Start your car detailing kit with these 6 professional products

If you’re new to car detailing it can be hard to know where to start. With thousands of products, tools and gadgets on the market, it’s easy to think you need to spend thousands to achieve a showroom shine at home. Fortunately, a little investment in the right places goes a long way.

If you’re an absolute beginner, these are the car detailing products you should be investing in.

Car shampoo

While there’s lot of professional car products on the market, a good car shampoo goes a long way. Car shampoos come in different washes including snow foam, general car wash and wash and wax.

Look for car wash shampoos that are pH neutral. Stay away from alkaline or acidic formulations as these are abrasive and can eat into your polish or paintwork.

A general car shampoo should foam well and lather to lift away the dirt and grime. General shampoos will clean your car without leaving an added layer of protection or gloss. Wash and waxes do provide protection and will leave your vehicle with a streak free shine and an added layer of protection. Snow foam is usually used as a pre-wash prior to handwashing your vehicle.

In general, wash and wax shampoos provide a quicker solution but aren’t quite as effective as following up with paint protection or wax yourself.

Polish or wax

After washing and drying your vehicle, maintaining your shine is a top priority. Polish should be used before wax, but you won’t always need to use both.

If you’re not sure what the difference is polish helps to restore auto paint that has lost its shine while wax protects and enhances your existing paintwork.

Waxing your car after washing won’t help remove swirls, bumps and irregularities in the paintwork. A polish will remove minor scratches and swirls from the car’s surface. Even better, get a dual action polisher that can do both.

Wheel cleaner

Brake dust is corrosive so it’s important to clean your wheels regularly. Soap and water can be an effective way to keep them clean if you’re committed to regular upkeep. This method isn’t usually enough to get rid of brake dust and iron buildup.

A dedicated wheel cleaner is much more effective at removing grease, road tar and brake dust from your wheels. You’ll need to agitate the cleaning product with a brush and scrub around the face and the inner barrel of each wheel. These products are amazing for cutting cleaning times in half.

Interior cleaner

Don’t forget to pay attention to the interior of your car. Interior cleaners are a great way to get rid of grime and give your interior a layer of added protection without damaging the leather or plastic. Plus, your car will smell fantastic.

An all-purpose interior cleaner is a good investment for any beginner car-detailing kit. Remove dust and stains and protect the look of your interior from harmful UV rays. Always wash the exterior of your vehicle first before cleaning the windows. You’ll remove most of the dirt and grime this way.

Glass cleaner

You might wonder why you should invest in a car-specific window cleaner rather than just using whatever glass cleaner you have at home. It’s a great question! Typical glass cleaners found at the supermarket or hardware store contain ammonia which can cause problems when used on car windows.

Regular glass cleaner can result in streaks on auto glass. While this is not only annoying it’s also dangerous and can impair visibility. A specialty auto window cleaner won't streak. It also prevents windows from fogging up. Fogging is dangerous as it can cause glare when you are driving. If your car has tinted windows avoid regular glass cleaner. Ammonia breaks down tint and can actually cause it to peel over time.

Iron decontaminants

Iron decontaminants are a newer product to hit the market. While they’re not essential to a beginner-level clean, you may want to invest in one once the rest of your kit is sorted out.

As the name suggests, an iron decontaminant works to remove brake dust and iron buildup from your vehicle. Iron buildup can lead to rust developing underneath your paintwork plus you can skip claying your car. Claying is a manual process which involves using synthetic poly clay to remove contaminants from your car. It’s a laborious process which can take a long time.

It only takes a few professional products to achieve a showroom finish at home. For more information or advice, contact the team at Detail Depot or shop our store here.