The Auto Detailing Podcast Feb 25, 2026

SECRETS They Don't Want You To Know: Wash Your Car Less

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20:16

Term

Gloss Boss

Gloss Boss is a special liquid you put on your car's paint that helps keep it shiny and clean for longer by protecting it from dirt and water.

Term

Tuffa Shell

Tuffa Shell is a spray you put on your car that helps keep it clean and shiny by protecting the paint from dirt and water.

Term

car wash soap

Car wash soap is special soap made to clean cars without hurting the paint. It helps get rid of dirt and keeps the car looking nice.

Term

ceramic spray coating

A ceramic spray coating is a special spray you put on your car to protect the paint and keep it shiny for a long time.

Company

Maguire's

Maguire's makes special sprays that protect car paint and make it look shiny and new.

Term

SKU

SKU is a code that helps companies keep track of different products they sell, like different types of car wax or parts.

Term

ceramic coating

Ceramic coating is like a special clear layer you put on your car's paint to keep it shiny and safe from dirt and scratches.

Company

Super Soapr

Super Soapr is a special soap used to wash cars that cleans well without hurting the paint or protective layers.

LIVE

Actually got a pretty concerning email the other day,

especially as a brand owner,

it was a customer with a big problem.

They'd actually been washing their car

40 to 50% less than they normally were,

and they live in a super, super rainy area.

And so I wanna talk about that,

and why it's a problem for me, but not a problem for you.

And yes, this episode, this video is gonna be talking

a lot about my own branded products,

but instead of being an infomercial or a commercial,

it's actually, I'm gonna use it to reinstill

and help me with my messaging

of what I've been trying to talk about

and where my passion lays behind

just releasing quality products

and kind of my whole ethos as to why I even

created my own product line in the first place,

and kind of this feedback that I got

from a little customer, Sam, Sam, if you're out there,

thank you, and I'll read his email in a second,

but it kind of helps drill and helps me with my messaging

of why I even released my own product line

in the first place.

So let's get into the email to create some context,

and then we'll kind of go from there.

So Sam writes in, he says,

I've run into a problem with the gloss boss in Tuffa Shell.

Now, as an aside and as a brand owner,

I'm worried and my heart rate kind of goes up

as I read this email.

When applied correctly and coupled

with consistent post-wash applications of Tuffa Shell,

I've seen a significant reduction in frequency

of how often I would be washing this time of year.

Now, as an aside, just this is me talking now

away from the email, I looked up where Sam lives

and in his region of kind of the western coast of Oregon

of where he is, the kind of region experience

is about 200 inches of rain,

and then more specifically of where Sam lives,

according to Google data, they get on average

about 47 inches of rain per year

and about four inches of snow.

So a significant amount of moisture,

a significant amount of rain.

I don't get that much rain here in Orange County, California.

And so this is significant because rain, roads,

it creates a lot of junk on the car, right?

So if he's washing his car, what he says,

his estimate is 40 to 50% less.

He's washing his car 50% less,

not because he cares less about the appearance of his car,

but because the appearance of his car is staying so clean.

His car is staying so clean

because of the Gloss Boss and Tuffa Shell.

Now, if you're new here, the Gloss Boss

is a wipe-on ceramic coating,

Tuffa Shell is a spray and wipe spray coating,

and Sam is using them both in tandem,

which is just a dynamite kind of concoction.

And so he says, yes, I'm putting Tuffa Shell on pretty much

after every wash, which is what I do too.

One to two sprays, you don't need much,

maybe one to two ounces per application.

The surface is so frickin' slippery

that not much is sticking to the paint,

and that's an amazing situation, well said, Sam.

So why is that a problem?

He says, as a result, the usage rate I was expecting

for the Super Super, which is my car wash soap,

isn't coming to pass, and my return to purchase rates

isn't going to be as high as you might like to see.

He's saying, look, my car is staying so clean

for so much longer, 40 to 50% more,

that I'm not using as much car wash soap,

so the problem may be that I'm not buying

as much soap as you might think.

Gloss Boss and Tuffa Shell are amazing products, Jimbo,

and while I may not be using as much Super Super

as you'd like, I'd have more time for other things.

I'm using a lot less water than before.

Thank you for that.

