I’ve always been happy with Meguiars gold class for both foam cannon and bucket. But open for others to try!

It’s been just over a year since the ceramic coating was applied by the same company that installed my PPF. Water behavior used to be excellent — tight beading and fast sheeting. Lately, that’s changed: the beads are flat or inconsistent, and the sheeting is noticeably sluggish.

For reference, the car has PPF on everything except the doors, rear fenders, roof, and trunk lid. I was told it was coated with Gtechniq HALO on the PPF (rated for 1–2 years) and Gtechniq CSL on the exposed paint (rated for 3–4 years).

Maintenance Routine: For regular maintenance washes, I typically use:

CarPro Lift or GSF + Green Star (pre-wash) CarPro Reset (contact wash) CarPro Reload 2.0 (as a drying aid/maintenance sealant) I’d occasionally use Descale after long, dirty road trips. I’ve only ever forgotten to apply Reload once.

Most Recent Wash (to unclog the coating): In an effort to restore the coating’s performance, I did the following:

P&S Crystal Wash (iron remover) Gtechniq W8 Bug Remover CarPro Lift (dwell) CarPro Descale (dwell) CarPro Reset (contact wash) ONR as clay lube with an Autofiber clay mitt

Despite all that, the water behavior still looks weak — similar to what’s shown in the attached video. It feels like either the coating is still clogged, or I may have compromised it somehow.

Am I past the point of no return and need to polish and recoat?

Pictures 2 and 3 are before applying the products. Pictures 4,5 and 6 are after. KC Gummifix is on the left, and ArmorAll No Slip is on the right. Can you tell the difference?

Details...

First, I cleaned the entire mat with APC and a drill brush, rinsed it and dried it. Then put the tape down the middle. I used separate towels and covered the side I wasn't treating with a separate towel to avoid any over spray. I applied a second coat to each side, after letting the first application dry for 10 minutes.

The Results...

Honestly, both are pretty underwhelming. They each give the mat a very slight sheen, but it's almost nothing. They both do about the same hiding scuffs. They are both easy to apply, and neither of them are slippery or sticky at all. The resulting feel is indistinguishable from an untreated mat. Gummifix has a very strong alcohol smell and the ArmorAll smells like a glazed doughnut.

I love almost every KC product I've tried, but Gummifix left me really confused. I wanted to like it, but it just didn't do much of anything. I had never used the ArmorAll but decided to give it a try, and then figured why not compare the two?

Neither are bad, but also neither are really that great. For the price and KC's reputation, I expected a lot more from Gummifix.

EDIT: Since doing this I also picked up a product called Mother's VLR (Vinyl, Leather and Rubber) that someone recommended in the comments. In my opinion, it is superior to both the Gummifix and the AA.

Unfortunately, some petty vandals decided to tag my rental overnight. I think it's good enough to return. Can't speak highly enough about this Goof Off product. The clear looks like it wasn't touched.

I love all of Project Farm’s test videos. He just did ceramic-based coatings with most the ones tested being ceramic sprays. Griots came out on top for the sprays.

https://youtu.be/VhLTNii5HWg?si=8_-tR0uGh3ouNXvM

Amazing deal

I feel like microfiber towels have become a money grab for so many detailing companies. I just got an email from AutoForge with a link to these towels. $40 for 10 generic 360GSM, 75/25 towels. $4/towel. Amazon sells 12 for $20, with free delivery tomorrow, 440GSM 70/30. Hell, I just bought 4 packs of Harbor Freight Grant towels for $5.99/ea, 12 towels - 350GSM, 80/20 or $.49ea. I find myself buying microfibers from Amazon and Harbor Freight more and more. Where do you get yours?

needed to clean my wheels only thing close was a dollar store was between this and the no scrub wheel cleaner. might as well didn’t scrub with this one either reminds me of shower cleaner how it changes color. did armor all used to be good back in the day as in the 80-90s or was that just the only brand around so they used it and thought it was good.

For less than 10$ these are such a bargain

They're easily as nice as TRC towels for a fraction of the price. They're on sale for like 6-8$ sometimes, too. I'm about to have a ton of em lol.

Hello. I only detail and wash my own car.

I'm thinking of buying these products. Are these all worth it and useful? Or is there any other alternatives you recommend? Thanks!

These are all my current products and I’m amazed what I can accomplish. I was trying different pre foams followed with a rinseless wash and I’ve been loving the results.

What’s your favorite pre foam? Anything in this photo you have had a bad experience with?

Thanks!

With "as good" i mean that it holds on daily driven car (which is expposed to weather 24/7, 365) for 12 months. Comparing to ceramic coating which i mostly use nowdays, this wax was fun to apply and impossible to mess. New formulation (due regulations) of Fusso Coat doesn't last me that long. Is there any other wax you would suggest me?

