Ask the Detailer

Definitely a great product. I just don’t think it’s really gotten any traction here. Not a lot of guys on this forum use wax very often.

 

Any of you guys catch any of the detailing youtuber drama over the last few days? Scott HD apparently exposed Pan the Organizer for getting paid to do reviews. Led to a few of the big names chiming in.

 

i've caught a little bit. pan has pretty much always released that it's a sponsored video, so not sure what the surprise was

 

I've been very pleased with Matt from OG's recommendation of Jescar+Collenite combination. Like you said it provides decent protection and looks great.

 

Yup.....lots of discussion on Autopia.org forum. People seem pretty upset about it...not really all that important to me. I rely on real people, like those on this forum, that use and provide reviews on products. I suspected that Pan was being paid a long time ago...right after he declared BeadMaker to be the best spray sealant available. I'd no idea there was that kind of money to be made in detailing reviews.

 

I've been using Collinite 845 for the last few years. No complaints at all. Goes on easy and comes off just the same. I've still got some protection on my truck after applying two coats last November but in all fairness with Covid restrictions and me working from home I didn't put nearly as many miles on as I normally would. This last weekend I did a full iron decon, clay, and seal of my mom's and wife's cars with two coats of Griot's 3 in 1 so I'm really interested to see the results there.

 

I’d wondered in the past, since he never seemed to review anything negatively. Later, I heard him address it on a podcast. He said on there that his stance was that if he tested something and didn’t like it, he would just move on and not post a review. He said he didn’t want to get into slamming products, and only keep things positive.
In later posts of his, I did see that he was open about being compensated for reviews, but stated that he didn’t falsify them. He claimed that his reviews were genuine regardless of compensation. Only he knows if that’s the truth.

All I can say is I’ve never watched one of his videos and disagreed with him. I spent more time watching his instructional stuff than I did his reviews anyway. I think a good giveaway that someone is being compensated is when they offer a discount code for the product.

I don’t remember if I watched his review of Beadmaker. I remember the one The Rag Company did where they showed it to him. He was blown away by it, but I think most of us are the first time we try it. I still love the stuff, just moved on from it due to its low durability. It does work exceptionally well in the short term.

I also had no idea that people get paid that kind of money for detailing reviews. I’ve been accused of it before on here, but I wouldn’t even know how to make that happen.

In the spirit of full disclosure: If a company offers me 16k, I’ll lie to you guys.

 

I saw that and stopped following it. I just assume folks are sponsored when they present products, disclosure or not. I try to take several data points from the crowd's wisdom to see what works.

 

That is a killer combo. Too bad he meanders so much otherwise I would be subscribed.

 

Agreed. I never watched him, found his personality off putting personally. I don't however see this as a problem, he's literally recommending cleaning products. If you buy a product he recommends and it doesn't work you're out what, $20.... Plus if he allows sponsors to change his review then he's only hurting himself in the long run because consumers will try his recommendations and find out they are not good products and stop listening to him. On another note, I use Beadmaker after every wash and like it. It's not a wax or coating substitute but it is a decent product IMO.

 

They all do that shit.

 

I’ve always liked him ok, but didn’t follow him a whole lot. One big strike against him now is that Scott with DPC came out in defense of him. That guy is an absolute verified POS. I think @Pudge is his biggest fan though.

 

You gotta fill 10 minutes with something if you want those YouTube dollars.

 

Never heard of him before... Just looked him up and seems like some Chinese knock-off products with his label slapped on it.

 

@Pudge had a really bad experience with him. Start at post #37 of this thread:

https://www.tundras.com/threads/upd...-correction-dpc-shield-ceramic-coating.47551/

Others have had similar experiences with him. He started out as a pretty informative guy. Once he introduced his own product line, he showed himself to be a real snake. Keeps his company’s Facebook private, deletes any negative comments and bans anyone who has any criticism.

 

My Gawwwd. 125 pages.. ha So I have a new '21 Black TRD Sport coming in next week. Can someone catch me up on what is best to buy to clean and all that. Wax, Soap, What?
Thanks!

 

Oh no.

 

Yeah I know, but I was limited on options with the Sport. Ha.

 

Well, you have two options:

1) Just let it stay dirty.
2) Let detailing consume your life until you get another color.

In all seriousness though, having chosen option 2 for nearly four years, I can tell you it’s never going to stay clean for long. It’s going to get microscratches, no matter how hard you work to avoid it.

There’s definitely products I prefer over others, but nothing that will particularly be better on black paint than anything else.
Carpro Reset is the best soap on the market, hands down.
Griots PFM are the best drying towels on the market, hands down.
There are a lot of sealants that work well.
Wax looks great on black.


Main thing I’ll recommend above all else is to avoid automatic car washes, and to get a ton of good microfiber towels.
Never let the surface of a towel touch the paint more than once before you wash it. If a towel touches the ground, throw it in the trash or put it in a bin for shop rags.
Don’t try to wash it in direct sunlight when it’s warm outside.
Don’t let any soap or water dry on the paint.
Don’t get it wet.
Don’t feed it after midnight.

 

Thanks! I'm not overly anal about having a dirty truck. I drive a truck, not a lambo. But I also like being knowledgeable on the best ways to go about things. My previous truck was the Silver Sky and was great, but as I said before, it doesn't come in the TRD Sport trim.

On my previous truck I'd use McGuires Ultimate Wash & Wax. Used a hand mitt to wash it, rinse, and a shammy towel to dry. Worked pretty good for what it was, I'm sure you'd yell at me for that, ha. So just wanting the best advice on it and what all to use. I know black is a lot harder to take care of so guess we'll see how it goes, ha.

