RayS

Great idea, now if I could only decide if I want Chocolate Mint or Mint Chocolate. Maybe we should go with something a bit more off the wall, like Strawberry Rhubarb.

I looked at this question for a while before I made the big decision to do two of my vehicles by flipping them. Both are Dark Red which allowed me to get a real comparison on how they looked and my preference for looks is BG then PS. What I don't have yet, is the longevity since it has not been on the vehicles long enough. In my opinion, if I get 3 months from either, I'll be more than happy. Both vehicles have been topped with Buttery Wax and Ceramic Boost, so the only difference is the order of the BG and PS.

I have had good luck with the Rust-Oleum Automotive Black Matte for wiper blades: https://www.rustoleum.com/product-catalog/consumer-brands/auto/specialty-paints/matte-finish/ If you take the wiper arms off, hang them on a string and use a sandblaster, you will get great results. If you don't have a sandblaster, but do have a air compressor, this one is inexpensive and works fine for a home solution: https://www.amazon.com/Sand-Blaster-Foot-Blast-Wrench/dp/B0007D30DO Once you have given them a good cleaning or sanding to knock off any rust, dirt, etc., and then hang the wiper arms on a string to paint. For the painting, I try to do 3-5 coats giving about 15 minutes between coats for curing and then 3-5 hours of hanging before they are touched and put back on the vehicle. You should get a easy 10 years before you would have to touch them up again.

I would really have to question the quality of the products being used and the detail of of the work to that for $50. At least with those prices, he won't be doing it very long and you won't have any competition to worry about. I will hand wash a sedan for $50 and use H20 Guard and Gloss as the drying agent along with hitting the wheels with Eco Wheel Cleaner and Tire & Rubber Cleaner, which takes about an hour and $10 worth of product. Don't forget to calculate the cost of washing the towels and the MicroFiber Revitalizer along with the water usage if you are on city water or electricity if you are on a well. That leaves me $40 of which the US Government is taking 15% for Social Security tax, then you have your regular US income tax estimate 8%, state tax estimate 6% - I round up to 35%, just to make sure I keep enough in the bank for taxes and fees. $40 - $14 (35%), which leaves you with $26 for the hour you spent washing the car. Fortunately, I don't have to hire an accountant to do the quarterly and annual business taxes, I'm married to one.

Wow! What a difference in the car, you did a heck of a job on resurrecting the paint and making it look like a real car again.

I also use the Interior Detailer for the inside of the car with one exception, the upper dash. I have 303 wipes to clean and for the UV protection and then go over it with Adam's Leather Conditioner. It makes it look good without too much shine or reflection and it smells good. The one thing I have found with Interior Detailer, is that can be a pain to get off the windows, especially the windshield if you have used Brilliant Glaze on it. Whoever first tried Brilliant Glaze on the inside of the windshield deserves a pay raise...

I have used Ceramic Boost on the wheels on my truck and it has really helped with the brake dust build up. As for Waterless Wash, that is part of my travel kit, although it gets used the most often when it is a rainy day and I need a reason to spend a few hours in the garage. WW is also great for the door jams, trunk seal and the top of the inner fenders under the hood.

@shane@detailedreflections Thank you, your wife and your daughter for providing the children with a family. The value of having a family to lean on and nurture children during the early years cannot be taken for granted. What the three of you are doing now will reflect in how these children grow up and behave for the rest of their lives. I have one recommendation for you, find a way to get some quality time with your wife and daughter, especially your daughter. The teen years can be trying and doing something as simple as getting a babysitter for the young ones and taking your wife and daughter to dinner or even out for ice cream to breath and talk will make a big difference.

Once you have your new garage and can apply buttery wax inside and you get the smell along with the shine, you will be hooked.

It has taken me about 4 months to transition from my other vendors to Adam's and it has been well worth the journey. I set myself (read accountant wife) a budget, plus planned the transition as I knew I would run out of products and in some cases, such as wax and shampoo, I gave the old chemicals to someone that I knew would use it and appreciate it and simply couldn't afford Adam's. It took the wife a month or so to come around and then she started telling me when Adam's was having a sale and she even does the orders for me. If you watch for the sales, especially when there is an additional discount the cost isn't bad it at all and once you get the initial chemical the gallons are the way to go fro the refills. Your needs and volumes may be different, but for the 5 vehicles I'm taking care of, I'm doing 1-3 orders a month or in the case of July, last night made the 4th order this month. If you don't have a Foam Gun or Foam Cannon, I highly recommend it with the Adam's Shampoo, it is amazing how much easier it makes the initial wash.

I did not expect to see those results especially on the trunk. Nice job!

I used one with my pressure washer last summer doing a relatives driveway and did not see any difference compared to my regular hose.

I never use a hose to directly add water for diluting chemicals. Unless your hose is filtered, it will introduce contaminates that can be avoided by either letting the water sit in a jug and only pouring off the top or by using filtered water from inside the house. City water will have chlorine or other additives and well water has its own set of characteristics, in my case I have a high lime content. You can also get filters for a funnel, but I only used them a couple of times and they didn't seem to be too effective.

I would consider that cheating unless you are also purchasing Adam's products through Amazon. I will also admit that I was happy when I received a box with two mints in it, not only did I consider it a bonus, it allowed the wife to share one with me .

