Thought it would be interesting to share some of the best tips you've learned this year. Not products necessarily, but application techniques.

Mine is simple. After rinsing your car, unscrew the nozzle of the hose and let the water run straight from the hose onto the car. Takes 95% of the water spots off and cut my drying time in half - at least. Best thing I learned all year.

 

ah.. yes.. it is formally called "sheeting" the car

Here is another tip... when drying the rest of the car... gently pat the surface of the car with the towel, dont rub it across the paint.

 

I do 90 percent of the interior cleaning with water: no special sprays or fancy salon shampoos. Less is more.

 

Invisible Glass cleaner,
Sometimes I really think that someone stole my windows!!!!

 

One of my favorite toys is a firehose nozzle. I picked one up at Wally-world for a few bucks. It's similar to the one in the picture below. There is no way for you to scratch your car by accidently bumping it with this nozzle. Plus it has a wide range of spray patterns from a high pressure blast to a soft flood.



BTW, the pic is from the DFTowel site. They sell that particular one.

 

Invisible Glass Cleaner & I don't use a nozzle. Allows the water to sheet off. Easier to dry that way.

 

I remove the nozzle for the final sheeting. I only use the nozzle during washing and rinsing.

 

drying the car with the leaf blower... i know it sounds dump but it works and you dont have to worry about swirls and scratches.

 

its not dumb.. its a great idea.. and works great!... I just need to buy a leaf blower and I'd be in that club

 

My best detailing tip is to invest in a Porter Cable buffer. I can apply all different types of polishes and with this buffer it actually works the product into the paint and can break the product down. The work i've done with this buffer on my car and others is a ton better than I was ever able to achieve by hand.

also forgot to add that this buffer will not ruin your paint if you are a novice detailer. There are tons of writeups of how to use it online. It is a random orbit buffer and is very easy to use.