Exploring the world of detailing, this episode highlights six products that may not be worth the investment for both professional detailers and DIY enthusiasts. The host shares personal experiences with tools like extractors, rotary polishers, and pad washers, emphasizing their inefficiencies and space consumption. Instead, he advocates for versatile alternatives like steamers and DA polishers. The discussion also touches on the importance of multi-use products and the benefits of using deionized water for optimal results. Listeners gain insights into making smarter purchasing decisions in detailing.
STOP wasting money on detailing gear that gathers dust. In today's episode, I'm stripping away the "ego buys" and showing you the 6 expensive tools you should NEVER buy—and the things you should invest in immediately to get pro results.
Most detailers go broke before they even get their first client because they buy gear they only use twice a year. If you want to run a profitable business (or just have the cleanest car on the block), you need to invest in Chemistry and Technique, not just expensive machinery.
If you want to move the needle on your results, start here:
Spot-Free Rinse: DIY Deionized Water System. High quaitly soap - The Super Soaper: https://jimbosdetailing.com/products/the-super-soaper on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4eqLf3f
"... But six tools or products and we'll see how many rabbit trails they take off off the end"
The Volkswagen Rabbit is a small car that people really liked because it was easy to drive and had a lot of space inside. It started being sold in the 1970s and has been popular ever since, especially for those looking for a reliable and fun car. People talk about it because it's a classic example of a hatchback, which is a type of car with a back door that opens upwards.
The Volkswagen Rabbit, known as the Golf in many markets, is a compact car that gained popularity for its practicality and fun-to-drive nature. First introduced in the mid-1970s, it has become a significant model in Volkswagen's lineup, known for its versatility and efficiency. The Rabbit is often discussed for its role in shaping the hatchback segment and its enduring appeal among car enthusiasts.
"Rotaries, I mean I've seen video after video after video people saying that they're finishing out with a rotary and I could still see buffer trails..."
A rotary polisher is a machine that helps make car paint shiny by spinning around quickly. It's powerful but can hurt the paint if not used carefully.
A rotary polisher is a tool used in automotive detailing that spins in a circular motion to polish surfaces. It can be very effective but requires skill to avoid damaging the paint.
"I mean burning an edge having to repaint something whether that repainting is your customer's car or your personal car..."
Burning paint happens when a machine gets too hot while polishing a car, which can ruin the paint and make it look bad. It can sometimes require repainting to fix.
Burning paint refers to the damage caused to a car's paint surface when excessive heat is generated during polishing or buffing. This can lead to discoloration or the need for repainting.
"...I just I absolutely hated it and that is a pad washer. I bought into the hype..."
A pad washer is a device that helps clean the pads used for polishing cars. It makes sure the pads are ready to use again without dirt or residue on them.
A pad washer is a tool used in detailing to clean and maintain polishing pads. It typically uses water and a cleaning solution to remove residue from the pads, ensuring they perform effectively during the detailing process.
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Over the years I've fallen into the trap of buying a bunch of products that I end up either hating not liking
Or just overspending on so in today's video. We're gonna be talking about I don't know
I have a list of six. We'll see if we get there
But six tools or products and we'll see how many rabbit trails they take
off off the end
But five or six different tools and products that I don't think are
Necessities, I think they're kind of a waste of time waste the money a waste of space
Which is really what it comes down to and detailing if you're do doing detailing as a business
detailing for money
You really want to save as much money as you can be as efficient as you can with the products that you have
and not waste money and that's one thing that
I've done so much
Unfortunately in my detailing career and I've just wasted money on tools because I saw them online
And I thought man that'll make me a better detailer that'll make my details even better
That'll take me to the next level and the reality is is that I just felt better spending the money and didn't actually
Get anything in return out of it or it actually in some cases took me longer
To actually detail the car with the tool that I spent the money on then before I had the tool
so
Yeah, this is a
You know, this is what I want to talk about today
So and speaking of that one the first one that I've actually bought twice
maybe even three times spent a ton of money on and
Really it became just a paperweight is the extractor so
We see those videos online that look really cool of people extracting the seats
And yes, it does work if you're using
Or you're working on extremely extremely dirty cars and an extractor can get the car a lot cleaner than
Without an extractor, but the thing is it's so heavy. It's so bulky. It's so expensive
It takes up so much space it pulls so much power
That what I found for me personally is I just never wanted to get it out
It was too much. It took too long to warm up if you had a hot water extractor
Which don't even get me started on the cold water extractor. I had one of those. They're virtually useless
Spent I think seven hundred dollars or four hundred dollars on a cold water extractor that was totally useless
And when I finally upgraded to a hot water extractor
I found that it was just too bulky and took too much time to even warm up
And then what happens if the car is really bad and you go through all your warm water
Then you have to fill it up again wait again
And so what I found is that and not to mention they break all the time, right?