And he goes on to talk about how he's also a woodworker

and he was using Tuffa Shell on unprotected metal surfaces,

just some off-label uses that you guys are starting

to see a ton as well, that my products work incredibly well

for a bunch of off-label uses as well.

And so, but what I wanna talk about is the problem

that he's having, the problem is really not a problem.

And yes, of course, I wanna sell more soap,

I wanna sell more Gloss Boss, I wanna sell more Tuffa Shell,

I need to sell product to keep my brand going,

but this is a phenomenal problem to have

and a problem that I'm absolutely okay with,

that the products are delivering,

the products are doing exactly what they're supposed to do.

And when I read this email over the weekend,

I was talking to my father-in-law and I said,

you know, this is actually a problem that,

it does bring up a problem that I've kind of run into

that is a problem and I wrestle with it honestly,

is that I started my own product line

because I knew that better products could be made

and that brands were actively not making.

I know this sounds crazy,

but brands were actively not making

the best products possible because either cost to them

or there is some, you know,

there is some segments of the market that think

that if a product is harder to apply,

if you need to put more elbow grease into it

that you get a better result.

If a product is stinkier,

if a ceramic coating is really, really smelly,

it works better.

And so what I found of working on the backend

is that those things aren't true,

you could actually have a product that is very easy to apply,

doesn't have a high smell rate,

doesn't do crazy things like sweating or rainbowing too much

and just applies kind of really smoothly

and actually offers a better result

because a lot of times, not every time,

but a lot of times what I realized

is that if a product is super smelly,

hard to apply, difficult, kind of aggravating,

temperamental, it's not because of the main raw ingredients

in there, it's not because of the main raws.

It is the solvents, it's the filler raw materials

that are aggravating you.

And so what I've done in my product line

is just not put those in there

or look for alternatives in those kind of filler raw materials.

And I always go back to the example

of like the picture perfect polish.

The picture perfect polish has like 12 or 13

different ingredients in it.

Now, the abrasives are what everyone talks about

in a polish, right?

How they're suspended or the abrasives or whatever, right?

And so, or the shape of the abrasive,

which is very, very important,

but the abrasive is one ingredient

in a whole host of other ingredients, right?

And so where brands, other brands kind of feel

like they could take shortcuts

are in those other ingredients, in the abrasives also,

but for the reason for this example,

all those other ingredients as well,

the solvents, the carriers, the oils, the water,

the whatever, right?

And so what I've decided to do with my brand

to make my brand different is just not do that,

not do what the norm is.

And so with, when it comes to a toughest shell

or a gloss boss, I've done that same thing

because that is what I feel,

that is my kind of, you know, thing

is that I want to create the best products

that I know possible.

And so with things like the gloss boss,

it is jam packed to the brim of high quality raw materials

that make the formula work even better.

That's why I have weird things like the gloss boss

can actually be applied to a whole half of a car

before you need to level it.

And it doesn't make it harder to level.

It's not super temperamental in weather,

in different weathers.

It lasts a long time in the bottle.

You know, there's all these different things,

these different features that come out

that I need to get better at explaining,

but they work like that

because I use the highest quality ingredients.

And I don't just talk about that.

I know a lot of brands will say that.

And I know even me saying it sounds like,

okay, sure, bro, whatever.

But when you get an email like Sam is saying,

where he's actually washing his car 40 to 50% less

than he normally would,

that is, I'm using that as to say,

look how it practically comes out, right?

Yes, I want to sell more soap.

Yes, I wish that,

I actually don't wish that it wasn't like that.

I am, Sam is seeing it as a problem.

I'm seeing it as validation to what I stand for

with my brand, because ultimately,

let's kind of, you know, take this thought out a little bit.

If you're washing your car 50% less

because it's not dirty and you don't need to,

you don't need to wash it,

then you are lowering the risk of scratching the paint.

You are spending less money maintaining it.

You're spending less time maintaining it

while still achieving the same result.

That is a huge, huge win in my book,

because like Sam said in his email,

not only is he using less water,

but he's able to spend more time

doing other things that he enjoys.

And so he still enjoys washing his car.

He just doesn't need to do it as much, right?

And to me, that is a ginormous win,

just a huge, huge win, okay?

