DIY Detailing Products You DON'T Need...
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33:29
Company
Adams
Adams is a company that makes car cleaning and detailing products. Many people who love cars use their products to keep their vehicles looking great.
Company
Griot's Garage
Griot's Garage is a company that sells products to clean and take care of cars. Many car lovers trust their products to make their cars shine and look good.
Term
ceramic products
Ceramic products are special coatings used on cars to protect the paint and make it shiny. They last a long time and help keep the car looking good.
Car
BMW F11
The BMW 5 Series is a fancy car made by a company called BMW, which is known for making high-quality vehicles. It's popular because it combines comfort and style with good performance, making it a favorite among people who want a nice car for driving and traveling.
Company
McGuire's
McGuire's is a brand that makes products to clean and take care of cars. They have things like cleaners and waxes that help keep cars looking nice.
Part
iron remover
An iron remover is a special cleaner for cars that helps get rid of tiny bits of metal that can stick to the car's surface. These bits can come from things like brake dust and can harm the paint if left there.
Part
color changing wheel cleaner
A color changing wheel cleaner is a special cleaner for car wheels that changes color when it comes into contact with dirt and brake dust. This helps you see that it's working to clean the wheels.
Term
acid-based cleaner
An acid-based cleaner is a powerful type of cleaner that can remove tough dirt and stains from your car's wheels. However, you need to be careful with it because it can harm some surfaces if used incorrectly.
Term
contact wash
A contact wash means using a sponge or cloth to scrub your car while washing it. This helps get rid of dirt better than just spraying water on it.
Term
Super Soaper
Super Soaper is a type of soap made for washing cars. It's designed to clean well without hurting the special coatings that protect the car's paint.
Term
ceramic coatings
Ceramic coatings are special products that protect your car's paint. They create a strong layer that helps keep the car looking new by preventing damage from dirt, water, and sunlight.
LIVE
Detailing doesn't need to be complicated to be effective,
but the problem with that is that marketing loves complexity,
but real results come from simplicity.
That is something that I learned time and time again
when I was running my mobile detailing business
was the simpler I could get my processes,
the simpler I could get my product selection,
actually the better results I had
in the increased productivity I had
but that's more in a pro market.
And today I want to talk about you, the DIYer
and the pro too, actually,
but really the DIYer who's just in their driveway,
kind of maintaining their own personal fleet of cars.
You know, you're not in the weeds with all of us pros
that get into the itty-bitty details about every product
and technique and all that.
And that's kind of where detailing can also get complicated
is that there is no perfect technique.
There is no one technique that is right.
It's that everyone that has a technique
thinks that they are right.
And so that's where a lot of even more confusion can come on.
So I've been getting a ton of questions
from you guys reaching out,
saying that you tried XYZ product and you got this result
and this result is not working for you
or you're not, whatever the issue may be,
but the problem is that with the internet
and marketing, there's information overload.
And so you don't know where to go
to get the information that you're looking for.
Maybe not even the right information,
just the information that you're looking for.
And so what I want to try to do in this video
and podcasts is kind of narrow that down
to at least six products,
or I think I have six here,
or categories of products that you just don't need.
And so sometimes to find what we do need,
first we have to figure out what we don't actually need.
And so I wrote a list of six products and categories,
categories that cover different products.
And maybe I'll mention some that you simply just don't need,
especially as a DIYer,
if you're just maintaining your own fleet.
I will say the big caveat with this is
if you enjoy buying a ton of products
and it's just a hobby to kind of get in the weeds
with the professionals,
obviously buy your heart out, right?
There's also tons of you that reach out,
that have every product on the face of the earth,
and that's part of it for you.
That's part of the hobby, part of the enjoyment for you,
is that you like to have a bunch of different knickknacks
and tools and products,
and you just like to try new things out.
And I think that's part of the hobby as well, right?
If that product works or not, isn't really the point.
The point is try new things.
And so even as a professional, honestly,
I like to try new techniques
and I like to try weird things to see if it works.