So what I have found that I like way better is a drill brush and steam
Using steam is so much more efficient
so much more valuable
Then a hot water extractor because you could fit into so many different areas is so much more versatile
You can get a cheaper one like the McCullough. I think they're like a hundred fifty dollars online
I did splurge a little bit and I bought the VX 5000 which is kind of the top of the line one
I think it's like nine hundred dollars or maybe a thousand dollars
So it is a little bit more expensive, but my VX 5000 is never broken down on me
It's been with me for gosh 13 14 years now and is incredible the extractors. I had
We're just again so big took up so much room the steamer small the VX 5000 has been beat to death
And it just really really works well
And if you do the drill brush pre-soaking on carpets you can really get the same result as the extractor
You know team it up with like a rigid shot back
Which is an inexpensive vacuum if you're worried about leaving too much water down
But that's where the the extractor actually got me in trouble, too
Was that I found that I would leave too much water down even though I was sucking up a little bit
Sucking up a lot of water. I noticed that I was
Still leaving a lot of water and so when you switch over to the steamer with the drill brush and the vacuum kind of method
Not only can you repurpose all those other things for multiple pieces of the car not just the carpet?
But you're not putting as much water down and one thing I found
to clean
interiors better and
More effectively was to actually use less chemical less water less product
And so the steam and the drill brush really helped me in that and so one big thing that I learned with interiors
Is that you can pre-soak just kind of how similar you do to a pre-soak on the outside of a car
Doing a pre-soak on heavily soiled carpets or seeds and then going in with the drill brush going in with
The steam really really makes that interior look flawless
without having this bulky kind of
huge machinery
That you got to drag all over the place. So yeah, that's the first one the extractor don't need don't need it if you have a shop
And you got some extra funds. It's a nice to have but
Honestly, even when I had it
Stopped reaching for it because I just didn't want to deal with all of it
The second one is the rotary polisher. This may be a little bit more controversial
But I just don't think you need to have a rotary polisher again a nice to have a
Probably should have maybe in the future
But as a necessity when you're either starting out or if you're a DIY
Driveway detailer kind of maintaining your own cars. You really don't need a rotary polisher
I mean the DA polishers are so good today
The the liquids and the compounds or the polishes like the picture perfect polish and the pad combination are so good
That in my opinion rotaries are almost obsolete
They really are and when you couple that with the the risk that is
associated with a rotary polisher
Especially if you're a beginner or you're a DIYer
It's just simply too high for the reward that the rotary can offer so
Unless you're really experienced
Unless you really really really do a lot of high-end paint correction. You simply just don't need a rotary
It's not worth the risk
The risk is too high that you're gonna mess something up to need it when the DA
Polishers are so good and will achieve everything that you want to achieve
Sure, the rotary may be faster at cutting or removing a defect or something like that, but from a
Gloss standpoint from a chasing the finish standpoint
You really really do not need a rotary polisher in my opinion
It's just simply not worth the risk that is associated with
Rotaries, I mean I've seen video after video after video
people saying that they're finishing out with a rotary and I could still see buffer trails and so I
Just think in the hand of a driveway detailer someone who's just getting into detailing again
Risk mitigation is a big big thing in my world
And so I think the same too if you're running a detailing business or you're detailing for enjoyment and fun
You know mitigating risk and eliminating factors that could really be detrimental to the car
I mean burning an edge having to repaint something whether that repainting is your customer's car or your personal car