If I am able to make products that make your life better,

that make you spend more time doing the things you enjoy,

sorry if the things you enjoy is detailing your car,

I'm sure you could still do it.

You don't have to reduce that.

But, you know, that is a huge, huge win in my book.

And so I think when I think about, you know,

all the times that I spent consulting

or working at chemical manufacturers

or blending houses or whatever,

and seeing these brands come and go,

seeing new brands start, old brands go away, whatever.

You know, brands releasing things like paste wax

or liquid waxes or even a spray wax.

And I've talked about that.

I just had a video of like why I'd never wax my car again.

And, you know, the feedback was a little mixed

on that video, but the thing I keep thinking about

is like there's the old school model

and then there's this new model

that I'm trying to help usher in

and I'm doing it with my own brand.

And the old model is just, you know,

consistently washing your car,

using products that are a little difficult,

but, you know, putting in the oval grease really,

you know, makes the product better,

smelly products, stuff that looks good

for maybe a couple weeks and then your car looks terrible.

And that's kind of what I, you know, mentally think about

is like the old school way of doing things.

And then kind of the new school things

that I'm really trying to usher in is like, you know,

have modern chemistry of products that are really good

and not skimping on the raw materials.

And so it's so frustrating from the back end

to see that when brands skimp on stuff.

And it's like, hey, let's not skimp

and what does that look like?

Because for me, and this goes back to the conversation

that I was having with my father-in-law,

I was like, hey, did I mess up by making products too good?

Like they're too easy and too good.

Now I know that sounds weird,

sounds weird even saying it, honestly.

But, and when him and I had that conversation,

it was like, you know what, no,

because the long term, I'm in this for the long haul.

And so the long haul is that people like Sam

won't go to other brands, because why would you

when you could see how good things could be?

And I think that is something

that I've thought about for a long time is that

people just don't know how good of products

or how good products can actually be, right?

We didn't know back in 2020

that you could have a water-based ceramics spray

that outperformed a solvent-based product, right?

A solvent-based ceramic spray is a lot easier to formulate

because the way that you can suspend the formula

to the solvents, it's a lot more difficult to suspend

to suspend the good stuff in a water-based formula.

And so what you normally get is a lot of separation.

And we see that Maguire's ultimate ceramic spray coating,

we see separation at the top of the bottle,

which is crazy to think like a brand like Maguire's

can't get the formula right,

but it is their ultimate ceramic spray

has a lot of separation in the formula.

It's also milky white and not transparent,

like Tuffa Shell is, which means that their formula

isn't as stable as we've been able to get Tuffa Shell.

Tuffa Shell is transparent, it is water-based,

and that is a very, very difficult thing to get,

not only the particle size of the ceramic elements

of Tuffa Shell small enough,

but also to be able to suspend them

in a water-based formula is incredibly difficult.

We went through tons and tons and tons of iterations of it.

That's why you see a lot of ceramic sprays be milky white

or colored or in bottles that aren't clear

because it is incredibly difficult to get that water-based

formula to kind of blend together and stay suspended

in the formula and not separate.

When you see brands like McGuire's

and they release something, they put it in a clear bottle

and it's milky white and then it forms a ring around the top

or you flip it upside down

and you get some settling at the bottom,

that formula is not super stable, right?

And so those are little things,

Tuffa Shell super clear in a clear bottle,

suspended, doesn't separate, doesn't settle,

doesn't create a ring around the top of the bottle,

very transparent, right?

And so same thing with the Picture Perfect Polish,

doesn't smell, don't have a smelly solvent,

cuts and finishes in one product,

there's no need for multiple products, right?

And so when you develop a product line

and you show people what is possible,

it makes them not wanna go back to those other brands, right?

And so I'm in this for the long haul

and that's why I am doing it the way I am doing it,

the way I see fit and then to get feedback

from people like Sam like this

where he's actually washing his car 40 to 50% less,

it just makes me very excited because sure,

that is less profit for me,

maybe in the short term, like he says,

I'm not using as much soap as I thought I would be,

that's a problem, but for me, I'm in this for the long haul

and so for me, I know when I get emails like this,

Sam is not only using less product

but then his second thing talks about

some off-label uses for the products,

like he's not gonna go elsewhere, right?