And sometimes you do stumble across things
that actually work better than you maybe thought, right?
So, but right into it with the first product
or the first product category of what I think,
and these are all just my opinion,
products that you absolutely do not need.
And so the number one,
and probably number one on this list,
the rest of them aren't really in order,
but I think this is the number one you just don't need,
is anything with graphing in it.
And as an aside, I will actually add triphene into that too,
or borofene into that as well.
And these kind of buzzwords,
and that's really what they are,
is just marketing language at this point,
is that there's no substance to them,
but where they come from and where they stem from
was brands trying to recreate the ceramic craze.
The problem is, and what we found out now
that time has gone by,
one, I think graphing specifically
came way too close to the ceramic craze,
but the ceramic had substance to it.
It did make a difference.
Ceramic sprays do offer a benefit.
They do have value.
The problem is, and brands went crazy with it,
and I have my own ceramic spray,
because there is value.
It is value bowl.
Ceramic spray coatings are great.
They are good.
I think my toughest shell,
I took it once that further
with creating the first water-based ceramic spray,
because a lot of them in the early days
were solvent sprays, or solvent-based,
so they would smell up your whole shop.
I think of the Adams ceramic spray coating,
I think it was the 303 Aerospace.
You almost, for me, doesn't matter to everyone,
but my preference is,
I prefer my whole shop and garage
not to smell like the solvent in the product.
But those products, including the Adams and the 303
and the Jimbo's Tuffa Shell and the Griot's Garage,
and products like that, do have substance.
They do offer an immense value
over what was a liquid sealant
or a spray wax or something like that.
Those products, those ceramic products,
where a lot of brands came onto the scene offering those,
did offer a lot of value.
The problem with graphene, trifene, borofene, whatever,
is, one, they came way too close to the ceramic craze,
and people, obviously, brands taking advantage
of the ceramic craze,
and so people were kind of getting worn out on that,
of worn out on, because what happened was,
there was products that did offer a ton of value,
were very good, and then, obviously,
all the copycats came in offering subpar products
that actually didn't have any of the benefits
that ceramic sprays should have,
and so it kind of started to muddy the waters a little bit.
Too many marketers got involved there,
and so people were kind of getting tired of being swindled,
even like they are now with just the immense amount
of information that is out about ceramic sprays,
but people were getting kind of worn out on that,
but brands were kind of sales declining,
so they needed the next craze, like ceramic, right,
and so graphene was born,
and so the problem with graphene,
not only did it come at a time
where people were just totally burned out
on ceramic in general,
but there is no inherent added value to the graphene.
Sure, graphite or graphene in and of itself,
in theory, in a Petri dish, does have value,
but there's trace amounts that are added to these products,
and so, could you really even tell the difference
between a graphene product and a ceramic product,
like, is the graphene that much better?
And the honest answer is no.
In fact, I did a video where I showed a tougher shell
with graphene, because this is something
that I investigated, I looked at, I was playing with,
should I create tougher shell with graphene in it?
And the answer is no, and that was my answer back then,
because there was no more value in it.
It didn't really do any additional thing
to the formulation already,
except for separate in the bottle,
which made you have to shake the bottle,
but even in wipe-in ceramic coatings,
there's just no, it doesn't cross link better,
it doesn't do anything different
than a ceramic, and the same is true
with triphene or borofene or whatever.
Yeah, maybe in science, those things,
I don't even think triphene's a real scientific term,
but borofene might be, I don't know.
But the problem is that they don't,
there isn't a jump in, you know,
excellence for the product, there just isn't.
And so, again, trace amounts of graphene
in the product, if at all,
and arguably makes the product a little bit slicker,
but any graphene in the product
doesn't make it easier to apply,
doesn't make it last longer,
doesn't create a stronger cross-linking.
It's really just like throwing, you know,
sprinkling a little dustiness something in there.
And it came at a time when consumers were tired
of marketing lingo like that, right?
