RayS

When I was deciding between the Foam Gun and Foam Cannon, I thought about how many times I had pulled out my pressure sprayer to wash the vehicles. It had been over 18 years, which is when I lived up north and dealt with the Salt and Mud. Since then I have not used the pressure washer on a vehicle, so there was no need to get the Cannon. I do believe that if I was still up north running the dirt/mud roads, then I'd have the Gun and Cannon.

At at least now I know I'm not the only one that has been trained by their wife. Even though she smiles every time someone compliments her car and is a co-dependent on my addiction, she viewed the ebay list as a bit excessive for now.

There seems to be multiple of us in the dilemma of what to do with our vehicles between therapy and ceramic. I have multiple vehicles for therapy and since it looks like my wife wants a new Blazer when they are released, I have pretty much made a decision. I'm leaning toward maintaining all the current vehicles, including my truck with less than 6k miles on it as non-ceramic. Then if the wife does decide on the blazer, having one of the professional detailers on the forum do the ceramic. It isn't that I don't think I can do ceramic, I'm pretty sure I can. What I have no doubt about, is that I can maintain ceramic that has been applied by a professional and it will look outstanding. It really comes down to the comfort level of each individual and what they want to tackle and maintain. By no means should my plan be construed as a belief that amateurs cannot or should apply ceramic. I have saw way too many that have been done by non-professionals that were beautiful, it is up to the individual, their comfort level and time available to do it.

I want to point out and reiterate a statement Chris made - If you drop it, replace it - don't use it, especially if you have sand like we do in South Carolina. Someone, who shall remain nameless, dropped it in sand and before the brain engaged, had ran it over half the trunk of a car. Then the Oh "Adjective" hit and the person realized what he'd done - it took him 3 times as long to correct that half a trunk than it did to get out a new clay bar and do the rest of the car.

I can tell you what I did many years ago for my own benefit. I have a climate controlled room in my attached garage where I have most of my tools, a work bench and all my chemicals. I'm in South Carolina and we regularly hit the mid-90's to 100+. The room is insulated and has one vent going into it with no return and it is enough to keep it within 5 degree's of the house and none of the smells get back into the house. The room is 8x10 and while it would be nice to have it a bit bigger, it leaves plenty of room for the car, motorcycle, mower, etc..

I put in my order last night for this sale. The tough part was explaining to the wife, who is an accountant, why we needed a second order in July. The important thing is that she is happy with the way her car looks and she knows that anything I get is for her car first ?

Highest quality doesn't always mean most expensive nor does most expensive mean it is higher quality. The Greenworks 2200 PSI is a very good pressure washer for about $200 if you are looking for an electric and there are others in the same cost/quality range. If you want Gas, then you are in a whole different price range and quality comparison. The key is not going to the local super discount tool warehouse and buying the cheapest (quality and/or price) item they have in stock.

That explains a lot on why it looked familiar - Some of the best food in the country is in San Antonio and then Austin is pretty much in the same category. Now, I'm going to be thinking about the Salt Lick in Austin - not the one in the airport either, Fun place and good food.

Both my children have dogs and we use Odor Neutralizer once a week in both vehicles. I do one squirt on the floor board front and back and then two squirts in the back of the SUV and the same for the trunk on the car. The vehicles smell fine for the week and then we hit it again the next weekend.

I got to use two new - at least to me - Adam's products today and both impressed me. The Glass Sealant was received on Tuesday and went on the wife's car and my truck this morning. Of course I had to try the water test when I had 1/2 of it done and it worked just like the video shows. Now the windows should stay nice and clear with Brilliant Glaze on the inside and Glass Sealant on the outside. The Carpet & Upholstery Cleaner was also in the Tuesday order and it removed what I thought was a permanent stain on the passenger seat. I admit that I had not tried very hard to get the mark out of the seat, but I know it has been there for at least 3 years, so I'm happy and more importantly the wife is happy.

To clean the towels, I start with a hot rinse immediately after use. I have found that breaks up most wax like materials and draws out any oils. Then they go through the wash with liquid, non-perfumed detergent and Microfiber Revitalizer. I never use bleach and the white microfiber towels will sometimes show marks that I do not see on the grays. It may be the color difference or it could be the GSM of the towel. It could also be that I'm able to do the entire car with one single soft, so there is just that much more material to be removed from the towel in a cleaning. There are plenty of variables that could be involved, but I can state without a doubt that they are wonderful towels and I wouldn't hesitate to use either for taking the wax off the car. I also keep my towels separated by usage. Towels for DS are not use for Wax removal or HGG, each of them have their own bin of towels. Once towels start to get worn then they move down the line to tires, wheels, exhaust, etc.. For now I have a fair amount of old towels for that use, but that is how I have rotated my stock in a effort to prevent cross contamination. As always, any suggestions or recommendations based on the Adam's towels and chemicals is much appreciated.

