Taking care or your car’s appearance doesn’t qualify as vanity; instead, it’s smart vehicle ownership. You can hire a professional auto detailer to care for your car for between $100 and $500 – or you can swipe their secrets, do it yourself and save some dough. If you are going to hire a detailer, ask a lot of questions, ask for references and to see sample work, and agree to a price in writing before the detailing work begins. Detailcentral.com.au is constantly adding new auto detailing products to their store, be sure to check with us often to see our new car detailing products.

With the free flow of information on the internet, do-it-yourselfers have access to all of the tools and tricks of the trade available to the pros. If you choose to detail your own ride, be prepared to spend a little bit of money gathering the proper tools and materials. You may already have most of the right stuff handy in your garage; if you must gather everything from scratch, you might spend from $30 to $100 or more, depending on how extensive you want your detail job to be.

The most important material that you’ll need is already in your tool kit. For many experts in the field, the secret ingredient is hard work and elbow grease. “Good detailing is 90% application and 10% product,” one detail professional said. “The best detailer can get decent results with decent products, but the worst detailer can’t get great results even with great products.”

There are few automotive maintenance chores that are more satisfying, accessible to all skill levels and truly beneficial for your car than a good detail job. We’ve collected the top secrets that will help you to get professional results, make your detailing more fun, more successful and easier.

Secret #1: Use Two Buckets to Wash
Detailers know that the two-bucket method is the best way to get your exterior clean. Use one bucket to hold your clean suds, and another bucket to hold clean water. Before you dip your cleaning mitt into the clean suds, rinse it off in the clean water bucket and wring it dry. Then, you’re always putting a clean mitt into the clean suds that will go on your car. If you only use one bucket, you’re just moving dirt off of your car, into your suds and back onto your car. Some pros have started using the Grit Guard insert, a $9.99 tray that helps sediment settle to the bottom of your wash bucket, instead of getting stirred up in the water and recollected on your wash mitt.

Secret #2: Join the Microfiber Revolution
We’re living the microfiber revolution. Pro detailers use color-coded, task-specific microfiber cloths and towels for greater efficiency, lower friction and scratching and easier washing, rinsing and drying. Mike Pennington, director of training and consumer relations for wax and polish supplier Meguiars, emphasizes that it’s important to wash your microfiber as a separate load, not mixed in with the regular laundry and rags. Microfiber will trap the lint from cotton towels, defeating the purpose of the wash. Use very little detergent and skip the fabric softener, which will coat the fibers and inhibit microfiber’s qualities. Double up on the rinse cycle, and your microfiber will perform at its best.

Also, remove any labels and stitching before you use your towels to avoid scratching. And remember, you get what you pay for – those cheapo packs of microfiber from the warehouse store are not nearly as good as the ones you can find at online specialty stores.

Secret #3: Detail Your Trim First
This tip comes from Jim Dvorak, a product specialist at Mothers Polish. He suggests using a trim protectant/restorer like Mothers’ Back to Black before waxing your paint. Wash and dry your vehicle, then apply the trim protectant. The product will repel polish and wax that might otherwise stain your trim. Some pro detailers use masking tape to protect the trim during waxing – this application can help save time and cleanup.

Secret #4: Use a Buffer to Apply Product, a Towel to Remove
Consumers sometimes get confused by the name of the tool, and use a power buffer to remove wax or polish from the painted surfaces of their cars. A buffer can leave erratic swirl marks in your clear coat and paint if used to remove product; that’s not what it’s for. Use the buffer to apply wax, and then use a soft, dry cloth to remove it. You’ll avoid burning the paint or damaging the clear coat, and you’ll wind up with a thin, even coat of wax.

Secret #5: Get a Dual Action Polisher
For just a little bit more than you’d spend on a good direct drive polisher and an orbital polisher, you can get the perfect blend of both tools with a dual action polisher like those manufactured by Flex. Based in Stuttgart, Germany, Flex has been making tools since 1922 and building dedicated auto finish polishers since 1988. Meguiars’ Dual Action Polisher is a little more consumer friendly, and less expensive than the Flex products. It doesn’t have the forced rotation, which keeps the tool moving even under a heavy load. Forced rotation is a great feature for an expert who knows how to use it; in inexperienced hands, however, it can do more harm than good.

Secret #6: Use a Clay Bar System
This secret may be out of the bag already, but it’s such a good one that it bears repeating. There’s no better way to remove surface contaminants from paint than with a good clay bar system. Pros have been using clay for years, and consumer versions have been on the market for at least a decade. A good clay bar system includes a spray lubricant, usually a detailing spray, an 80 – 100 gram clay bar, and a towel. According to Mike Pennington from Meguiars, after washing and drying your car you rub the clay bar on the paint to remove “bonded environmental contaminants” without removing paint thickness. The smoother paint surface takes polishing and wax better, and extends the life of subsequent treatments.