And so, I think there's obviously a ton of products
out there that still contain graphene,
that still have graphene in it.
I just think for a DIYer, you could totally stay away from it.
You're better off with just a solid ceramic spray
and, you know, something that you like,
something that's not gonna streak.
I noticed that a little bit with graphene too.
It tend to make the product streak a little bit more
or, you know, on the surface.
And so, just, you're better off
with this good solid ceramic spray.
You're not missing anything by not having a graphene spray
or a borofene spray or a borofene wipe-on coating
or a tri-fene coating.
You just don't need it.
It's just unnecessary.
Just find a ceramic spray that you like.
If the one that you like contains graphene, great.
But don't hang your hat on that, like,
graphene's better than just a normal ceramic spray, right?
So, number two, this is a big one for the DIYers too.
An all-in-one, like, waterless wash
plus ceramic coating spray.
We all remember Topco F11.
I think F11's still around.
Now we're seeing the Max L1,
which is kind of creating that same craze
where it's like, you can just spray this product on.
I actually saw another brand.
I forget what it's called.
They were doing it out of a fomer
and, like, waterless wash,
waterless wash foaming, a really dirty car.
And I'm not saying that a waterless wash
or a rinseless wash is bad at all,
but this is a different category of products.
This is that kind of all-in-one, you know,
waterless wash, ceramic spray, sealant.
Everything all-in-one, which makes your car super glossy.
And the problem is that these products claim to do everything,
but they're so high maxed out with silicones in the product
that you really are just, your car does look good
because you have a bunch of silicone on it.
But if you were to actually wash the car with the soap,
your car would actually look way worse
because you're really scratching the car
or at worst, or at best, I should say,
you're really running the risk of scratching your car, right?
So these products that are sprayed on a dirty car,
wipe it off, oh my gosh, look at the shine.
Not only is it clean, but it's also ceramic protected.
There's give and take in product development.
So it's literally impossible to create a product like that
without damaging the surface of the car, right?
And so that's the trade off there.
Yeah, it might be a little bit easier.
Yeah, you might get a good result initially,
but as soon as you go through a rainstorm,
you're not getting great ceramic protection with that.
You're not getting a great car wash with that.
So it claims to do a bunch of things,
but you're really not doing any of those things well, right?
And so, and again, if you were to wash the car,
you're actually gonna see, especially on like a black car,
you're gonna see the damage for what it is.
You just can't have a good product
that does everything like that.
It's too hard.
All the chemicals start fighting each other.
And so, you know, you're really just kind of hiding
or masking what's really going on on the surface.
And it reminds me of the Turtle Wax Black Spray Wax,
ceramic black spray wax,
where it doesn't have a braces in it,
like the McGuire's Glossier, Glossier does,
but it's just putting down pigmented silicone.
So you're kind of just masking it,
filling it, you're putting makeup on your car,
your face painting your car, really.
And so, when you go to wash the car traditionally
or a rainstorm,
think about someone that has makeup on their face, right?
My wife does hair and makeup for brides.
You put makeup on your face,
but the second you take a shower,
or the second you jump in the pool,
you probably look like a completely different person, right?
And that's exactly what's happening
with these all-in-one products.
They're just filled with silicone.
Your car looks great, right?
Because you basically have a facade on it,
and then you go to wash it,
and your car looks terrible.
Because every time you've done it,
you've actually scratched your car to death, right?
So it's a big, big problem in a product
that I would definitely, definitely stay away from.
Definitely.
Number three is an iron remover
and a color-changing wheel cleaner.
These are both the exact same products.
But when I was at Walmart the other day
looking at products on the shelf,
trying to drum up ideas for videos,
I saw McGuire's had both these products on the shelf.
And I think one was like $4 more than the next.
Oh, one more thing on the waterless wash,
kind of all-in-one things that I just wanted to talk about.
Before I get into the iron remover,
sorry I forgot about this,
is that you're going to need so much product
to actually wash your car.