I have been replacing my various vendor towels with Adam's over the last couple of months. I had what I thought were good to great towels and now I realize that my old "great" towels quality as good at best. I'm still using the old towels for some of the jobs, such as exhaust tip cleaning, engine areas, but that's it. The Gray's are becoming my favorite and I just received my July 4th order with the 24 stack, along with bug towels, glass towels a few more single and double soft's. I have a feeling that grabbing some towels with every order will a habit until I've replaced all the old ones. I have used the single soft and gray with the Buttery Wax and both work great. I noticed two things, I can do the entire Malibu with one Single soft, but it takes two gray's. The flip side is that the gray is easier to get clean after usage. Maybe if I used two single softs it would come out the same, but why when they gray are priced right and work great. I haven't tried the double soft with removing wax yet, but I sure do like them when I'm using detail spray.

My wife's Malibu is a few years older, but I have not had any problems with the interior detailer on it or any of my vehicles. I do keep it in a climate controlled room and make sure I shake it before use.

I have found that Golf Club grips and Putter grips work very well and they are rather inexpensive.

Given that this is a Parade Firetruck, is it a modern truck or a classic? The windshield material can be different if it came from the 50's or earlier. Some of the old Firetrucks were the first to use a safer type glass, sometimes custom made and some even had a film over them. Definitely test any actions on a small area that is as hidden as possible, since replacements for these old windshields are almost impossible to find. Years ago, I had the pleasure of working with a 1951 Firetruck that was kept for parades and it was fun working on it, but it had some special challenges also. The most difficult thing to polish was the Light and Siren, it was a one piece unit attached to the fender. It had 50 years of abuse when I got my hands on it and it took forever to get clean, shiny and working, but the kids sure did love it when it was done. This is the type of truck, that I had the pleasure of working on - not the actual truck itself: http://www.classiccarstudio.com/inventory/1492-1951-Chevrolet-3800-Firetruck-Pickup-Truck/

Today was another day for learning the Adam's products. I received multiple items on Friday, including H20 Guard & Gloss which was recommended by several members for use on my truck. I decided to do my wife's car, which is 5 years old, before doing my truck, since she is so supportive of my efforts. I have to say, I'm a bit amazed on what it did and how well it worked. I followed the instructions on the video and it did what it said, the wife's happy and I am no longer hesitant about using it on my truck. I did have one challenge, the humidity was running around 95% when I started and between the wash getting the H20 Guard & Gloss completed, the sun hit part of the car and I ended up with water spots on the chrome around the drives side windows. I did not notice it while it was still outside, but once it was inside under the LED lights it was visible. In order to get the water spots off, I took the gray towel that I had used earlier and rinsed in hot water and went over the chrome a couples of times. This seemed to dull the chrome , so I hit it again with the GG and then it came out spotless and shiny. Being my first usage of GG, I am glad that is if forgiving when you make a mistake. I'm still not sure what my mistake was or it could have been a combination of humidity, sun, old man getting slow, etc., but what is important is that I was able to correct it. Now, I get to relax until this evening when it cools down to do the interior.

Hi I'm Ray and I have the addiction and a co-dependent wife. Identification of a co-dependent: When placing a order they remark how good it will be for their vehicle When a order arrives they act as if you are doing their car the next day When their requests interfere with your planned activities Can you make my car: Have a cleaner windshield Smell better Outshine the neighbors ...And anything else you can think of You know the co-dependency is really bad when they state: How can you possibly go play golf when it rained yesterday and my car got dirty. No worries, I'll get started on her car about 7:00 AM and I can go play golf on Monday.

The one thing I do different from what the video shows, is that I first clean the window with Glass Cleaner, make sure it is dry and streak free, then I go over it Brilliant Glaze. I may be doing a step that isn't needed, but the windows look great.

It seem that in South Carolina, it is only a question of what time it is going to rain not whether or not it will rain. My truck which also sits outside, does look pretty good, at least the sand dust keep getting rinsed off it. It is supposed to be a daily driver, but given that I work from the house for the next months , it is closer to a weekly driver.

