Exploring unconventional detailing techniques, this episode highlights three unique methods that promise to save time and enhance results. The host shares his 'dry foam method' for washing cars without buckets, emphasizing efficiency and effectiveness. He also advocates for using wheel acid over alkaline cleaners for quicker results and introduces the idea of waxing leather seats with a car wax product, which adds protection and maintains appearance. These quirky approaches challenge traditional detailing norms and encourage listeners to rethink their own methods.
You don't always need more products — sometimes you just need a better approach.
In this episode, I walk through three detailing habits I use that might seem a little unconventional, but have helped me save time and still get great results.
We'll talk about:
Why I don't use wash buckets anymore
How I clean wheels with minimal scrubbing using wheel acid
Why I use a ceramic spray on leather seats as part of my regular maintenance
Everything I share is focused on working efficiently, not cutting corners. I'm big on making each product do more than one job and finding methods that simplify the process without sacrificing results.
This isn't theory — it's what I use every day on real cars.
If detailing ever feels more complicated or time-consuming than it needs to be, I think you'll get a lot out of this one.
"...where you have a few options with the dry foam method, depending upon, you know, if your car is ceramic coated..."
The dry foam method is a way to clean your car using foam instead of a lot of water. It helps remove dirt while being gentle on the car's surface.
The dry foam method is a car cleaning technique that uses a foam solution to lift dirt and grime from the surface of the vehicle without excessive water. This method is often used for detailing and can be effective for maintaining a clean finish.
"...if your car is ceramic coated, how often you're washing your car, the level of dirt on your car, sometimes in most cases, especially if your car is ceramic coated..."
Ceramic coating is a special treatment for your car's paint that helps protect it and makes it look shiny. It keeps dirt and grime from sticking too easily, making it easier to clean.
Ceramic coating is a liquid polymer applied to the exterior of a vehicle to protect the paint and enhance its shine. It creates a chemical bond with the vehicle's factory paint, providing a durable layer of protection against environmental contaminants.
"...a wheel acid is one of those methods that I found that are all that, they're quick. I'm not sitting there scrubbing wheels."
Wheel acid is a cleaner used for car wheels that helps remove dirt and grime. It works quickly, so you don't have to scrub the wheels for a long time.
Wheel acid is a type of chemical cleaner specifically designed to remove brake dust, road grime, and other contaminants from wheels. It typically contains strong acids that can effectively break down tough deposits, making the cleaning process quicker and easier.
"We call it leather, but it's really clear-coated vinyl."
Vinyl is a type of plastic that looks like leather and is often used in car interiors. It's tough and easy to clean, making it a popular choice for many vehicles.
Vinyl is a synthetic plastic material commonly used in automotive interiors and exteriors for its durability and ease of maintenance. It can mimic the look of leather while being more resistant to wear and tear.
"If it's clear-coated, is that the same clear coat that's on the outside of my car?"
Clear coat is a protective layer that goes over the paint on a car. It helps keep the paint looking shiny and prevents damage from the sun and scratches.
Clear coat is a transparent layer applied over paint to protect it from scratches, UV rays, and environmental contaminants. It enhances the shine and depth of the paint underneath.
"And I'm like, oh, I'm using toughest shell on leather seats because if I don't need to clean my seats..."
Leather seats are the seats in a car made from animal hide, which makes them soft and comfortable but also requires special cleaning products to keep them nice.
Leather seats are a premium interior option in many cars, offering comfort and luxury. They require specific care products to maintain their appearance and durability.
"And I'm like, oh, I'm using toughest shell on leather seats because if I don't need to clean my seats..."
Toughest shell is a type of cleaner or protectant for leather seats in cars. It helps keep the seats looking good and makes them easier to clean.
Toughest shell is a product used to protect and maintain leather seats, providing a layer of durability and ease of cleaning. It helps in preserving the quality of the leather by adding a protective coating.
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The fun thing about the detailing industry,
and I think the thing that creates so much drama as well,
is that everyone has a different style when it comes to how to detail a car.
Everyone has a different way that they think is right
and a way that they think is wrong.
And I think that's where a lot of the drama kind of stems from.