So a lot of them sell them in 16 ounce bottles.
And honestly, you're gonna probably use more
than a 16 ounce bottle on that car.
That's a lot of times why they sell multipacks,
like two or three or four.
Not only are they trying to help recover some of their ad cost
in selling a bundle,
but you're gonna use a ton of product,
which is great for them.
But it's really horrible for you.
You should just buy like a high quality car wash soap
and a ceramic spray separate.
It's gonna be way less money
and give you a better result, right?
So anyway, I was at Walmart the other day,
and I saw that McGuire's had a iron remover
and then a color changing wheel cleaner.
And it really upset me because this is the confusion
that happens in the marketplace that is so unnecessary.
An iron remover and a color changing wheel cleaner
are basically the same exact thing.
They really are.
Sure, if you're a professional and you're a chemist,
I'm not.
You could probably get into the weeds
and talk about some like chemistry things
that are slightly different,
but from a result standpoint,
because that's what I'm after is just results,
they are the same thing.
They both smell like sulfur.
They both color change.
Different label and a different price.
That's the main thing,
which is the big problem with the detailing industry
for the DIY-er is they're confused.
They're just confused because brands do stuff like that.
And for me, it's incredibly disappointing
that a legacy brand that's been around forever
would do something like this.
But here's the thing with iron removers
or a color changing wheel cleaner.
If you spray it, it smells like rotten eggs
and it turns purple, it's doing the same exact job.
So go with the cheaper one, right?
You really don't even need an iron remover at all.
I get it.
They're cool.
I like that they change colors.
I think for a wheel cleaner,
they're incredibly expensive for how unaffective they are.
Something like pure magic cleaner
or an acid-based cleaner is going to be way more effective,
way less time consuming to clean your rims.
You're gonna use way less product.
You're gonna use probably that,
I think it was like a 32 ounce or 28 ounce bottle.
You're gonna use most of that one time, right?
One go, that's a very, very expensive way
to clean your rims.
You can do something like pure magic cleaner.
It's gonna be pennies to clean each rim
and give you a better result.
I get it when it comes to the paint
and iron remover is really effective
and does save a ton of time if you need to clay your car.
But again, don't pay more for it.
Even if the label says it's a wheel cleaner,
if it's color changing and it's cheaper,
buy that, you don't need both.
You definitely, definitely don't need both.
I would even argue that you don't need an iron remover at all.
But if you are gonna do any paint decontamination,
it is a nice first step.
And so I just, I wouldn't go there.
So, number four, this is becoming my soapbox.
Multiple polishes and compounds.
So a, you know, DIYers don't need, pros don't need
a max cut, heavy cut, supreme cut, fine cut,
finish polish, final polish, you know,
jewelry polish, prep polish.
You don't need 15 different compounds and polishes
to detail a car.
I understand that different clear coats
do different things, but what I'm really learning
is that though that is true, the problem is,
is that a lot of these compounds and polishes aren't good.
And so the brands have used the excuse of, you know,
soft paints, hard paints, bad clear coats,
good clear coats, which is true.
It definitely is true, but what's also true
at the same time is their polish isn't that good
or their compound is too aggressive, right?
And so a classic move that I've seen over and over
and over with other brands is when the product
doesn't perform good, no, no, no, no, no.
It's not the product's fault.
It's XYZ's fault.
It's the user error.
It's you didn't prep it right.
It's that, you know, you didn't do it right.
You use too much pressure, you used the wrong machine,
you used the wrong towel, you used the wrong pad
because that's the easy default instead of looking inward
and being like, man, is our compound or polish
not that good?
Do we need to adjust somewhere?
Do we need to admit that maybe we don't have
a great product and we need to go back to the drawing board?
Let's pull it while we figure this out, right?
Because what I'm seeing with the Picture Perfect Polish
is similar to 3D1.
It is so consistent across the board.
So consistent across hard clear coats, soft clear coats,
medium clear coats, whatever.
