What tools are required for detailing

What tools do I need to start detailing ?

Some of these items don’t require a blurb, however if you do wish guidance just leave a comment at the end of this post.

Pressure Washer, RCD for power, Rotary or/and, Dual Action, ,Wet and Dry Vac,Steam Cleaner, Measuring cup, empty spray bottles, jack and stand, long handle wheel brace, various power lighting, grit guards, extension cable, foam gun and at least 2 x buckets.

Ok, so now we have identified the defects on the car we have to now look at what equipment we need.

This post will take us through the tools we need to start detailing, the following posts will identify what products we need to actually begin the process.

Karcher pressure washer with foam lance

First on the list is a good quality pressure washer, these come in various sizes and powers, one of the best/most renowned pressure washers available is the kranzle. However, at the best part of £450.00 it is quite pricey especially if you are only using it once a week! There are very good “basic” pressure washers from manufacturers such as nilfisk and even Lidl and Aldi have good quality pressure washers available from time to time. The pressure washer I currently own came from the karcher outlet, it has an onboard detergent tank and can draw from a static water source. It is slightly larger so possibly not the best if you are tight for space. A good addition is an RCD.

Both the gilmour and karcher foam gun, good guns a lance is still a must

Shows the effectiveness of the foam lance, cold water used for this image.

While we are addressing Pressure washing, it is a good idea to discuss a foam gun, preferably one which attaches to your pressure washer. I happen to own both the Gilmour foam gun and the foam lance, very rarely do I use the Gilmour foam gun. A foam lance has so many uses, use it in winter to loosen/remove grit and sand before you perform your wash or use it in summer to remove pollen and general dust. What a foam lance allows you to do is remove the big stuff leading to a safer wash.

Now we have decided on the washing stage, another important tool is the wet and dry vac. It is best to go with a higher quality item at this stage, you want something reliable and with a good warranty. I personally opted for the George wet and dry because it has wet and dry facility but also has the ability to spray a detergent onto the floor mats, seats, hood etc. A top tip at this point is using the pressure washer on a lower setting to really shift the hard grime. Karcher also offer a good quality wet and dry, if this is purely a hobby then you may want to hire a wet and dry to start with and see if the purchase is really needed, many hobbyists simply use the vac from indoors.

My choice of weapon, the metabo

Machine wise we have to look at the Rotary or/and Dual Action. These are the two main tools you will use for the correction stage. The two main differences between these machines are the rotations. The rotary is a circular rotation and the dual action has a circular motion in addition to this it has an up, down, left and right motion.

The rotary is only a circular movement, this helps to build heat because the pad works the same area and with this heat it will level the paint faster.

However, there is a down side with this added heat there is more chance of burning or breaking through the clear. So long as you are careful, check the panel heat from time to time and make sure you have enough paint to “play” with.

Your typical dual action moving in various elliptical directions. This movement will not reach the same heat as the rotary so, the trade off is it can take quite a bit longer to level out - especially tough paint. However, this is a great tool to finish down as it will very rarely inflict any damage, sometimes the rotary can leave “traces” or very light surface defects itself even with a soft finishing pad and slow rpm.

Dependent on how “hard” the paint is, will also influence your decision. For instance, if you own something like a Honda which normally means the paint is quite soft then a DA (dual-action) will handle this quite adequately and will leave a high quality paint finish.

Further consideration is given to other factors such as; the vibration from a DA is considerably more than a rotary, a DA also has a higher Db (decibel) level, also a must have additional purchase is goggles and ear guards. Safety is always first and when dealing with product sling this a very good idea. However, a Rotary is more likely to burn/inflict further damage if in the wrong hands and a rotary is normally heavier. These are all factors which you have to take into consideration when choosing your machine, you will find that many detailers have both including myself. The reason being, personally I started on a DA and then moved to a rotary. All my glaze and wax applications are applied via the DA as I feel the glaze is worked into the paint and doesn’t dry as quickly.

Now we have covered what you need to perform the basic wash, polish and interior cleanse. A product which is a must have for correction is lighting. I will cover this in more depth within the “how to properly polish a car” edition. I will touch on a few options. One of them being a 3M sun gun, the main thing we look for is the K rating and angle of a bulb. Personally my favourite lighting is a 500w security light, this is a low level light which is ideal for either lower or upper panels.