Or having a blemish. I mean burning paint happens quicker than you think
Especially with a with a rotary higher speed a lot of heat
You know the wrong compound the wrong liquid that's generating a lot of heat you could really burn quickly
It's not something to be totally frightened of but again, you just don't need it
Just not a necessity get a da polisher your risk profile is so much lower
The learning curve is so much lower
And the results that you are gonna get are just as good if not better than a rotary
I just I don't see the need for it. I just don't see why someone would opt for a rotary over a da
It just doesn't make sense
In my world, so yeah
another one
Another tool that I see it's not as popular anymore, but it was I picked one up myself personally
Gosh, this is probably ten years ago now and I hated it
I just I absolutely hated it and that is a pad washer
I bought into the hype. I did I got it. I think I got the late-country one
And I absolutely hated it from the get-go. I was a mobile detailer back then
So it was another bucket in the truck and for whatever reason I just am
Completely do not like buckets at all especially as a mobile. I think the thing is is that I'm a mobile detailer
I have finite amount of room in the back of my van or in my truck
And I really really tried dial-in carrying the least amount of chemicals and the least amount of tools as possible
To be more efficient and what I found is when you have something like a pad washer that does a singular thing
That is just not efficient. So it's kind of like
The extractor in a way is it only extracts carpets and seats. That's all it does
You're not getting into the vents. You're not getting into the nooks and crannies. You're not getting into the seat rails
You're not getting into the little cracks around the shifter boot
You're not cleaning seatbelts with it
You're not you're not doing a lot of additional things that like a steamer could do and so I felt like the pad washer
As opposed to like compressed air
Right or just a brush if you want to keep it very very simple just a pad brush
We'll clean your pads just as good as a $200 bucket for a pad washer
And so I just felt like this pad washer was a waste of space. I
Really my whole overarching theme when I was detailing
Mobili was that every tool every product every liquid had to have
Multi-purpose
So it had to serve multiple uses and so what I found is a pad brush work just as fine in
Multiple pads I'd much rather invest in 10 or 12 pads than a pad washer
Right 10 or 12 pads don't take up that much space
I could use 10 or 12 pads per car
And then I could go home at the end of the day and wash all the pads and let them dry reuse in the next day
Right, so I'd much rather invest in either having more pads
Because it just doesn't take up a lot of space
Compressed air if you're gonna carry that but you can use that in a whole host of additional ways
Or just a simple pad brush works just as fine. It's just you know, you don't need to over complicate it
So often we do just over complicate things and you just don't need to do that
So the pad washer is definitely another one that I wouldn't buy at all
And another one this number four would be buckets
I don't know what it is for me personally, but I just hate dragging a bucket around again
I think because they're big and bulky and they take up a lot of space, but I
Remember back in
2016 I think it was I interviewed a guy that had a product line from Australia
And he talked about like this no bucket wash method and his was a little bit different
But then what I do today, but basically washing with a microfiber towel as your wash mitt
Tucking it underneath the windshield wiper blade to saturate it while you foam
I just found that I enjoy this method way more than having a bucket or two buckets and a grit guard and all this
You know extra crap that you got to worry about
And it kind of led into my whole thesis of like I'm trying to do
Less work not more and filling up a bucket. Just use more water
And I have a pressure washer. So if I have a wash mitt in fact
What's better than dunking a wash mitt into a bucket that is potentially has dirt and grime in it
Is I could just quickly
Pressure wash out my mitt and then reapply it to the car and that really ensures that there's nothing in the wash mitt, right?