And what I realized is, you know, over the past, I don't know,
16, 17, 18 years that I've been detailing,
I do a lot of weird things.
I do a lot of things that are super weird,
that people would definitely call wrong.
And some people would maybe call right and maybe even genius.
I don't think they're genius.
But these are three weird things that I do when I detail a car
that I honestly thought were totally normal
until I do it in front of other people.
And I think that's the problem for me a lot of times as I work alone.
So things that I just kind of come up with are things that I take for granted
or just kind of just call normal,
apparently aren't very normal to a lot of people.
So I want to do a few videos and a few podcast episodes
talking about these weird things that I do that I think are normal
that, again, a lot of people would call totally wrong and super weird
and why would you ever do that?
And then some other people might think, oh, wow, that's genius.
And so that's just what I want to talk about.
So the first weird thing that I do is I don't use any car wash buckets at all.
In fact, I think I only own two buckets right now.
And I was actually thinking about this the other day.
I need some more buckets not to wash a car,
but because they hold a lot of junk.
And so I store a lot of stuff in the buckets.
But what I don't do is I don't use any buckets when it comes to washing my car.
In fact, I developed what I just essentially called the dry foam method
and I developed this because I questioned the status quo
to see if it was actually the most efficient way to go about it.
And this came from wanting to develop my own car wash soap
that was different from my line.
But what I realized was that extra buckets don't mean a cleaner car.
It doesn't even mean a safer car wash.
And so what I've effectively deemed as the dry foam method is this.
I use a foam cannon.
I fill it with soap and water.
And when the car is still completely dry,
I foam a dry car, hence the name the dry foam method.
And what I found is that when you use a high quality cleaning soap,
a soap that can actually clean, it's kind of a whole another tangent.
I realized that a lot of car wash soaps on the market
are just there to lubricate the surface
so that when you go over it with a wash mitt,
it glides a little bit easier.
But what they don't actually do is clean the surface of the car.
It seems crazy.
I know, but this is another one of those weird things
that we take for granted that we never really question or think about.
And so when I developed the Super Soap,
I wanted a soap that cleaned the car.
And so in doing that, it enabled you to clean the car better and faster.
And so what I realized is that when you pre-rinse a car,
which is the traditional way of doing things with like a steady stream of water,
that in theory and thought is doing something,
cleaning off the debris, but in practicality and in reality.
And when I tested it, those were two very big words next to each other.
So when I tested it in a YouTube video, it actually didn't do anything.
And so it was a complete waste of time, complete waste of energy,
a complete waste of water.
And so hence the dry foam method.
And so what the dry foam method is, is that you foam a dry car.
Now you have, and then you would let the foam dwell on the surface for as long as you can,
because that foam is then in full concentration,
those surfactants, those cleaning agents,
those everything that is, you know, in the soap,
all the chemistry doing the work for you so that you don't have to do it will clean the car.
Then you rinse the car.
If you don't have a foam cannon, you can use a foaming pump sprayer.
You can use just a pump sprayer at all.
Could be one that you pick up from Home Depot.
It doesn't really matter when you picked up on TikTok shop.
It doesn't matter.
And this would be called the pre-soak.
So whether you're using a foam cannon or you're using a pump sprayer,
this step of foaming a dry car would essentially be the pre-soak
that is removing kind of the heaviest contamination
and making it the safest way to wash your car.
The lester, the less friction, the fewer scratches, right?
This is what I think what I'm effectively deeming like modern soaps, right?
Because modern soaps that actually clean are much better
than kind of outdated methods of, you know, two buckets, three buckets, whatever.
And so also while you are foaming the car,
if you have all-weather mats, say you're dealing with a, you know,
place that deals with winter or the beach or whatever,
if you have all-weather mats, you can just pull out your all-weather mats
and foam those and clean them at the same time that you're cleaning the car, right?
One process, but multiple tasks being completed at the same time, right?
Where I would, where you have a few options with the dry foam method,
depending upon, you know, if your car is ceramic coated,
how often you're washing your car, the level of dirt on your car,
sometimes in most cases, especially if your car is ceramic coated,
you could get away with just that.
