a complete lunactic and like watching videos about towels watch "the best buffing cloth" video in the "best of" playlist on my channel thats some hardcore shit right there. We shootout 18 of the best although its a bit old now things have changed... check out different formats too, pearl weave, twisted pile drying towels, waffle weaves.. explore it all and see what works best for you... just make sure you tell me what your choices are, id like to hear.

@@ForensicDetailing Hi, thank you very much for the reply. I have decided to go with the 350 yellows mainly down to the information you have stated with regards to the Korean weave being better than Chinese blend. Additionally, I have purchased some of the Chinese wash mitts from Amazon. I am looking to purchase Koch Chemie, how is this product used before a pre-wash to break down heavy debris/dirt before your wash? I was looking to purchase some CarChem but potentially have decided to purchase some Shampoo from the in2detailing website as I can get the Koch Chemie from there also to combine delivery charges, are there any shampoos you recommend from the in2detailing website? My biggest issue so far is with regards to detailing I'm struggling to get the glass to have that sparkling nearly 100% transparent look, damage to the external layer of the glass can affect this but I have tried multiple glass cleaners but I'm not particularly impressed with my results as of yet, what is your approach with regards to glass? Again, I can't thank you enough for your videos and help! Alex

@@JohnJez korean microfiber is better than chinese but is more expensive normally, good news is those 350 yellows are probably the cheapest open pile plush edgeless korean microfibers you can buy on the face of the planet, including even the alibbabababa chinese open pile cloths which are still 3-4 quid each. dont be afraid to explore microfiber though, thats exactly what I did. only way to know is to buy up the options and try them. Koch greenstar. 10-1 in a pump sprayer.. this stuff will melt dirt a lot more than any snow foam pre wash and it will have a quicker impact. but where you get more cleaning degreasing power the trade off is you effect your protection more. If I have heavy road film I will go over it with this stuff give it a minute or so and blast it off then snow foam.. its not very often I need to do that though. I even find green star at 10:1 more effective on road film then any citrus Ive tried so far and its way way cheaper than anything else on the market, its safe and non caustic and has anti corrosion qualities.. Its an out and out belter of a cleaner product a complete 5 stars (gets out horn and blows loudly product). dont let it dry as a prewash (so be carefull in summer but then again in summer you dont need to prewash with this generally) In2detailing shampoo. TAC systems mystic bubble I talk about this in the best shampoo video Ive kept some back very nice shampoo with good rinseability. If you want higher poke G techniq G wash or bilt hamber auto wash glass: hard to say without seeing it. but if its old glass might need a decon. wash car, dry car. use a water spot remover if you have all sorts of wierd product etching or spot and water stains in it. clay it. If it still looks all funky under heavy light use a glass polish autoglym have one (be aware polish can get stuck in little chips and dinks in old glass and is a pain to get out if it dries). If it doesnt look funky after washing and claying etc.. just use a good old fashioned glass cleaner. glass is a pain in the arse alex. have a watch of the glass cleaning video on the channel. can look half decent when you do it fast, but get it inside and get a powerful LED light on it and all sorts of stuff shows up..

@@ForensicDetailing My plan is to try the Korean 350 yellow microfibers for a couple of months then move onto purchasing some additional ones as you have stated to explore which ones work for me. Unfortunately at the moment on in2detailing the 1L is out of stock of the Koch greenstar but is available on eBay for around £9, so I think that will be my route of purchasing it as its still very good value for money. With regards to Koch greenstar, can it be used as a wheel cleaner also? From watching your one bucket wash method (which I will be implementing) I have now purchased ONR also to add to the shampoo. I have watched the glass cleaner video, I will be trying the tips and tricks over the weekend. Again, thank you for your time replying.

@@JohnJez koch chemie greenstar works great as a wheel cleaner :) you can whack some in a bucket and foam it up, or you can spray onto the wheel and work. (always good idea to pre rinse wheels first blast most of the top layer of dirt off)... GS will also work great in a pump foam IK sprayer.

awesome next time I ordered from PB i will get it. 3 quid cant go wrong can you chris.

Nothing to do with his unit being opposite to Dodo 😊

problem is a lot of them move mate specially the bloody amazon stuff. It like detects if something is selling and the price bloody goes up :( but some of them still good value. always shop around.

@@ForensicDetailing I know what you mean, most of the products in your reviews are either out of stock or more expensive. What do you think of car plan no1 super gloss it's on sale for £6 at wilkos?

I dont know the US equivalents elvin. perl you can get. koch no, carchem I dont think you can. must be a ZFE equivalent store for the same stuff and those mitts must also be there on ebay in some guise? in2detailing and paragone no but you can get near proper wholeprices from TRC in the USA (get their eagle 350 and the edgeless 300's)

@@ForensicDetailing Thanks keep up the great videos

anthony white then coconut mode!? 😎😀🤣