It's so consistent.
And what I realized with developing
the Picture Perfect Polish and reverse engineering
other brands' polishes is brands cheap out.
I mean, there's no way around it.
Brands cheap out by pennies, cents, quarters, dollars.
They cheap out on solvents, abrasives.
They cheap out on oils.
They cheap out on water.
They cheap out every single step of the way.
I'm not saying all brands do.
I'm saying a lot of brands do.
And what I've decided to do is take
a completely different approach
because to be completely frank and honest,
they're cheaping out with pennies.
And I have to say, don't step over dollars
to pick up pennies, right?
So a lot of brands are stepping over dollar bills
to pick up pennies.
And I'm just doing the opposite.
It's very simple.
It's part of my strategy.
I just say, hey, I use this example
all the time with the Picture Perfect Polish,
but I didn't know that you could pick an odorless solvent.
An odorless solvent is more expensive
than a regular solvent, right?
It is.
I didn't realize that I liked a polish
that didn't smell until I had a polish that didn't smell
and went back to a polish that smelled.
And that was when I made the decision
that I will never have a smelly polish.
Because one, it's just not necessary.
There's a better option.
You can have it not smell.
Would you rather have your shop smell like solvent
or not smell like solvent?
I prefer it not.
Just like back to when I created
a water-based ceramic spray into a feshel
was because I didn't like the solvent smell
of a Adams or a 303 Air Smith.
I just didn't like that.
So when it came to the opportunity
to create my own products,
I looked at it because I worked directly with the chemists
and said, how much more is this really gonna cost us
to have a much better user experience?
Because I was tired of being in meetings
and talking with the blenders and all this
and they're just cheaping out.
The brand's cheaping out.
They're suggesting that the brand cheaps out
and saves a dollar, 50 cents,
or this is gonna save you five cents a bottle.
And my thought and something that I hold true
is that you, the DIYer or the pro or whatever
will take on that added cost
because either the brand can absorb the cost
or you can charge literally 50 cents more per bottle
and no one's gonna even know the difference
but you actually have a far superior product.
And that is one thing that I'm so passionate about
with my own products is, hey, what is the top tier quality?
How much more is that than what everyone else picks
and then let's go there, right?
Same with the abrasives in the Picture Perfect Polish.
The abrasives were so expensive, so expensive,
just as a buy-in to get the abrasives, right?
Not to mention an abrasive blend and a mix and whatever
but the abrasives were so expensive to buy in
but you know what the manufacturer says?
No one buys these abrasives.
No brand is buying these
because they feel like it's too expensive.
But when I ran the numbers and I broke it down all the way
and I looked at my cost, my total hard cost
of how much it would cost me to get that formulation
into a bottle labeled and all that,
it really, it was more expensive than I could have gone.
And for the polish, the polish is the most expensive product
I have to manufacture in the line by far.
But when I looked at it, I'm like,
it's really not too much more expensive than,
you know, a 3D one is.
And then wait, it replaces five different products?
Like yeah, this is amazing.
I'm definitely doing that, right?
Definitely doing that.
So you, especially for DIYers,
you need one, one quality, one high quality,
one step polish, not an all-in-one but a one step polish.
It may be two or three different pads and that's it.
Probably two pads, maybe three.
I'd probably go like a wool or a microfiber.
A foam cutting pad and a foam finishing pad.
And that's it.
That's gonna take care of all your heavy cutting,
all your polishing and all your finishing.
Less confusion, better results.
You know exactly what you need to pull from the shelf, right?
So, all right.
The next one, I feel like I'm talking a lot.
So let's keep it going here.
Number five is pH neutral only soaps.
This is probably the biggest myth
in the detailing space ever,
is that a pH neutral soap is the soap that you should get.
A pH neutral soap does nothing.
Like it lubricates the surface
so that your mitt could slide across it as you wash it.
But is that what we're really trying to do
when we're washing a car?
That's the question that I started to ask myself, right?
What are we trying to accomplish when we foam a car?
