MEM82

Great thread! I need to up my car caring routine.
​​​​​​my car is fully xpeled and xpel fusion ceramic coated (car and wheels/brakes)

I only foam with Adams mega foam, then use Adams car shampoo and dry with microfiber towels. Thats it. I should change up my routine given what you guys have mentioned regarding the ceramic coating to restore that depth look.

I have a question for the group here. I was motoring down the interstate the other day and a bunch of dirt/rocks fell off the horse trailer some 150 feet up in front of me and i of course made contact before I could swerve out of the way. The PPF seemed to do it's job but there are two small tears on the fender. I've never owned a car with PPF before so not sure how I should handle it.
Is there a test to see if it damaged the paint? I don't seem to think so by visual inspection but I don't know. Will the air stream over the fender over time cause the tear to get bigger? I do have an appointment with my installing shop for them to look at it. I wonder if the film should be replaced.
​​?

TBK911

Hey there, new guy here. Bought a 2013 Porsche 911 4S recently, haven't had a nice car in years, let alone hand washed one!

Can someone post a list of items needed to get started? I know buckets, but any brand of microfiber towels, soaps, etc.? I'm thinking of starting with the basics and then falling deeper down the rabbit hole. Haha

Thanks in advance!

MrFunk

I'm not the PPF expert - but I believe some PPF's claim to self heal (not even sure what that means to be honest). If the paint got dinged there's not much you can do about it without removing the PPF. Then touch up and re-apply new PPF. It's a big job needing a pro. If those are tiny and not bothering you then leave it.

The only suggestion I have as part of your wash regime is that you may want to get a drying aid - aka detailer spray - that you can mist the car with before drying with towel. This will "lubricate" the paint before drying reducing swirls. These also add some additional shine. If you like Adams products, they have a nice detail spray - it smells great! Buy in the gallon size

MrFunk

This is absolutely the rabbit hole! LOL... There can be an "investment" on the front end if you have 0 products.
The bare minimum to get started:
2 x 5 Gallon Buckets (one for wheels, one for car)
4 x Microfiber Wash Pads (used to wash car - you can use very plush microfiber towels or you can use wash pads)
1 x Large Microfiber Drying Towel
Car Wash Soap for the bucket (for the car wash)
Tire and Wheel Cleaner (for cleaning wheels)
Tire and Wheel Cleaning brushes (one to reach inside the wheel well to clean the barrels - wheel woolies are nice, a couple in various sizes and soft bristle for outside, one firm bristle for the actual tires)
Detail Spray to mist car after wash while still wet to help drying and add some shine.
10 x Interior cleaning towels
Interior cleaner - NOT ARMOR ALL!!!
Hose with nozzle.
Glass Cleaner
Tire Shine
Tire Shine foam applicator
Vaccum for interior (shop vac is fine to get started)

The first purchase will be several hundred of dollars...
Once you get started you'll soon want a pressure washer, a foam canon, wall vac unit, blah blah other tools etc... the list is long.
You will figure out what you're missing or want - brands you begin liking etc.
I suggest buying products in bulk if you can.

It's hard to figure out where to buy all this stuff too - and what's a good brand vs bad. I won't tell you what brands to chose but I placed most of my initial orders from Detailers Domain - https://www.detailersdomain.com/
You can get everything right there from them. Amazon sells all this stuff too but there's almost too much to choose from and they also sell a lot of junk products too...

For techniques there is plenty of content online. One of my favorite down to earth detailers out there to help me get started was Car Cleaning Guru - he has a ton of great content on youtube and lists all his products used in each video.

TBK911

Thanks. Can you recommend a soap brand? Adams is good? And towels? And I saw that a low PH soap helps to lessen water spots, right?

UncleDude

They don’t self heal things that big IME. I had a tear slightly larger than that on my hood, and the rock crushed the clear coat of the paint leaving a whitish residue that would not come off. I made the PPF hole larger, applied Dr. Colorchip, let it cure for a week, then had the ppf panel replaced. You can’t see it under the PPF now.

