I'am a total car cleaning freak, so here's my list of recommended products:


Wheel Cleaner: Simple Green
Why: Biodegradable, won't eat your wheels with acidic chemicals.
How: Spray liberally outside, inside, everywhere. Let sit for 3 minutes...powerwash off.
Where: Wal-Mart

Tire: Simple Green or Castrol Superclean
Why: Clean the brown dirt off your tires or remove greasy silicone based tire shiners.
How: Coat the entire tire thouroughly. Make sure if you use the Castrol that you don't let it sit on your rims.
Where: Wal-Mart

Chamois: The Absorber
Why: Minimizes chance of scratches better, holds more water, lasts longer than your typical chamois
How: Wipe
Where: Wal-Mart

Tire Well Cleaner: Simple Green
Why: Keep your wheel wells clean
How: Spray tons of the stuff, let sit for 5 minutes and powerwash out. Works good underneath your "ground effects" to remove dirt, mud, tar
Where: Wal-Mart

Tail Pipe Polished: Eagle One Chrome Cotton (NOt sure if that's the name)
Why: Keep them tips looking good
How: Rub the chrome tips with the cloth and buff to a cloudy finish. Let sit till dry, butt out.
Where: Wal-Mart

Front Air Dam (Aero Kit, Track Model) Dye: Forever Black
Why: When I got my car, I noticed there were some scratch marks on the black trim underneat the nose of the care. I used some Forever Black to re-dye the front end...worked great! It's not a paint, or anything. It's a dye. It hid all the scuffs, scratches, etc. So now the front is a nice, clean, black again. It's not a protectant like armorall that will wash off. It re-dyes the plastic...great product.
How: Clean off the item, remove buds, tar, etc. Shake the bottle well then just apply a thin coat...don't over do it.
Where: www.klassedirect.com

Quick Waxing: The Wax Shops SUPER GLAZE
Why: Sometimes you just want a quick 15 min wax job with a great gloss look, or top off your exisiting wax job inbetween washes. Goes on with NO EFFORT. Don't have to worry about getting it on black trim either. Very good product.
How: Apply, dry, buff
Where: Autozone, Pep Boys

Detailed Waxing (Glossy-Wet Look): Liquid Glass
Why: I've tried them all, Zaino, Klasse, etc and nothing beats Liquid Glass on light colored cars. Zaino and Klasse are great for black or dark colored vehciles, but Liquid Glass seems to bring out the metal flakes in my paint, and make the curves on my 350z look wet. And you can apply as many layers as you want with at least a 4 hour cure time between the coats. It goes on with not much effort, wipe off can be a little rough if you put too much on.
How: Apply, cure 4 hours, buff, re-apply if desired
Where: Autozone, online

Detailed Poslish/Wax: Klasse All In One
Why: Not as shiny as Liquid Glass, but seems to offer better protection and last a little longer. Good for darker vehciles. A breeze to apply and take off.
How: Apply, cure 4 hours, buff, re-apply if desired
Where: www.klassedirect.com

Glass Cleaner Outside: Simple Windex
Why: Streaks are minimal, does a great job cleaning glass
How: Duh
Where: Anywhere

Glass Cleaner Outside: Gunk Glass Cleaner (Foam)
Why: Safe for tint, smells good.
How: Duh. If you have alot of gunk on your windshield you can apply tons of this stuff and take it off with a razor blade, then followed by paper towels...cleans very well just don't scratch up your windows!
Where: Wal-Mart

Leather Cleaner: Lexol Leather Cleaner
Why: Simply the Best
How: Wet rag, spray on leather, and clean off
Where: Pep-Boys, online outlets

Leather Conditioner: Lexol Leather Conditioner
Why: Works damn good
How: Spray onto rag, or directly onto leather, buff it. Let sit it hot sun for at least a couple of hours...longer in colder weather. Or use a hair dryer (seriously)
Where: Pep-Boys, online outlets

Interior Plastic: Gunk Glass Cleaner
Why: I hate armorall, and greasy, shiny, sticky cars. I simply spray this on, smells good and clean and doesn't leave a gunky feel. Leave the armorall for the old cars or very small trim items such as to hid scuff marks on your door jams.
How: Spray, wipe
Where: Wal-Mart

Interior Rags: Paper Towels, Lint Removing Cloths
Why: Hose the inside (except for your gauge plastic cover) then wipe it all down with paper towels. If you have lint, use a lint removing rag (in the auto section at wal-Mart). This gets the inside clean, and minimizes lint.
How: Hose, wipe, wipe again to remove lint
Where: Wal-Mart