Secret #7: Use a Plastic Grocery Bag to Check the Paint Surface
Hers’s another tip from Jim Dvorak at Mothers. Once you have cleaned your paint’s surface of contaminants with a clay bar system or other cleaner, it’s important to make sure that you’ve really removed all the dirt before you seal the surface with wax. Put your hand in an ordinary thin plastic grocery bag, and run it over the surface of the paint. The plastic bag will amplify any bumps and imperfections – you can go back and detail again. Keep rechecking until the surface is totally smooth, then polish (if necessary) and apply protective wax.

Secret #8: Dry Your Glass in Two Directions
Here’s a great tip from Meguiars’ Pennington: Dry your glass in two directions. Get into the habit of doing your final wipe of interior glass in a horizontal direction, and the final wipe on the exterior in a vertical direction. Then, when you find the inevitable streak, you’ll instantly know whether it’s on the inside (horizontal) or the outside (vertical) of the glass. You’ll get perfectly clear glass without jumping in and out of the vehicle chasing that streak.

Secret #9: Brush It First
Pennington says that when it comes to cleaning interiors, mechanical agitation is always better than chemical intervention. That means that your first line of attack is a good brush. For instance, before vacuuming your carpeting, de-mat the fibers by using a stiff nylon brush. Then, when you vacuum, the dirt will be free in the carpet, and will be much easier to extract. The same goes for door panels, though you’ll want to use a gentler brush. If more aggressive cleaning is necessary, start gently, use a gentle solution of fabric cleaner, and dry with a soft cotton cloth.

Secret #10: Make Static Electricity Your Friend
To remove stubborn pet hair from your cars carpets, put on a pair of latex gloves (readily available in boxes of 100 from any home improvement store) and then rub your hand over the carpet. The static electricity caused by the latex glove will help bring the pet hair up to the surface of the carpet for easy removal by hand or vacuum.

Secret #11: Leave the Headliner Alone
According to Pennington, there’s one part of the car that detailers avoid if at all possible: the headliner. Even a little bit of agitation can cause the glue in a headliner to fail, causing far more more problems than it is worth. Keep your ministrations to a minimum when it comes to cleaning, brushing and tending to the headliner fabric. If you positively must clean your headliner, use very little moisture, and never allow it to soak through the outer fabric. Our car detailing products are dependable in any car, click here if you want to check it.

Auto detailing can be a great way to bond with your car, and to make your automotive investment go farther, last longer and look better. Hopefully these Top Secrets of the Auto Detailers will help you and your ride along the way.

At a car detailing products Australia using special tools will clean your vehicle of dirt and road grime, both inside and out and in detail. In addition to having a very clean car, the process of car detailing will also help to keep the vehicle in excellent condition and therefore retain more resale value. The challenge when shopping for a detailing service is finding one that will cover all of the required aspects of detailing.

Paint Care
The paint on your car is a very delicate thing, and most reputable detailing services with deal with it in a three step process that cleans, corrects and protects the paint surface. The cleaning step consists of properly washing and drying the car to remove any dirt and grime. Next comes clay bar application, which removes contaminants in the clear coat such as industrial fallout, metal particles, dirt and tar. Once this has been done, if needed, the paint will be polished to remove any swirl marks and fine scratches before being sealed via waxing to protect the paint and help it to shine.

Chassis and Wheels
The undercarriage and chassis of your car should be cleaned along with the rest of the exterior. This not only includes directly under the car, but also inside the wheel wells and around the major suspension components such as anti roll bars and control arms. The plastic splash guards and inner fender liners should be dressed with a plastic protectant, and wheels and tires should be washed thoroughly before being dressed in a protectant that improves their luster and protects from corrosion and cracking.

Headlights, Taillights and Exterior Trim
Many detailing services will apply a polishing compound to headlights and taillights showing signs of oxidation, but properly sealing them after wards with a plastic sealant is an important step. Chrome trim should be cleaned, and any vinyl or plastic trim should be dressed with a protectant to help them resist cracking and fading. In addition to plastics and rubbers, many detailing services also clean the chrome or polished exhaust tips as part of their service.

Interior Detailing
Interior detailing should at minimum include a cleaning of all carpeting and seating surfaces. This is done either by shampooing or by using a steam cleaner. In addition, all plastics and vinyl should be properly cleaned and dressed, and any leather should be conditioned and cleaned. This is not limited to the passenger area, and many thorough services will also include the trunk area in the detailing package.

Engine Bay
While many detailing services may not include this in their standard packages, it is a very important aspect of automotive detailing. The engine bay should be lightly misted with water, and then cleaned with a suitable degreaser before being rinsed clean. Once properly dried, all silicone, plastic and rubber components should be properly dressed to protect them from cracking.

Costs Associated with a Car Detailing Service
A standard car detailing service should range in cost between $50 and $150 depending upon your location, the type of vehicle you drive and the quality of services being offered by the company or individual. Larger vehicles such as SUV’s and vans typically cost more, as does an upgraded package consisting of even more attention to detail. You can expect to pay additional fees for the highest quality shampoos and cleaning products, the use of special equipment, superior waxing, steam cleaning or shampoo of interior carpets and cleaning of leather upholstery. You may want to take advantage of additional services including engine cleaning, dent removal or wheel detailing. Click here to use our car detailing products.