The wife's car gets DS put on once a week whether it needs it or not. The car is kept in the garage and not only does she see me paying attention to her car, it also makes the garage smell great. I have tried DS immediately after waxing with Buttery Wax and I didn't see much of a difference, but waiting until the next day gave me an opportunity to look for anything I may have missed the day before and it seemed to add a little extra luster.

I would not have thought of using a sticky lint roller at all, that is a good idea. I know we are going to the mountains again, so I will add one to my travel bag and see how it works - Thank You @Rich

The Wife and I spent the last week in the mountains with another couple and we took turns driving. When it was my turn to drive, I always made sure the truck was prepared for the day and I ran into a problem - Spider Webs. Every morning, the truck was covered with spider webs and they were very sticky. Besides the point that I believe the spiders were either attracted to the shine or the Adam’s products themselves, they were a pain to remove. My in laws van was not getting covered with spider webs. I tried a single soft towel wipe, but the towel seemed to plug up and stop removing them, more like smearing them and I constantly flipped the towel to a fresh spot. I also tried DS and that didn’t seem to do much either. The cabin we stayed at was limited on resources and the truck was parked a good 100 yards away from the cabin, so I was pretty much limited to what I had in spray bottles. I also know I am adding one item to my travel bag, a plastic razor blade. There was no avoiding parking under trees and I had tree sap on the truck. I have used car shampoo and/or DS and a plastic razor blade to remove sap many times, I just never thought of adding a few to my travel kit. Any ideas on the spider webs before the next trip to the mountains would be appreciated.

While @falcaineer saw a turtle while searching for a Ninja, @Rich spotted fur and I spotted feathers on two wild turkeys on my way home in a dirty truck after spending a week in the mountains. Isn’t nature a wonderful thing?

A simplified mechanism to allow you to use a touch of your ? to instantly sent Adam’s money. In lieu of the “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”, it becomes “what happens on the iPhone, stays on the iPhone” ?

The plastic razor blade is a good idea. I was able to get some house paint drips off a car with them. I used some car soap as a lubricant and the plastic razor blade slid under the paint, no scratches. I recently got some tree sap off my truck with same technique, but had forgotten about the paint drips from years ago until @falcaineer reminded me of it.

I have had my cart just about 2 weeks and love it. You do want to follow the instructions for putting it together and don’t be afraid to ensure seat the posts and trays with the rubber mallet. This picture shows the cart way over loaded compared to how I normally have it. It does roll very nice and can easily hold all the product needed for doing a car.

Just did a run from Columbia, SC to Gatlinburg, TN and hit two small patches of rain and and a couple miles of wet roads. I used 4 to make it presentable again and another 5 after that to keep it shining. I also know that I won’t leave home again without WW along with DS and BG and at least a dozen towels.

I have always used 303 on the motor home awning, tonneau cover and hot tub cover and never had a streaking problem. My last hot tub cover lasted over 10 years and it was the inside that started coming apart and absorbing water. While I think the leather conditioner is a very good product and I use it on interior leather and vinyl, I would need a lot of convincing to use it on outside items replacing 303. For the hot tub, I do the cover in the fall and spring. For the spring treatment, I do it right after pollen season and it gets a good cleaning first.

In preparation for an activity on Saturday, I started very early this morning preparing the truck, let's just say there was light when I started. After I hit the tires with Tire & Rubber Cleaner, the wheels with Eco Wheel Cleaner and the tire wells with Under Carriage Spray, I started with a Strip Wash and was prepared to do a Claybar, but after inspection it didn't need it. It had only been ~3 months since the last clay and the truck had been well protected and had less than 300 miles put on it. If you are wondering why I went with a strip wash, I wanted to improve the base and it was an opportunity put to practice everything I was learning from reading, viewing video's and forum member feedback. Step #1: I made sure it was spotless and I put it in the garage Step #2: VRT or 303 all the trim. Note: VRT works wonders on the Aeroskin II bug guard, air dam and a few other places. 303 is used on the tonneau cover and window trim. Step #3: I did one panel at a time with Brilliant Glaze - checked the truck twice for any missed spots Step #4: one panel at a time with Paint Sealant - repeat checking pattern Break - Lunch: Fried egg sandwich, the daughters dog was happy, she got scrambled eggs Step #5: check for misses again (none) - put Buttery Wax on the entire truck Step #6: Removed Buttery Wax from the entire truck Break - After break - checked the entire truck for white spots, misses, etc.. Found a few white spots, easily taken care of Step #7: One panel at a time with Ceramic Boost and then the rims last Step #8: Windows Step #9: pulled it into the drive and took this picture I have one place that I am not happy about with the results and am hoping someone can assist. The running boards are Westin HDX's and are black steel. The step pads clean up nicely, but I cannot seem to manage to get any luster into the running boards themselves. Any suggestions? As always, I appreciate feedback on ways to improve the outcome in the future.

Very informative video, thanks for posting the link. I have all the towels in the segment, except the drying towel and that is in my wish list. I add a couple of towels into every order as I'm trying to replace all the various vendor towels. Of course, I took advantage of the 24 stack borderless grays when they were on sale. The one thing missing from the video, is the microfiber blanket. My oldest absolutely wants one and when/if they come back, she will get one. No, she is not spoiled - she is just developing an addiction and I'm trying to help cope with it. She is the daughter that helps me with the vehicles.