What are we trying to accomplish?
We're trying to clean the car, right?
So why are we using soaps that have zero cleaning ability?
Everyone talks about their soap being foaming, right?
And then lubricious.
But they don't clean.
And I thought how crazy is this that we're talking
about all this where we go through all these steps
to use a pH neutral soap that is not cleaning.
I get it.
pH doesn't tell the whole story either.
Just because you have a high pH
doesn't necessarily mean it cleans better.
It's gonna clean a heck of a lot better than pH neutral.
And I know there's a lot of talk with like low pH,
high pH soaps, all that.
But I'm talking about a pH neutral soap
is probably the biggest waste of money ever.
Well, foam's really good.
It's mega foam.
It's mega ultra foam.
It's this, blah, blah, blah.
Foaming and there's two things that bother me
when I hear people talk about their soap.
This is just a personal thing that bothers me.
How thick or runny their soap is
has zero bearing on the effectiveness of the soap.
If a soap is thick or thin, literally does not matter.
You add thickener to the formula.
All soap is runny until you add thickener to it.
Thick soap doesn't mean it's better soap.
There's no correlation to that.
Absolutely none.
And then foaming capabilities.
You add foaming agents.
So you add thickener and you add foaming agents.
So yeah, your foaming soap should foam really good.
That doesn't mean it's better.
It's just an additive to the formula.
It literally means nothing.
It literally means nothing.
Of course you want your soap to foam.
Of course, I'm getting fired up.
I'm starting to spit on myself and fired up.
Anyway, what I would rather have
and what I developed in the super soper
is that you have an adjustable pH soap
so that you can't have a pH neutral soap if you want
that has added cleaning ability
because just like the complete cabinet cleaner
that's a pH neutral,
especially I want a pH neutral for the inside of the car.
So the complete cabin cleaner
is a pH neutral cleaner that cleans.
So pH 100% does not tell the whole story
but it helps significantly on the outside of the car.
And so with the super soper,
I decided to go a little bit higher pH
because I thought my thinking behind developing it
was just this, what does a soap actually do?
Most soaps don't clean, that's crazy.
Every time you touch a car,
you run the risk of scratching it, that's crazy.
Let's develop a soap that actually cleans
so you could touch your car less.
That sounds really smart, right?
Seems very logical to me.
I don't think I'm that smart, but that's what I did.
So a soap that only lubricates but doesn't clean
is pointless and that's 99% of the soaps out on the market.
But how about a soap that can be strong when you need it,
neutral when diluted, that is more useful, right?
Because I think if your soap doesn't clean,
it's just expensive foam.
And then if it's thick coming out of the bottle
and then you're frustrated getting it in your foam cannon,
that's annoying so now you're annoyed
before you even started washing your car,
then you go to foam it up
and it actually doesn't do anything.
That's not enjoying the process, that's not fun,
that's not getting a better result,
that's over complicating things
that don't need to be over complicated, right?
Speaking of things that are over complicated,
that don't need to be over complicated, number six,
and this will be the last one, is multiple buckets.
You got a bucket for your wheels and tires,
you got a bucket for your glass,
you got a bucket for your rinse,
you got a bucket for your foam, that doesn't do anything.
The only reason why, and this goes back to the whole thing,
I'm so glad this is coming together,
like over complicating things makes up for the fact
that the product actually isn't that good.
So the reason why we have multiple products
is because the soap isn't doing anything,
it's not cleaning.
I shouldn't say the soap isn't doing anything
because that's an oversimplification.
The soap is doing something,
it's just not doing what we actually think it's doing.
So when we backed into it,
that's how we created the two bucket method.
But I ran an experiment, I ran an experiment
and I did the traditional way that we do things.
So we rinse with the steady stream of water,
and then we have our two buckets.
But let's think about this.
When I tested it side by side,
rinsing a car with just water,
even a pressure washer does not remove a lot of dirt,
if any, it really does nothing.