Our next edition will cover “How to totally decontaminate your car”

What is the Gilmour foam gun and what does it do

Ok so we are now touching the start of the process of the wash stage which is foaming. Very important especially in the winter. Great if you own a darker coloured car which shows the pollen in the summer. A quick foam will lift most of the summer dust and softens the bugs. In the winter it will soften the salt, grit and other nasties. You can use shampoo, however, it isn't always as effective.

I have collated some test's below. The first tests are based on the karcher and gilmour foam gun.

Each soap is diluted to the appropriate rate for the Gilmour and Karcher using Detail City UK Method.. The car is clean to start with so that all things are equal and the foam is applied to the same clean surface. I have based the cleaning power on the dwell time of the foam; the longer the foam is present the longer it will be able to loosen dirt, simple! Lol

Other factors are the coverage which is basically how well the foam covers the car, the cleaning ability the longer it lasts the longer the foam has to work and finally the foam left if its still there after 5 minutes then it means you could cut the ratio or leave it to sit for longer for max cleaning ability.

The Gilmour is set to 1:10
The Karcher is set to 1:128



So lets start the fun, first up Chemical guys MAXI SUDS II, Gilmour first and Karcher after.

Gilmour soap – 20ml
Dwell Time – 5 Minutes
Coverage – 5/5
Cleaning Ability – 4/5
Foam left after – 4/5





Next up Hyper Wash by Meguiars

Gilmour soap – 21ml
Dwell Time – 5 Minutes
Coverage – 4/5
Cleaning Ability – 4/5
Foam left after – 3/5

Picture as foam is on


Picture 5 mins after foam


So next up Poorboys , Gilmour first

Gilmour soap – 33ml
Dwell Time – 5 Minutes
Coverage – 4/5
Cleaning Ability – 4/5
Foam left after – 3/5

Picture as foam is on


Picture 5 mins after


Next up Turtle wax clear vue, Gilmour first and Karcher after.

Gilmour soap – 51ml
Dwell Time – 5 Minutes
Coverage – 3/5
Cleaning Ability – 2/5
Foam left after – 2/5





Next up 1z weekly,

Gilmour soap – 33ml
Dwell Time – 5 Minutes
Coverage – 3/5
Cleaning Ability – 4/5
Foam left after – 3/5

Picture as foam is on


Picture 5 mins after


Again 1z but this time the monthly version.

Gilmour soap – 66ml
Dwell Time – 5 Minutes
Coverage – 3/5
Cleaning Ability – 4/5
Foam left after – 3/5

Picture as foam is on


Picture 5 mins after



What I have also done is enter the values into excel so that you can find out which produces the most foam, which is the most cost efficient, which dwells the longest etc.

Gilmour conclusion

So in conclusion the foamiest product was : maxi suds
The product which dwelled the longest was : maxi suds
The product which cleaned the best was : hyper wash, maxi suds or 1z
The least amount of solution was : hyper wash
The most amount was : 1z monthly

First up

Hyper Wash
150ml by calculation, 150ml for the foam gun
Dwell time 5 mins
Cleaning ability 3/5 (score out of five?)
Foaming ability 3/5
Dwelling 2/5

Hyper wash is the uber dilution ratio of all washes, it is thick in consistency and I used hot water in the gilmour to get a more manageable wash solution. It is quite a lubricated wash and cleans well, it is not the best I have come across but the price of the product is tough to pass by. Thin suds left after, not a lot to be honest, it works but it is mid range.

Spraying


After Dwell


Meguiars Shampoo Plus
68ml by calculation, 70ml for the foam gun
Dwell time 5 mins
Cleaning ability 3/5
Foaming ability 4/5
Dwelling 2/5

Lots of suds here, very lubricated wash, my choice for wet sanding and clay due to the thick wash and high lubricity offered here. Not quite as long dwelling bit of a let down, however, this does perform very well as a normal wash shampoo.





Chemical Guys big and tar wash
30ml by calculation, 25ml for the foam gun
Dwell time 5 mins
Cleaning ability 5/5
Foaming ability 2/5
Dwelling 3/5

Bit of a wild card here, not a shampoo as such more of a stubborn mark remover, I decided to try this just for kicks, I took the strength down a notch as I didn't want to remove all the wax ! It actually performed better than some, very impressed. This would be ideal for the Pro or Hobby in the case that you have a heavily soiled vehicle, just sud it up and let it take the hard stuff off, since you would be restoring the dry paint anyway, handy size and not really a bad word against it.