Since I almost always get a helping hand I have been thinking about getting two standard carts. One cart would be dedicated to the outside work and the other would stay inside the garage and be dedicated to interiors. This would allow me keep the chemicals, towels, etc., separated and reduce the running back and forth. Even on nice cloudy days when we can do the interiors outside, we park the vehicle right next to the garage door for the vacuum and such. I keep getting this vision of one of my adult kids grabbing the vent brush and using it on lug nuts or worse using the lug brush on the vents.

I was in the same boat as you until a recent change with the chemical and towel. For years I used an off the shelf, very popular blue cleaner which worked OK, but I generally had streaks that only the wife could make go away. After giving Adam's Glass Cleaner with the green towel a try, I was very impressed and so was the wife. Not only did I manage to get all the windows clean, inside and out, they did not have any streaks and she didn't have to redo them. There are a few things that make a difference, first stay out of the sun as much as possible and second don't let the product dry on the window and last you want the towel moist not wet. If the towel has gotten to the point that it feels wet, you are using too much product or have done too many windows, get a different towel. I also keep my towels separated for exterior and interior windows washing and while I cannot say for fact that it makes a difference, it seems logical to me. There are more atmospheric contaminants, pollen, bugs and such on the exterior and I don't want to transfer that to the inside.

I have also noticed that my pickup takes longer than the SUV's or the car, but I can't explain why - other than my pickup might get some extra love. I generally do the outside of two vehicles on day one and then the interior of them the next day. According to the weather I'll change which order I do them in, either way it is two exteriors or two interiors. By doing half of two vehicles, I save time on getting out equipment, chemicals, etc., and it lets me focus on the task at hand and get into a rhythm - good music also helps. As an example, when I start on the interior windows, I do every interior window on both vehicles and then I'm done with the Glass Cleaner and Brilliant Glaze so they can be put it away. I know this method doesn't work for everyone, but for those that it does, it tends to let me run through the tasks quicker. I also have my detailing tray set up in the chemical order so I can go from chemical to chemical without having to look or think about what is next. My towels are set up in the same way so I know what is next by what I have used, I just work my way down the shelves and I'm good.

My kids who have pets keep using my ON and we have found many other uses for it. A few squirts of ON and the pets are happy that the vehicles don't smell like humans anymore and the following week it is a few more squirts. We have also used it in the laundry room, storage room, mud room and I put a short squirt in the golf shoe bag after an outing. If you have tried it yet in a pair of smelly shoes or sneakers, give it a short squirt, you'll be amazed. The ON and Glass Cleaner seem to be getting more use in and around the house than they are with the vehicles. At least with the GC, I can order the gallon and I would do the same with ON if it were to become available.

Thank you. The body was Ultra Shampoo, Detail Spray and Buttery Wax and that is it for now. The wheels/Tires are Eco Wheel Cleaner - Big Woolie, Small Woolie and Lug Brush, Tire & Rubber Cleaner and Tire Shine. The windows were done with Glass Cleaner. We never touched the trim, even though I have the VRT for it. We know it really needs to have a strip wash and clay bar to get it to a more acceptable level. I just placed an order for H20 Guard and Gloss and from there I need to keep reading the posts and figure out the best long term care and I'm still trying to figure out the best products to use and which go with which to get the best results. Once I get the results the way I want it with the Buttery Wax, I'll step to the Americana Wax for all the daily drivers (Colorado, Malibu, Range Rover, CX5) and for the 240z, Mustang and motorcycle it will probably be the Patriots Wax. For now, I'll stick with Buttery Wax so I can keep learning and practicing about once a month. Of note, every vehicle is Red except the 240z which is Black and will be the last one touched - it is actually my other son-in-law's, who is currently deployed and it has the original 1971 paint on it.

This is the my daughter's Range Rover that still needs some additional time spent on it, but it took a major step forward today. The front rims where nearly black with brake dust and grime, my son-in-law and I are pleased with the way that they came out. The information on the site, the video's and all the hints from the members have helped with the learning process, but there is nothing better that knowledge to use by getting your hands on the vehicle with the products - plus it helps with the addiction... I have nearly ran out of Red motorized items to do, so I may have to resort to doing the riding mower after I mow on Sunday, yes it is Red, so it qualifies. The other item I did today was use the left over Ultra Shampoo in the Foam Gun on the garage door along with an old microfiber sponge. The door really cleaned up nice and I even cleaned the windows with the Glass Cleaner.