So let's think about it.
You rinse a car down traditionally,
you rinse a car down with the steady stream of water,
pressure washer, garden hose, doesn't matter, right?
Then you have your two bucket method,
but in your buckets, you have a pH neutral soap
that is just lubricating the surface,
but not really cleaning.
You just rinse the car, okay?
And now, yeah, you have a lubricious soap
that you're rubbing on the surface,
but you actually didn't remove any dirt off the surface.
So yeah, your soap is sliding on the surface smoothly,
but you have a bunch of dirt on the surface
that you didn't clean off, but you thought you did, right?
And that's why you have the two buckets
so you could rinse out that bucket
because you just picked up all that dirt
off the surface of the car
because you really didn't do anything.
I know, I was just surprised
when I came to this realization myself.
And so my thought was, I was blown away.
I did a side-by-side test, I did it with Wash Kim's soap,
which is a really high pH soap.
It's really gnarly, it comes in a really thick bottle
because it'll eat through the bottle.
And so when I was trying to develop the Super Soapr,
I was testing products like this to try to figure out
how could we do this differently, right?
Think differently.
Let me experiment with different products.
Let me experiment with different ways to do things
to see if we can get better products simpler
and a better result, right?
And so that's why I developed this dry foam method
of foaming a dry car.
Don't rinse it, because the rinse doesn't do anything.
You're just wasting water and wasting time.
Foam a dry car, if you don't have a pressure washer,
you don't have a foamer, use a pump sprayer,
you can get a really cheap one on Amazon.
You don't have to get an IK, you don't have to get a Merilex,
you don't have to get anything expensive, right?
Foam or, you know, use your garden hose pump sprayer,
I have a video on those too, battery-powered once, fine.
And get the liquid on the surface
that's gonna start breaking down the dirt and grime
and then rinse it.
And then if you need to foam it again to do a contact wash,
do it then, but you know what you're not gonna be doing?
Having a bunch of buckets, filling a bunch of buckets
that isn't really doing anything, you know?
And you're gonna get a better result with one product
because your soap is actually cleaning the surface
of the car, at least if you're using the Super Soaper.
Doesn't degrade ceramic coatings.
In fact, it helps ceramic coatings
because you're cleaning the surface of the car.
You're cleaning it, right?
And so, again, I digress, but I think, in my opinion,
these were six categories or six products
that DIYers products, you just don't need.
You don't need these.
And I know there's a slew of them more.
And in fact, I wanna do more, but as you can see,
I tend to talk a lot.
And so, if you have ideas of products or categories
that you think are unnecessary,
leave them in the comments below.
This will be a continued series that I talk about
because obviously I'm very passionate about this.
But I really hope you guys enjoyed that one.
Don't forget to hit subscribe.
I will link all my products
if you wanna support this channel.
It's incredible, the support has been incredible.
I don't take it for granted.
I send a ton of communications once you become a customer.
I'm very hands-on, I answer any questions,
any and all questions that come through via email.
It's something I'm very proud about with my brand.
Not only are the liquids good,
but I aim to offer the best customer service on the planet.
There's so many brands.
And I know firsthand, even outside of car detailing,
when you buy something and you're putting your trust
in a brand, you want that customer service there.
And with so many brands,
that is something that they outsource,
that's something that's lacking,
and that's something that I will never outsource.
I am customer support because I value your trust
and support as a customer.
And so, I can never imagine outsourcing that to someone.
I'm sure there's people that do.
They're great customer service reps
and I don't mean to demean them at all.
But for me and my brand,
I want to be the source of customer support
and to be really transparent too.
The number one reason is I like interacting
with you guys in real life.
In fact, as a just tangent towards the end here,
I was at a volleyball tournament this past weekend
and one of you guys' longtime viewer came up
and said, hey, recognize the hat.
And I kind of reflected on that and I'm like,
man, the online world can get so crude
and so gross sometimes.
And every time I meet one of you guys in person,
you guys are so awesome.