Well, this started a few weeks ago, I pm'd steve to ask him how I figure out what ratio of solution to put in my old Gilmour. I did something like this ages ago, refer to http://autopia.org/forum/click-brag/...-shampoos.html quite some years ago! I drew up an excel sheet so that I knew exactly how much I should put in my Gilmour running at 1:10.

First up

Hyper Wash
150ml by calculation, 150ml for the foam gun
Dwell time 5 mins
Cleaning ability 3/5 (score out of five?)
Foaming ability 3/5
Dwelling 2/5

Hyper wash is the uber dilution ratio of all washes, it is thick in consistency and I used hot water in the gilmour to get a more manageable wash solution. It is quite a lubricated wash and cleans well, it is not the best I have come across but the price of the product is tough to pass by. Thin suds left after, not a lot to be honest, it works but it is mid range.

Spraying


After Dwell


Meguiars Shampoo Plus
68ml by calculation, 70ml for the foam gun
Dwell time 5 mins
Cleaning ability 3/5
Foaming ability 4/5
Dwelling 2/5

Lots of suds here, very lubricated wash, my choice for wet sanding and clay due to the thick wash and high lubricity offered here. Not quite as long dwelling bit of a let down, however, this does perform very well as a normal wash shampoo.





Chemical Guys maxi suds II
122ml by calculation, 100ml for the foam gun
Dwell time 5 mins
Cleaning ability 4/5
Foaming ability 5/5
Dwelling 4/5

Ok we have a draw, this product was outstanding, super foam, dwelled nicely, nice sudsy wash, nice lubricity a well rounded wash solution, this is an excellent bucket wash performer too. It dwells on the rounded edge which I like as more of the harder dirt is down there so it dwells longer on the harder dirt! Great.





Chemical Guys Cirtus wash and gloss
122ml by calculation, 100ml for the foam gun
Dwell time 5 mins
Cleaning ability 4/5
Foaming ability 5/5
Dwelling 4/5

Its basically this easy, do you like yellow or pink, both the chemical guys products are excellent, the citrus may edge it on the fact that it is more glossy once it is rinsed and also it provides more suds on impact. So I would say if I had to choose this would be it!





SIIIIMOOOOL Clear
166ml by calculation, 100ml for the foam gun
Dwell time 5 mins
Cleaning ability 3/5
Foaming ability 4/5
Dwelling 2/5

Ok so we have a top notch price here, good foam, good lube, nice fell to it, almost milky appearance, glossy, a very well rounded wash. I wasn't sure at first but the wash is certainly thick enough coming out of the bottle.





Supagard Shampoo
203ml by calculation, 50ml for the foam gun
Dwell time 5 mins
Cleaning ability 3/5
Foaming ability 4/5
Dwelling 2/5

Ok the further I got into this test, the more I realised that the solution was too thick, I was using too much shampoo for my very very soft water. So I reduced it with pleasant results. Not a fantastic shampoo for washing but seemed pretty good on the gilmour, but it just died not much left here.





1z Perls
36ml by calculation, 60ml for the foam gun
Dwell time 5 mins
Cleaning ability 4/5
Foaming ability 3/5
Dwelling 3/5

A good shampoo, nice and thick in the bottle, not much used in the gilmour compared to others, I was now experimenting with my results and being less scientific in my approach. This gave a nice foam and finished off with a nice gloss, not too different to say shampoo plus. Nice and lubed.





1z Gloss
68ml by calculation, 60ml for the foam gun
Dwell time 5 mins
Cleaning ability 2/5
Foaming ability 3/5
Dwelling 2/5

A very thin wash, almost like CG bug and tar remover, nothing special, although I do like this as a wash, very nice to use.






Ok guys, here is the final instalment this time I am using the Foam Lance with a karcher. I have soft water so you may have to change the amount of shampoo used. Each product has about 5 minutes to dwell on the surface. The idea behind this is which product dwells the best, does it add anything to the paint, does it take away anything, is it a nice consistency etc.

This time I used hot water to evenly disperse the solution with the container, this should help with even dispensing, i.e. no globs or gloops.

The foam lance in general has better foaming properties and also with respect to the karcher £10 foamer and Gilmour the foam last longer, I feel both the karcher and gilmour add TOO much water even at 1:10 ratio on the gilmour, therefore I only use my gilmour for suds while actually washing the car.