And so
Whether I'm pressure washing out the wash mitt whether I'm sticking it underneath the winter wiper blade and rinsing it out that way
I just
Do not like buckets. I don't know what it is. So
Maybe have a bucket around like a cheap $5 one
But like having a super expensive yeti bucket or I know it looks cool and all that but I just wouldn't
Invest extra money extra thought. I just wouldn't
Invest any extra energy in a bucket
And imagine if you had multiple buckets, then you got this pad washer
Then you got this extractor then you got a huge rotary polisher
You just have all there's like five tools right there four or five tools that you don't need that are taking of space
See how you could start kind of refining everything
Another one this kind of a bonus like number six is
An expensive vacuum. I was talking to a friend of mine who bought the active 2.0 the wall mounted thing
He has a home shop and he was you know asking me about a wall mounted vacuum and
I talked to I think I had a vacuum aid or something like that way back in the day and
You know, it was 200 bucks or 150 bucks or 300 bucks
it was a nice looking wall mounted vacuum and
Then I had the Metro vac vacuum for a long time. I think that's like a $400 vacuum
And what I have gone back to because it just works forever and ever and ever is like the cheap rigid
Vacuums at Home Depot had it forever. I buy the Detailer kit
So you get the nice flexible longer hose the crevice tools a couple additional attachments
But for the most part it's way better
You got to change out the filter or clean the filters, but it's no big deal the Metro vac vacuum
I have a video from a long time ago on YouTube on it
It has bags and I think same with even the wall mounted
Vacuums they have bags. So then you got to buy these additional bags, which makes it a little convenient when you need to empty the vacuum out
but
It's just annoying because the bag fills up. You got to make sure you have replacement bags
Whereas the the vacuum the rigid vacs from Home Depot. You just empty it out
I think they do have liners that you could buy for them
That may make it a little bit easier to throw away the debris
But it holds much more debris too with the Metro vac and the wall mounted vacuum
One thing I learned is that they start to fill up and when they start to fill up and they're small
The canisters are small for the debris the vacuum is much less effective. And so again, I
Overthought it a million times
I went made it way more complicated than it needed to be and ultimately I came back to the inexpensive readily available
option
Another thing kind of the last thing that I would not get and then I want to get into a few things that I absolutely would get a
Few things that I would not get are
Products and liquids that only serve one purpose. So I think of like an interior quick detailer
I think of an exterior quick detail spray. I think of a pH neutral car wash soap
Why would you have a soap that only is
Lubricating the surface makes no sense when there's soaps that like the super soper that can actually clean the surface and be
Lubricious and foam like crazy. You don't need four different foaming soaps
You don't need it. You don't need an exterior quick detailer
You don't need a
Interior quick detailer
Get a product and align yourself with the product line that has dilutable products that can do multiple things
so instead of having an interior detailer and then a leather cleaner or a leather conditioner and then a you know carpet
Cleaner and then a all-weather mat cleaner instead of having all those different products that essentially should do the same thing
Have one product like the complete cabin cleaner that you can dilute
According to your needs if you buy the gallon
You can dilute it according to your needs and then they'll do all those things that'll clean
Alcantara, it'll clean leather. It'll clean vegan leather. It'll clean hard plastics. It'll clean soft plastics. It'll clean nav screens
It'll clean all weather mats. It'll clean carpet. It'll work in an extractor. It'll work in a foamer
Make the chemicals work for you. Don't have to overwork inferior chemicals
So again get the super soap or that has that's actually gonna
Yes, give you the foaming theatrics that are cool and I talk about why foam is actually important
But it also is lubricious on the surface if you need to do that
But it also cleans the surface that makes a lot more sense than just having a mega foaming car wash soap, right?