You dry foam a, you foam a dry car, dry foam, you let it dwell,
you rinse it in the vast majority of situations,
you can just move on with your day, you're done.
You could drive the car, you can drive off if you're using the ionized water,
whatever, if the car is super, super dirty,
or you do want to do a contact wash from there.
What I do is I will tuck a microfiber towel underneath the windshield wiper
and then you dry foam the first foam, rinse it,
and then your second foam is when you would do the contact wash,
but what you've effectively done is removed, you know,
90, 95% of any debris anywhere on the car at all.
And so when you go to that contact wash,
yes, you have a ton of lubrication in a soap like the SuperSoper,
but you also have a clean surface.
And so your risk of scratching the car during washing it
is significantly less than virtually zero, right?
And then you have a microfiber towel,
which is just my preference again,
because you can flip to about eight different sides.
And so you can always use a fresh side for washing the car.
So apparently that's weird, right?
Non-traditional, but I like the word weird, right?
The second thing I use or the second weird thing I do
that was very taboo for a long time,
and it's kind of an old school way of doing things
that we've kind of walked away from,
but I use a wheel acid instead of alkaline cleaners.
So a lot of your all-purpose cleaners,
your wheel cleaners are alkaline cleaners,
so which people think are safer,
but you can actually create just as much damage
with an alkaline cleaner as you can with an acid cleaner.
And so what I have found though is that
when you use an alkaline cleaner,
you have to scrub way too much, way too much.
It's time consuming, you usually have another bucket,
and it's physically demanding, which is a big problem,
and it's just not the best way to go about things, right?
And so I noticed when I use an acid,
it dissolves brake dust much quicker.
It removes any mineral buildup, hard water deposits.
You don't need to scrub, you don't need to scrub.
And so a lot of my weird, as an aside,
a lot of my weird, quirky methods that I developed
developed during my early detailing years
because I was doing a lot of fleet washes.
And so in doing 10 or 12 cars a day,
which was my average solo,
I had to develop methods that were quick, fast, and efficient.
And so a wheel acid is one of those methods
that I found that are all that, they're quick.
I'm not sitting there scrubbing wheels.
I can't tell you how many times I've heard people reach out
that they spent 20, 30 minutes cleaning the rims.
I'm like, what, 30 minutes just cleaning the rims?
That's crazy.
If you're doing that, you're working way too hard.
You don't need to work that hard.
You need better cleaners, better chemistry,
better products, better knowledge.
And so that's why Pure Magic Cleaner, for me,
was one of the first two products that I launched
because not only can you use an acid cleaner
as virtually a touchless wheel cleaner.
You want to be careful of raw aluminum.
It will cloud them, which they would just need to be polished.
At least they won't be stained like they would
with an alkaline cleaner.
But not only can you virtually clean a rim,
even a very nasty rim without scrubbing it,
you can clean all the rims and tires in about,
I don't know, two minutes instead of an hour
or some people would take.
But it also serves different uses as well.
If you have water spots on the glass or the paint,
boom, you can use that Pure Magic Cleaner.
If you want to add it to your soap to boost your soap
because you're not using buckets anymore,
boom, you can boost your soap
and it helps kind of decontaminate the paint.
In fact, in iron removers,
there is the ingredient that turns purple.
That's just reacting to the iron in the paint.
But what's actually doing the heavy lifting
in those iron removers is actually an acid component.
So acid is great at kind of removing contamination
in the paint.
Again, it could revive a ceramic coating.
So again, my whole thesis here is one product,
multiple jobs, an alkaline wheel cleaner,
an alkaline rim cleaner can really only do one thing,
is clean that rim, kinda.
Doesn't even really do a good job at that
without being agitated with a brush, right?
So again, Pure Magic Cleaner, Acid Base Cleaner.
I'd personally rather let the product do the work
than my arms do the work.
If I can clean all the rims on the car in two minutes
instead of an hour, that's significant, right?
And then if I could also remove some water spots
and stuff like that too, that's a huge, huge bonus.
That's, again, just my method.
Is it weird?
Probably, right?
And probably the weirdest thing on this list
is I wax, quote, wax, quote,
my leather seats with toughest shell.