I've had people come here
and I've ceramic coated their cars,
washed their cars for them.
And every single time I meet one of you guys in person,
you guys are awesome.
And I love that and I'm trying to figure out ways
how I can engage and we can meet in real life more
because the online world is so gross sometimes.
But the customer service side of things
and at least emailing back and forth
or jumping on a call if we have to
is one of the things that I value the most with my brand.
And so reach out.
I love hearing from you guys.
So with that, obviously everything's up on Amazon too.
I try to make it convenient for you guys.
I appreciate those of you that are like,
hey, do you take a hit if Amazon sells it?
I do.
I make better margin if you buy it directly on my website.
But honestly, more than anything,
I want it to be convenient for you guys.
So I'll link everything below on both.
But just know that like everything is shipping out
from my warehouse where it's right through that door,
it's backwards, right through that door.
I'm shipping out everything from here.
Even the stuff that goes to Amazon ships out from here.
I just send it into Amazon warehouses too.
So anyway, with that, thanks for watching.
Thanks for listening.
A lot of people lately that are like,
man, I'm obsessed with the podcast.
I absolutely loved that.
Been doing the podcast for 14 years now.
Sorry, 12 years now.
It's my favorite medium actually more than video.
But that's okay.
So I'm glad a lot of value is coming from there.
I think I have over a thousand episodes of podcasts.
So that's fun.
But with that enough rambling from me,
let me know in the comments below other products or techniques
maybe that you got swooned by
and that you realized you didn't need
and I'll do some more of these.
So catch you in the next one.
See ya.
About this episode
Detailing can be simple and effective, yet marketing often complicates it. This episode focuses on DIY detailing enthusiasts, highlighting six products or categories that are unnecessary for maintaining personal vehicles. The host emphasizes the importance of simplicity and shares insights from his mobile detailing experience. Topics include the pitfalls of graphene products, all-in-one cleaners, and the risks of using certain detailing sprays. Listeners will gain clarity on what to avoid and how to streamline their detailing routine for better results.
Original notes
Are you buying detailing products you don't actually need?
In this episode, I break down the most overhyped DIY car detailing products that are pushed hard by marketing—but don't make sense for real-world car care. We cover graphene and triphene, borophene ceramic coatings, all-in-one waterless wash ceramic sprays, iron removers vs color-changing wheel cleaners, why multiple compounds and polishes are unnecessary for DIYers, the truth about pH-neutral-only car wash soaps, and why you don't need multiple wash buckets to safely wash your car.
This video is for DIY detailers who want better results, safer washing, and a simpler setup—without falling for hype. Pros may need specialized products, but if you're maintaining your own vehicle, less gear and better technique will always win.
If you're tired of cluttered shelves, confusing product claims, and gimmicks in the detailing world, this episode will save you money and make detailing easier.
PRODUCTS TALKED ABOUT:
Tough As Shell Ceramic Spray: https://jimbosdetailing.com/TAS or on Amazon https://amzn.to/4r5UxYr
The Super Soaper: https://jimbosdetailing.com/TSS or on Amazon: https://amzn.to/49KEM2d
Picture Perfect Polish: https://jimbosdetailing.com/PPP or on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4sQWpWu
Microfiber towels: https://jimbosdetailing.com/products/orange-wash-microfiber or https://jimbosdetailing.com/products/everyday-microfiber
Cut & Finish Pad: https://jimbosdetailing.com/products/cut-finish-pad or on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3LsxJ69
Finishing Pad: https://jimbosdetailing.com/products/black-finishing-pad or on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FJNDCPTG
SHOP ALL JIMBO'S DETAILING ON AMAZON: https://amzn.to/3LX3mVE
SUBSCRIBE TO MY CHANNEL: https://www.youtube.com/user/jbalaam?sub_confirmation=1
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The Auto Detailing Podcast
Jimbo Balaam interviews guest like Barry Meguiar, Jason Rose, Yvan Lacroix,
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33:29