This is the love hate issue I have with PPF. When you get a ding you have to look at the damn ripped film or spend hundreds replacing it, rather than simply touch it up. The Dr. Colorchip is amazing and the paint repair can finish flush (not like those crappy touch up pens). When this PPF is done, I’m not sure I’ll replace it.

BudgetPlan1

It’s best to use a pH neutral soap to avoid degrading your protection unnecessarily. Gyeon Bathe is a nice one.

Additionally, unless the car is extra dirty, a dedicated foam soap is generally unnecessary; just foam with your regular shampoo. Gyeon Bathe does well at about a 1:6 dilution, 150ml or so in a 1000ml foam cannon, balance of container filled with water.

This ‘hobby’ can indeed be quite the rabbit hole but after spending thousands of $$$ having fun with this stuff over the years I’ve found that often, less is more and you don’t really need 50 different products on your shelf to keep all areas of your car in top shape.

As far as towels, I’ve found it helpful to keep different colors/types for different tasks.

Drying: Gyeon Silk Dryers
Anything that touches paint: Rag Company Lavender Edgeless 350’s
Interior: Rag Company yellow Edgeless 300’s & 350’s
Wheels/Exhaust/Door/under hood & other dirty tasks: Rag Company black Creatures
Glass: Rag Company blue FTW twisted loop

Towels can be largely personal preference; some like thick, plush towels, some prefer shorter nap.

A bit of a rabbit hole in towels alone 🤣

Also check out the Rennlist Car Care forum where supporting vendors/professionals offer advice and money saving promotions: https://rennlist.com/forums/concours-and-car-care-86/

Have fun & enjoy…very rewarding endeavors when ya go out to the garage to take the trash out and spend 20 minutes staring at your car 😱

GoTime

After my detailer recommended it I switched to yellow towels so I can see when they’re dirty.

TBK911

Yea, I'm going to keep it simple to start with. I want it to look nice but won't be too OCD about it, just want to avoid the swirls I seems to get on my black BMW years ago.

MrFunk

There are LOTS and LOTS of very good quality soaps out there. So you can go with something recommended here, or you can buy the one your favorite youtuber detailer uses. You can't really go wrong...
With that said - I personally started with all Adam's products to keep it simple and because it's available in gallon sizes. I'd suggest as mentioned above to just start with 1 soap - the regular Adam's car Shampoo is a great start....

TBK911

I ended up purchasing the gallon Adam's soap and tire cleaner

CDACH

For towels I really like the offerings of the Rag Company. They have some good videos of what the different towels are good for and it's pretty informative. Get a quality microfiber detergent to clean them and I air dry my towels.

Adams has good soaps as does Gyeon and others. Get a grit guard for each 5 gallon bucket.

Washing your own car is rewarding and for some, therapeutic.

TBK911

Thanks. I coincidentally just bought 4x mitts from Rag Company, a pack of tire brushes and 12x Mr Siga MF towels, need to get the grit guards next. 😎

MrFunk

Grit guards in my opinion are a gimmick.
Should you be re-using a wash pad that is so dirty it is leaving grit in the bucket when you dunk it?! Probably not - probably time to grab a fresh one...
Wash pads/wash towels are inexpensive. A car wash requires 4-5 of them depending on size of vehicle and how dirty it is... clean a panel, flip, clean a second panel, discard, grab a fresh new wash pad, dunk in fresh soapy water, repeat... Why dunk and re-use a soiled wash pad when you can just grab a fresh one?

Yes - I bought into grit guards years ago, and keep using them because I have them... unnecessary though if you just use fresh as you go wash pads...
That's my $0.02 on grit guards.

RoadrunnerGTS

Agree. Just use 3 to 4 wash mits. Wash car top down and change mitts. Example, wash roof and hood with 1 mitt, then middle section with 2nd mitt, lastly lower quarter with 3rd mitt.