Now, I thought this was super normal.
I just did it one time.
I didn't wanna buy interior detailers.
I thought that was such a weird kind of a weird product
to have like an interior detailer.
And so I was finishing up washing my car one day
and I decided to just use my same towel
that I was applying toughest shell on the outside of the car.
And I had to thought, well, this car isn't leather.
We call it leather, but it's really clear-coated vinyl.
If it's clear-coated, is that the same clear coat
that's on the outside of my car?
I don't know.
I'm like, but if it is,
toughest shell would work on the inside of my car too.
And that'd be kind of cool because, again,
I could easily protect my seats with the towel
that I just used to protect the outside of my car
and kind of get the most out of what I'm doing
and would get the most out of my towel.
Truth be told, I'm a bit of a microfiber towel snob,
so I really only like brand new microfiber towels.
I don't love washing them and then reusing them.
I kind of repurpose them for other tasks.
And so if I'm using a towel for toughest shell,
I pretty much only like to use a brand new towel,
so then I will have to repurpose that towel for other things.
So I like to kind of juice the lemon as much as possible
and get the most out of that towel.
And so I will use it to apply toughest shell in the paint.
Then I will wax my leather seats with it,
and then I will even use toughest shell on the rims.
And then I feel like I've gotten the most out of that towel.
And then I can kind of wash it,
dedicate it to a interior towel, a rim towel,
or I bring it home and I use it at home, right?
So, but I thought this was totally normal
until one day my father-in-law was like, what are you doing?
And I'm like, oh, I'm using toughest shell on leather seats
because if I don't need to clean my seats
because I'm cleaning my car so often,
it's just more of a maintenance thing.
And so it adds just enough slickness that I like it
and it's not me slipping out of my seat.
And it adds a little bit of softness,
a little pliability to the vinyl leather,
whatever you want to call it.
And it just looks really nice.
It doesn't add a high shine.
It just restores kind of an OEM look to the seat.
And he's like, you wax your leather?
And I was like, yeah, I guess you could say that.
I waxed my leather seats.
He's like, that's weird.
And I'm like, it is.
He goes, I'm going to go do it.
I said, you should.
He did it.
And then I talked to him later and he was like, wow,
this is that was such a good hack.
You should talk about that.
It's adding protection, just enough slickness.
You have to try it.
It's not greasy.
It's not slippery.
If your seat is really dirty,
obviously you use the complete cabin cleaner first.
But if you're just doing kind of a maintenance wipe down,
tough a shell on your leather seats or your vinyl, whatever,
because there's UV inhibitors and tough a shell.
It protects against wear.
Again, same product, different surface,
excellent result, one product,
letting the chemistry do the work.
It just really, really works.
So again, these are just weird things that I've done
that I just have become kind of my habit.
And I know it goes against some traditional advice,
but it actually saves a lot of time
and you get a really better result.
So as a bonus one, because I did mention
the complete cabin cleaner and some of you may be thinking,
well, when would you use the complete cabin cleaner?
And when would you use tough a shell?
Tough a shell is just like your leather conditioner.
Think of it like that.
And the complete cabin cleaner would be there
for when you actually need to clean stuff, stains, whatever.
But as kind of 3.5,
what I would do is and a lot of people are using this
for this reason is the complete cabin cleaner
is a great air freshener spray.
So because the scent is so good,
people just use a few sprays in the car
when they're done kind of detailing it,
just for that fresh scent.
And so that's what you could do even on a maintenance,
even on a maintenance detail as well.
So I don't know.
Those are three weird things I do when detailing a car.
Let me know if you have any weird quirks
in the comments below.
Let me know what you think.
And of course, all these products can be found
at GemosDetailing.com
and if you use code podcast, you're going to save some money
and I got a free gift for you.
So GemosDetailing.com, but more than that,
let me know what the weird things that you do
when it comes to detailing your car.
And I got a slew of these.
So I'm going to kind of make this probably a series,
do a few more podcast episodes
on the weird things that I do when detailing
because I think it's kind of fun.
So hope you guys enjoyed that one.
Catch you on the next one.
See ya.
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