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Everyone here already covered the basics. But, you can get on your way with a few bare essentials. For the wash: Strip Wash (you won't be using it often, since it's designed to remove all waxes and leave a clear coat.. definately not your weekly maintenance shampoo. So some people opt for getting normal shampoo, NOT wash-n-wax, and diluting some All Purpose Cleaner in it.) Car Shampoo and a high quality was mitt. (to save some dough, you can always buy some buckets at home depot for a few bucks) Detail Spray as drying agent For the shine: Paint Sealant for sure Buttery Wax (btw, a machine polisher is a life saver when applying waxes and sealans. Saves your forearm from falling off lol) 2-4 single (or double) plush MF towels for buffing the waxes off. (after applying sealant and wax, use a soap that has wax in it to reinforce the applied wax for your maintenance washes) For the wheels: All Purpose Cleaner (or if your budget agrees with you, dedicated tire and rubber cleaner and wheel cleaner) VRT (Vinyl/Rubber/Trim) for some tire protection and minor shine and black color depth. I dont know if you care for extreme shine (I don't), but VRT adds some black color depth moreso than shine. Roughly $150-$180 I would say those are your bare essentials to a happy shiny vehicle. Of course, you can get dedicated products for everything. But I would safely say you very solidly get by with these items.

Hi guys. Does anyone know if Brilliant Glaze is acrylic based? Some people prefer to apply a glaze before a sealant due to it's filler capacities. However, I was doing some research and read that it's ok to do so, only if the glaze is acrylic based. If it's not acrylic based, then the sealant will evaporate just as quick as a glaze would, which would be within a few weeks. Does anyone have more insight on this?

Hello fellow detailers, Everytime I wash my car, I wake up to a car full of dust attracted to the surface. If I decide to dust it with a microfiber towel and detail spray, I can hear the ever so slightly static discharges popping while I run the towel over the paint. And it's even worse after I wax it or seal it. I don't have a garage, so the car lives outside. Do you guys have any tips on how to prevent it? Thank you much.

Did you only use Ceramic Boost and not Ceramic Coating? I've always wondered if you could use Ceramic Boost by itself, since it's cheaper haha

Hey guys. So this is mostly as an FYI/heads up for all of you, because I found my own solution to my problem. I started using the Heavy Correcting Coumpound along with the blue cutting pad. I live in AZ, so right now, summers are average 110-115 degrees outside, and I dont have a garage, so I have to polish in panels over multiple days after the sun sets (which by then it's around 95-100 degrees). I did the passenger door and the front right fender the first day with no problem. The second day though, I got the compound from a shed on my backyard and I noticed that the chemicals had seperated, into a blue thick liquid sitting at the bottom and a clear thin liquid sitting at the top. So I thought "no prob, it probably just needs a shake". But no matter how much I shook, the chemicals didn't mix and you can't use it like that because all the thick blue liquid will come out first while the clear liquid will sit at the top. I thought the bottle had gone bad and I wasn't gonna be able to use it anymore but since I never read anything about "keep out of extreme temperatures" I was gonna call Adam's the following day. Although, I don't really consider 95 degrees as extreme for chemicals to start seperating. Usually when bottles have this warning, they're referring to high temperatures like 150+ degrees. So I thought about putting in the refridgerator, and sure enough, after just a few mins, the chemicals started mixing again. I decided to store the bottle indoors that night. The following day I continued, but after one panel, the chemicals started seperating again. Now my solution is, since I've doing a few panels each day, I have a bigger container filled with icy water and I put the correcting compound bottle inside the bowl. This seems to be working for me. But maybe Adam's should make some mention on this.

I agree. That's the first thing I thought. If it's on the passenger or any other door, just let it be. However, if it's on yours, it's gonna be bugging you EVERY TIME you hop on. Sooooo... It's a hard choice, but it if comes down to this, I say just flip a coin.

Oh man, totally missed that lol yeah I totally meant "LPS" (Liquid Paint Sealant).

Hey guys and gals, I'm fairly new to waxing and detailing, been doing it to my vehicle for like 6 months. And I have a question about layering. I was reading another FAQ Article from Adams, and I got a little confused as to when to apply the Brilliant Glaze. This is what I have available: Liquid Paint Sealant Buttery Wax Brilliant Glaze H2O Guard and Gloss Before, I used to do LSP, then Buttery Wax, then apply G&G once a month. However, I got Brilliant Glaze in a mystery box today, and I'm not entirely sure where to put it in the application process. I read that it has filling abilities for subtle swirl marks and because of that it should be placed somewhere in the beginning of the process. But since it has extremely low durability, wouldn't placing it in the beginning cause everything that was layered on top of it to come off? If I apply it before the LSP, would the LSP seal it to last the same as the LSP? Any suggestions and tips would be gladly appreciated!! Thanks guys.

I don't have any Strip Wash, so I improvised by adding some APC into the foam gun.

Hello all, I actually created an account to specifically post about this. Anyway, so Friday May 5th I applied the Liquid Paint Sealant and then Buttery Wax to my stripped washed vehicle. Totally excited. Sparkling Shine. Buttery smooth. Finally. Come Friday May 12th, I washed my car again. However this is what I did different this time: I mixed two different "safe" soaps together...... Here's why: I had the Barrett Jackson Wash and Wax (which is actually pretty good), I was down to about 3-4oz from a 64oz bottle. So I poured 2ish ounces to my bucket, and the rest to my almost new Adams Car Shampoo 16oz bottle (I had only used it once to try it out from a Mystery Box). Shook the bottle, and poured some into my Adams Foam Gun. I had just received a Chemical Guys Bear Claw wash mitt; used it for the first time on that wash. So I washed the car right? I'm all excited.... Then when I start rinsing the car to dry it, I noticed there was no beading on the surface, and there was some type of film on it, where the clean water kinda clinged onto the surface the same direction I had passed over with the wash mitt. Ran my finger over the surface, only to find squeaky clean sounds and no oily feeling from the LPS or the Buttery Wax. Maybe it's common knowledge, so excuse my ignorance, but I'm assuming Car Shampoo should not mix with anything else, much less with a soap from a different manufacture. I'm not blaming Adams whatsoever. And oh yeah, my brand new bottle of Car Shampoo is wasted..... Anyway, that's what i'm assuming happened and why my sealant and wax came off. That's the only different thing I did for the washing routine, besides the fact that I used a new wash mitt, which I highly doubt was the cause of it. So, just a word of caution. Happy Detailing everyone!