Floor/Carpet Protection: Cheap Floormats
Why: Go grab some $7 each plastic floormats from wal-mart. The kinds that have the big grooves on them. They come in all colors and they do look pretty good in the Z. It covers your existing Z floormats, prevents water, sludge, mud, etc from splattering all over your floorboard as it holds all the crap will you get a chance to hose off. I've used these in every car, truck I've owned and the carpet has always been in MINT condition including the floormats.
Where: Wal-Mart

Wax Removing Rags: Yellow Terry Cloths
Why: Get a bunch of them. To help minimize scratches and swirl marks, I'll typically used at least 2 PER panel. Nothing will increase your chances for swirls than to use the same rag to do the entire car. Keep fresh rags all the time...
How: Wipe...like toilet paper ya know!?
Where: Wal-Mart

Wheel Well "Darkener": Son of a Gun Foam Spray
WHy: Personally I like the looks of a clean, shiny wheel well. Show's that the owner is a total car clean freak. I used to use the silicone based tire shine stuff but it would just junk up after awhile. Use the foam to shine up the tire well, but it comes off very easy for quick cleanup.
How: Spray liberally in wheel well. Just don't get it on your paint.
Where: Wal-Mart

Tire Shine: Son of a Gun Tire Shine
Why: I know alot of people don't like this stuff, or similar product but I recommend it anyway as it seems to make the car look better than faded black tires. There's a trick though. Just don't hose down your wheels and drive off. You'll have that crap sprayed all down the side of your car and can be a pain in the butt to remove.
How: GENTLY spray JUST your sidewalls...let sit for 15 minutes, then wipe off ANY excess silicone. THis will leave your tire fairly black-wet looking, but won't spray down the side of your car when you drive off. When it's time to clean your car, use the Castrol Super Clean or Simple Green on the wheel to take it off as it usually attracts dirt.
Where: Wal-Mart

Tips:
Change rags out ALOT while waxing..ALONG WITH APPLICATOR PADS!!!!!!!

Wash your chamois EVERYTIME you clean your car!!!!!!!

WIPE off all excessive tire gel/shine

Always keep a GOOD coat of wax on your front end, and sideview mirrors...helps take the bugs off

WASH YOUR CAR immediately if you have tons of bugs or bird crap on your paint...want damaged paint?

Try and keep a good distance between yourself and trucks/18 wheelers. Nothing will throw up rocks and sandblast your cars windshield, headlights, and paint like those things.

BUY TOUCHUP Paint. Keep it handy and always inspect your car for chips, and nicks because they will eventually spread. Stop the madness now!

Spray simple green on your Brembos! It'll make em nice and shiney and won't hurt the finish. If you're worried about if, you can even dilute the stuff. Has a chart on the back.

Keep your engine bay clean...after you get finished chamoing your car, pop the hood and take a whole 5 mins to wipe any dirt off.

Apply armorall to your door jams. This is where I always drag my feet across and has become scuffed a bit. a VERY light coat and buff of armorall seems to hide it pretty well albiet for not long.



WHEW! I'am no pro, but I've used these "formulas" for quite some time and am fairly confident that you'll receive similar results. I'll post a detailed list on how to detail your car soon...have a great weekend and sorry for the mis-types

 

FYI, Simple Green has been banned by the FAA for use on airplanes due to it's caustic properties. My boss is a private pilot and told me that all planes that had been cleaned with this stuff had to be rewashed with a neutralizing solution.

 

BUMP. Can a moderator make this a sticky?
I found this very very very useful.

 

I assume one of those was supposed to be "Inside" and the other "Outside". Judging from the description, the Windex is for inside. Actually, that's one of the worse things you can use on the interior of a car as it contains ammonia. Use something that is made specifically for car glass like Stoner's Invisible Glass.

 

While there are a lot of interesting suggestions in that post, I hardly think it qualifies as one of the "classics" in car care. Being about 5½ years old, it's outdated as there are lot more "cutting-edge" products and techniques out there.

 

concur....simple green is full of citric acid. i wouldnt put it on my wheels, but im no expert. it might be ok if diluted in water.


edit: just noticed, holy ancient post batman!

 

Simple green is a concentrade. The stuff you buy at the stores is good stuff you just have to read the damn directions. For delicate stuff your supposed to use a 30:1 dilution.