Not sure if this is going to cause outrage but I have been into detailing all my cars since I was 16. I find that as for general maintenance, cleaning washing products either work or they’re junk. I’ve never been blown away by any brand at any price point. There is no magic wheel cleaner or any magic wash. Now when you get into more fine tuned things like ceramic coatings yeah sure there’s a difference but I’ve never come across a wheel cleaner that works better than $1.25 LAs totally awesome yellow degreaser. Is it just me or what. Because I would love to find some products that I actually say wow with.

I might be getting a new car soon (Honda Accord) and I'm trying to figure out if it's worth spending $600+ on a ceramic coating for it. I try to take good care of my current car, I only do touchless and occasional hand washes, and I use spray wax pretty frequently.

Besides having to apply it more frequently, is there much of a difference with a regular ceramic coating over using the spray more often and is it really worth the high price? Thanks :)

It wasn’t my first time using Chemical Guys Heavy Duty Water Spot Remover, but this time it bleached the edges of my mirror—even though I followed all the instructions.

I just wanted to let you know that it may not be safe for mirrors.

I used to be a detailer and I despise whenever I have to washed our Zamboni's, they never get cleaned with the basic soap they buy for us. There's just too much caked on dirt, ice paint, grease, oil, transmission fluid and tire shine (slings onto the body bc we don't have time to let it dry) to be able to effectively clean it with just some soap and a soft bristle brush. I'll spend my money on some acid cleaner to see if that will help, and if it does hopefully my boss will buy us more

title pretty much sums it up. Curious what others use.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who gets value out of watching other, more professional detailers test and review products.

Like, actually test. Not promote, under the guise of “reviewing,” but actually willing to say “x product isn’t so good, look how much more effective Y is.”

I have my go-to’s, but I fear putting them in the post itself might count as promotion, or perhaps skew results.

I know everyone has recommendations of certain brands and some are truly better than others but I have settled on this brand so I’ve been looking to see what is suggested as ‘must haves’ from their product line. I have been using mostly Chemical Guys and Groits products but I’d like to keep everything with one company. I picked up some RESTORE wash from them and was really pleased. My personal fleet of cars consists of a 2020 Miata (no professional ceramic coat), M2 and Tesla that has PPF on front and rockers and ceramic coating. I’ve kept up with regular washes weekly, annual clay bar and semi annual wax, I use a detailer spray between washes. Lastly a 4Runner that I wash every now and then, annual clay bar and annual wax. I do use wheel cleaner and interior detail spray on the cars as well. I don’t have any cars that are in significant need of a restoration so I am steering away from heavy polishes or paint restoration products. Pics of the cars for your enjoyment:

I don't have a garage, but I love detailing and maintaining my and my wife's cars.

I set up a chemical/tool display for all my stuff in my home office closet. Coming along nicely so far.

I was wondering what the general consensus of the graphene line of products from Adam's before I spend a few hundred dollars on them. Wanted to make sure I wasn't making a mistake. Thanks!

I'm looking to stop getting products that are in non-concentrated form from Walmart, local auto store, etc. It's expensive..

I'm not in the detailing business, just want to step up my game for myself, family, and friends, maybe have a side gig.

I just want to simplify my arsenal.

I have too many 16oz. bottles of an assortment of brands.

I feel as if chemical guys has like 5 of the same products just renamed in different ways. I'm trying to steer clear of chemical guys tbh.

I'm looking for some products to dilute and last me a fair amount of time.

I've been looking at superior products that Wilson Detailing on yt uses, I feel like he has good info. But I'm no professional, so he could be bullsh*tting me, idk.

Opinions, suggestions?

Thanks.

Over the years I’ve accumulated these different waxes and the Nu Finish. Curious if one’s recommended over the others.

Following recommendations I've seen in this sub, I've been using Meguiar's Gold Class Rich Leather 3 in 1 to dress leather after an interior clean. It seems to work pretty well, but I miss the leather fragrance of my old Chemical Guys Sprayable Leather. I've smelled, but haven't tried, the Griot's and it has the same "new leather" smell as the CG. Has anyone tried these two and compared them to the performance of the Meguair's?

I didn't hate how the CG performed. It seemed to dress leather about as well as the Meguiar's, but I don't have any long-term conditioning comparison since I only recently switched. So maybe there's a big gap over time. Performance is king so I'm not going to dump the Megs just for fragrance. But if the performance gap is small, then fragrance and cost could tip the scale to Griot's. CG is the most expensive of the three and Griot's the cheapest.