The tools needed



First up we have Hyper wash, I expelled one pump (30ml) but this didn't give the desired effect, so I put another pump in and we were good to go. I felt hyper wash was not lubed enough even at 60ml through the foam lance, which was strange considering the foam but when I felt the surface of the car it was sticking i.e. not allowing me to glide my hand over it.





Next a favourite shampoo plus, very lubed wash, good size container one of my winter washes. Good foam, not as thick as hyper wash but a slicker feel to it. The actual shampoo is thinner in consistency so I wasn't really expecting it to cling to the paintwork for long. Good shampoo maybe just not geared up for a pre-wash. Did leave the paint brighter and glossier.





Chemical guys wash n gloss, what can I say this is a real contender here excellent foam, excellent cleaning properties, nice and glossy, lubed wash, it ticks all the boxes. Still clinging on even after five minutes!





Chemical Guys Maxi Suds II

Ok so same again, very good foamer, just lacks slightly in the finish, apart from that it is 2nd in this contest.





Next up is a higher end shampoo ***** cleanse, not much to say, poor foam, poor longevity, poor slickness. Shame as I thought this might perform better in the foam lance.





Now 1z perls shampoo, the monthly gloss enhancing shampoo from 1z. Promises quite a lot, very thin shampoo almost water like but it doesn't deliver the foam however it does help with the gloss and also leave some form of protection (good when Im testing all these shampoos!) You can see the protection forming on the windows, similar to a rinse aid. Didn't last long but I feel this would be good for a wax'd finish when using a bucket as it would enable water to sheet off easier.





The final entry for today is 1z Exclusiv, the weekly shampoo, much better foaming, very nice smell too! Struggling to stick to the windows after 1z Perls. Left a nice glossy finish and didn't appear to strip the Perls protection so ideal for a soft nuba'd garage queen, since it isn't damaging the wax.





Now I have put this aside, as I feel snowfoam isn't in the same category so it would be unfair to test side by side. Instead I tested snowfoam with the karcher foam gun, the foam lance and Gilmour foam gun.

Foam Lance


After 5 Mins


Karcher foam gun


After Mins


Gilmour


After 5 Mins


Any questions or if any manufacturers/members want me to try their shampoos of choice fire me a PM.








Hey guys,

I had some time today so I carried out a wee test, two of the four snow foams I have just bought.

I am basically looking for a foam which is safe but cleans well too - a big ask I know.

So basically our two test vehicles are both non washers since december time so plenty of grime etc to be removed. Another point here is that neither have any noticeable protection as I haven't detailed my own car in sometime let alone these two.

Now I can't tell you what a product smells like because I can't smell so I'll need to skip over that point

I used cold water connected to my pressure washer, I will be using warm when I move to a unit or hopefully if I can afford it I would like a warm water jet wash

Anyway enough babble.

First up was the jeep, general pictures of the condition, stained alloys etc. Now I don't expect a snow foam to lift staining just really want to see a good amount of dirt removal - so not totally unrealistic of what these products should really be doing.







The thing I have to say about this product was, the foam wasn't as thick as others I have used. I thought I should add some more to thicken it, so I did. Still not that thick which suprised me.



See this is a tad thin, even adding more solution etc. Anyway just meant the product didn't cling for long.

Long enough for me to pour the chem guys into the foam lance and foam the bimmer. So even kindly say 10mins.





So not a thick product really, does that effect the cleaning, well we are about to find out.









Very impressed especially with the short amount of time it dwelled for.

Ok so next product - chemical guys new foam







The foam was sprayed on with the foam lance, now this is thick foam







The cleaning process is almost instantaneous, this is good stuff.

After a while, I was thinning down my collection again. Decided to get a toolbox for tools and move my detailing stuff to a roller cabinet.





Ok I don't think your ready for this.


















Maybe you are then







Almost no need for wheel cleaner on SOME wheels.

My opinion is this, these are two differently aimed products with the same name if that makes sense.

Ok actimousse is possibly more geared towards people who don't have as much time like valeting guys. They want the car clean quicker and will go round to wash it after the foam anyway. The thin foam then makes sense.

Now, chem guys are maybe going for our type of thinking. I have a black car, non metallic and I want something which takes the most amount of dirt off so I am not rubbing or damaging my clear. I don't mind if I wait another 5 mins for a cleaner car, like most detailers I guess.

So far, I have another two to test right enough, chemical guys have certainly delivered a product which is a must have for any detailer either in summer or winter.

This should give you enough tests and comparisons for just now. We have now covered one of the most important stages which is the foam stage.

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