OH, and the do not feed after midnight, very good to know, ha.

 

I wouldn’t yell at anyone for their detailing process. Before I had my black Tundra, I’d run previous vehicles through automatic washes pretty often. Really nothing wrong with any Meguair’s products. They’re a solid company, and one of the few big companies that still care about quality.

I listened to an interview with Barry Meguair a few years ago. He said when his father (or grandfather?) started the company, his motto was “Make sure it works on black. If it works on black, it will work on anything”.

Like I said, more than anything just make sure you’re using pristine towels as much as possible. All vehicles get microscratches from pretty much any method of washing, but black broadcasts them like crazy. As hard as I worked to keep my black one in shape, and as good as it looks in pics I post, if you saw it in person you’d see the imperfections.
A good wax will hide them, but they’re unavoidable unless you never touch the paint or drive it anywhere.

Carpro Reset is really the best soap by far, and I think most here agree. It’s expensive, but highly concentrated so it goes a long way. It’s really forgiving as far as leaving spots, and it just works better than anything else. It’s PH neutral, so it won’t degrade any protection on the truck.

Everyone has their own favorite sealants, and there’s a lot of good options. I like Jescar Powerlock, Carpro Hydro2, and Griots 3-in-1 Ceramic. Beadmaker loos great and beads water more than any of them, but only lasts a month or so.

Shine Supply Signature Shine and Silica Cherry wax are great toppers that last a good while and look incredible.

If you search any of those products on here, you’ll see a lot of good info and results from them.


You may look into ceramic since you don’t want to spend a lot of time detailing. It’s expensive though, and still requires maintenance.

The only option I know of that will protect the paint from scratches is PPF. It’s super expensive, but is the only real protection you can get as far as I know. I’d look into doing the front end and mirror caps at least. It’s certainly beneficial for bugs, rock chips, etc.

 

Thanks for the info, I'll look into all of those. So what's the first thing I should do when I get it. Do a wax and sealant? Sorry, I really know very little about those and which is best. Most of my vehicles I've just washed and keep driving. Ha.

 

The first thing I do with any new vehicle is a paint decontamination. Vehicles get a lot of contaminants in the paint, so it’s good to do at least once a year. The contaminants dull the gloss in the paint. You wouldn’t think a new vehicle has this problem, but they do. They collect rail dust, etc. You’d be surprised how much difference it makes in the shine. A paint decon also helps any sealants bond with the paint better.

You’d need a chemical decon product. Iron X is the best, and can be bought on Amazon. Stinks like a mofo, but does the job.

Then follow up with manual decon. That would be a clay bar, synthetic clay, or a clay mitt. I use the blue Nanoskin mitt. It can also be found on Amazon. I feel like it does just as well as actual clay. Any differences are almost unnoticeable. It does the job faster, and is reusable.

 

For those of you with a fur copilot, recently purchased the Lilly brush and it works amazingly.

 

Also what podcasts are you guys listening to/recommend (auto detailing and otherwise)? Need to load up my 100gb classic ipod for the upcoming deployment.

 

For brainiac stuff Lex Fridman, Andrew Huberman and Thaddeus Russell.

Lex Fridman for science and philosophy, he is kind of dry but he interviews people who are at the top in their domain of expertise.
https://lexfridman.com/podcast/

Want to know how your brain and body works? Dr. Andrew Huberman is a neuroscientist who explains complex science in an approachable way.
https://hubermanlab.libsyn.com/

Thaddeus Russell for controversial commentary on history, culture, philosophy.
http://www.thaddeusrussell.com/podcast

 

So I recently did a color match on a few parts on the truck. (Grill, door handles, mirror caps and wrapped the bumpers in vinyl) The truck is white but not as white as the new parts I installed. I have owned the truck since birth and have always washed it and kept it clean. I have never had the paint waxed or anything like that. I am new to the world of detailing and would welcome any advise of how to bring this beauty back to its original luster (or close to it) I have read most of this great info here and here’s kinda what I deducted.

Wash
Iron x
Clay bar
Wax
Seal

Can you pros let me know what I have overlooked and products for each step.

 

Good set of steps....just some of them are out of sequence. I typically do the iron decon first on dry panels. I like it to dwell and react to any fallout. I'll them foam and rinse it. If you do not have a pressure washer, you can use a foam gun to coat it in a later of foam. It helps carry the decon product away, and you want to make sure you rinse it thoroughly. Then I proceed with the wash step. A lot of people use the two-bucket method....I prefer one bucket with lots of towels or mitts. Claying the paint is next. I'm a big fan of traditional clay bars, because you can see what you're taking off. There are lots of options for this step too. If you're not going to polish or do any kind of correction, sealant is next. A wax topper is not necessary, but in some cases, will add some depth to the color. Keep in mind....these are just some guidelines....I'm no expert. There are literally tons of variables in each of these steps.

Iron decon - Iron-X
Wash- Meguiars HyperWash or CarPro Reset
Clay bar - Griots Clay bar using Griots Speed Shine as the lubricant
Sealant - Wolfgang SIO2 Sealant or Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant
Wax- Jescar ColorLock

Here's a link to a very informative post by Mike Phillips.....who is a legitimate expert...explaining some of the steps to aggressively washing a vehicle.

https://www.autogeekonline.net/foru...-approach-washing-car.html?highlight=approach

 

Thanks for the response. So with the iron x should I avoid spraying or letting it run down other parts of the truck? Windows/plastics or bed cover? Can I just start on the roof and work my way down the truck? How long should I let it do it’s thing before foaming and rinse?