And so that for me, it's like Sam, don't worry about it,

it's not a problem, I'm not in this for the short term,

profitability, though it is important to me,

I'm in this for the long haul, for the long game,

I wanna see Sam in 10 years of Jimbo,

can't believe your product brand has grown like this,

this is insane, I love your products,

thanks for keeping them consistent

because that's the next wave of things

that I need to talk about is consistency over time,

when someone buys Tuffa Shell in 2024,

is it the same as Tuffa Shell in 2030?

Very important, that's a whole nother thing

that brands do, a whole nother game

that I haven't even talked about,

is once brands have an established SKU,

they will then tweak the formula to increase profitability

because they think people won't notice.

Just saying, I don't put things past brands, I'm doing.

So consistency over time is another thing

that I will stand for, I will talk about more,

but I thought this was an important lesson to talk about

and how you can achieve this is you have Gloss Boss,

which is a wipe on ceramic coating,

as your foundational layer,

and then you maintain that layer

with something that's super easy, Tuffa Shell,

doesn't streak on black, can use it in direct sunlight,

you can use it as a drying aid,

you can use it on a dry surface,

one to two sprays per panel is all you're going to need,

which equals about one to two ounces per application

on a car, you could also use it on glass,

you could also use it on the trim,

you could also use it on your rims,

obviously that will make you use more,

but it does work on every single surface on the car.

In fact, I use Tuffa Shell on my leather seats inside the car,

so I will use Tuffa Shell as an interior detailer

because it just works so well,

so what I will do because I also try to be efficient

with my towels as well,

after I apply Tuffa Shell on the exterior of the car,

sorry, I will use that same towel and go to the interior

and wipe every surface on the interior of my car,

with the exception of the interior windows,

I don't use Tuffa Shell on that,

but seats, center console, dash, door panels, all that,

I will use that saturated towel of Tuffa Shell

on the inside as well,

so when you use quality products,

not to mention washing the car with the Super Soapr,

which helps, but having that foundational layer

of something super good like the Gloss Boss,

you too can wash your car 40 to 50% less,

while still maintaining, I think this is important to mention,

still maintaining a level of shine, gloss,

and aesthetics on the outside of the car

that are acceptable to a discerning eye,

which I think is important, Sam's not saying,

I'm washing my car 50% less

because I don't care about my car anymore,

he's saying my car is staying so clean

that I don't need to wash it as much,

even in a region that sees a ton of rain,

a ton of dirt, a ton of grime,

like the western central coast of Oregon

where Sam is located, like I said,

where he's at specifically about 40 to 50 inches

of rain a year, that region receives

about 200 inches of rain per year, that's significant.

So I will link everything below, obviously Sam,

thank you for writing in, thank you for letting me use this

as a use case, I really appreciate it.

If you wanna get the Gloss Boss and Tuffa Shell

and you wanna support my brand, my ethos,

what I'm for, what I'm trying to accomplish,

obviously I will link everything below,

I'm super, super grateful for all the support,

I'm super grateful for you guys writing in, Sam,

I appreciate you writing in, emails like this kind of fuel me,

I'm excited by them, obviously it helps me refine my messaging

which is one of my big goals this year,

and I just wanna make products that are easy to use,

deliver a great result and I wanna connect

with awesome people like Sam and like Chris

and like so many jimbos have reached out

which is amazing or sometimes they go by James,

but jimbos when we interact, so many jimbos reaching out

which is awesome too, and so I'm super, super grateful,

I really am, this has been a big passion project of mine,

it is all I focus on, I don't detail at all anymore

because my whole focus is on growing the jimbos

detailing product brand and then developing new products

around that that support the brand as well,

so this is 100% what I do and so I'm super grateful,

super fortunate for the opportunity and in return

I just wanna deliver the best products possible

and let's all have fun, right?

And so with that I will link everything below,

thank you guys for the support, let's keep on keeping on

and I'll catch you on the next one, see ya.

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20:16

SECRETS They Don't Want You To Know: Wash Your Car Less

Gloss Boss

Tuffa Shell

car wash soap

ceramic spray coating

Maguire's

SKU

ceramic coating

Super Soapr

About this episode

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