Same don't have a quick detail spray on the outside have a ceramic spray that is super stout that applies like a quick detail spray
That's what we have in tough a shell, right? Have all dressed up which you can dilute six ways a Sunday
For interior and exterior that way your high shine tire dressing also works as your engine dressing
Also works as your interior dressing, right? Also works as your leather conditioner if you dilute it down, right?
That's one product that works in multiple ways. The product is working for you, right?
So don't have single-use products. It's a waste of time. It's a waste of money have multi-use products
so
What I would buy
Obviously I'd start with the Jimbo's detailing product line because every one of the chemicals in the Jimbo's detailing line is gonna work for you
They're products that I hand developed after years and years and years of experience of mobile detailing shop detailing
Working for products like or a product brands like turtle wax on a global scale hearing about
Retail data hearing about global trends
And working directly with chemists myself
These are products that are super super efficient highly concentrated
Highly dilutable and work in a multitude of different things. So I would definitely start with those
um
DI-nised water is definitely I put that on the highest pedestal
Before you get into a pressure washer before you get into a detail keg before you get into any of this other stuff
Look for DI-nised water. That is just simply a
complete stress reliever, right when
You can take your you know
200 or someone wrote in and they have like 400 part per million of minerals in their water
And when you can take that down to zero because of DI-nised water
It's literally the difference between a car covered in white spots and a car that looks perfect
And a lot of the issues that people reach out to me with I'm saying, hey, I'm not getting foaming
Hey, the foam is not as much. Hey, I'm using way more product. Hey, I'm getting streaky and ham getting this is
Because they're not using DI-nised water and I understand not everyone can use DI-nised water
I'm not saying my products only work if you use DI-nised water
I'm saying a lot of the issues that people are having with either my product line or other product lines as I hear that too
It stems from not having good clean water, right? I mean shoot even Tom talked about having proper water at a
Mixing, you know level for the chemistry to make sure that the products don't go bad
Making sure that your polish actually works really really good starts with using
Ultra-pure water and so all my chemicals I never even talk about this, but we have a super super advanced
DI-ro water system so that all my products use super super filtered water
and it's
Literally just continues down the line
I can't believe it doesn't get talked about as much as it should because it's literally the number one stress reducer
Being able to wash a car in the sun and let it dry without water spots is a massive advantage
And it will make all your products whether you use the Jimbo's detailing line or any other product line
It'll make those products actually work better, right?
so DI water is
Just a total must-have and I think in this year
It's something that I'm gonna try to talk a lot more about
And discuss a lot more and kind of maybe even do a deep dive on because I think it's actually more important than releasing another
Chemical in my line, so I'm definitely it's a top priority for me
But yeah, I would start there start with the product line that you know is efficient for you
And don't get caught up in all the hype with all the newest and greatest and this this next
You know technology or this next version and how it's marginally better than something else
Don't pick a product line that you'd like deep dive into it
Make sure those products are efficient and just remind yourself
Hey, does this product do multiple things or is this product doing one thing?
Is this interior detailer only doing one thing or is this interior cleaner serving multiple purposes?
Which is it right and stop using APCs on your interiors drying out your plastics?
Being serious so all right
Those are some tools that I don't think you need in my opinion and some that I think you really need
So hopefully you thought that list was good. I might do this again and add more to it
There's always products that I see that I think I don't need that right
But let me know if I missed any in the comments below again. Thanks for listening. Thanks for watching
Thanks for supporting the Jimbo's detailing brand just me over here packing your orders making the product fill in the bottles
Marketing all of it. So I appreciate the support
I'm actually gonna grow out the team more and more this year, but I really appreciate the sport for my small company
It's exciting to see it grow and thrive
And so I appreciate your support because it means the world and it means that we're keeping growing
So I will link everything that I talked about below in the comments. It's also available on Amazon
So if you want an efficient line that works for you the Jimbo's detailing line is exactly that and I'll catch you guys on the next one
Thanks. See ya
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