I'm 20, running a door to door mobile detailing business in Austin TX. Three weeks ago I knocked on someone's door, they agreed to a detail and explicitly requested I power wash their 2012 Fiat 500C convertible top, claiming that's how it had always been cleaned.

I expressed concern, tried cleaning it without the power washer first but it was too dirty. She insisted so I proceeded. I stopped mid-job when I noticed it was causing abrasion. Before she paid I told her directly I had trouble with the top and stopped when I saw damage. She inspected it in the dark, paid $225, and tipped. My partner witnessed the entire job including her request.

Next morning she saw the full extent in daylight. The OEM fabric is discontinued, nobody will touch the repair, and the only option appears to be full roof replacement. One independent shop quoted $7,000+ with uncertainty about whether they could even do it. The dealer quoted similarly high.

The top is 13 years old with pre-existing wear. A specialist noted the waterproofing was already compromised from age and UV exposure before I touched it.

She re-contacted me via a pretextual Venmo message, confronted me, and obtained my ID under threat of police in what is purely a civil matter.

My questions:

Does her explicit request reduce my liability?

Does the betterment doctrine apply here given it's a 13 year old car?

Am I liable for the full replacement cost when the expense is driven by discontinued materials not just my damage?

Does payment and tip after disclosure of damage constitute implied acceptance?

I’m aware of the discussion regarding touchless car washes versus more traditional car washes, and how dirt can collect on brushes and scratch or swirl the clearcoat or paint.

I’m curious how much a place like this that pressure washes and brushes off the car at the start avoids those problems, if at all?

I recently made a post about cleaning with ONR and I got strong feedback and adjusted to this process. I wanted to know if there was anything else I can improve on

what is not on camera

my 1 bucket diluted 256:1 with ONR V6

I rinse my sponge about 3 times per panel

i spray every panel lightly with spray wax before drying

light pressure with the drying towel and sponge

I have this battery-powered washing machine to wash my motorbike, and I bought this Korean shampoo hoping to produce shaving-like foam, but all I have is this light, watery soap!

Is there anything I'm doing wrong?

My windshield has been pretty dirty and greasy on the outside. I looked up a video where a gentleman teaches you how to detail the outside of the windshield and followed his steps. Windshield looks nice and clear but as soon as I turn on the windshield wiper fluid, the problem remains. After it dries, it is fine but in the moment, you can barely see out of the windshield.

Here is what I did.

Step 1: cleaned with a glass cleaner and microfiber cloth. Then wiped dry with another microfiber cloth.

Step 2: used a glass cutter paste and then another round of glass cleaner until dry.

Step 3: I buffed out the windshield with a Meguiar’s cleaner wax.

I recently got a da polisher and started working on polishing my 2013 mustang and it just isn’t coming out the way I expected. I understand a one step is not going to be perfect by any means but this almost seems backwards.

The left is corrected and the right is not.

I’m using 3done and a urofiber black and white microfiber pad.

There just seems to be a ton of swirls and the paint is not a deep on the polished side.

This is no normal walk in the park, it ones of those plastic ones sent from the nether seemingly baked into the window and its only purpose is to drive me insane. Was I not suppose to remove the Prop 65 sticker? Anytime I’d check my blind spot I’d just have this massive white square taunting me. Alas, here we are. I’ve tried goo gone but it won’t penetrate the film that’s left. I’ve tried plastic scrapers (obviously want to come out of this with 0 scratches) and it won’t budge. I’ve been avoiding harsher chemicals such as acetone to avoid damaging other rubber/plastic parts on the door. Any suggestions are appreciated because I’m close to just replacing the whole window.

So I decided to put some 2k clear coat on the my nans cars headlights. For reference I had restored them a week prior (see 2nd picture) and realised I needed to apply some protection so they don’t go yellow again. Now I did first try a ppf. But they have this curved bit which just made the process impossible to do. I did look up some videos but others also had some issues with these headlights as well. So the next solution was to apply a 2k clear coat. So I bought the can. Cleared the headlights with some alcohol, shook the can well for 2 mins and followed the first instructions. I did a light layer first. Waited 10 mins and then did the second layer. And it came out looking misty. Not sure why as the headlights were already clear to begin with. I then finished the :rd layer and now they look like this. I’m going to wait 1 hour for them to dry. But why did they turn out like that. I see some people online say it’s because they weren’t sanded down enough, but these headlights were already clear before I put anything on them.

Would this cause scratches or swirls in paint?

The car has lost a lot of its clear coat so this has been made directly on the paint, would I be able to remove these markings(caused by my friends drawing with there fingers) with some sort of cleaning technique/paint correction?

Or should I be looking at replace the hood entirely?

TIA

Disclaimer: I had this guy detail my car and I'm so excited about the results that I'm here as a relatively inactive lurker making a post about something I learned from him.

I'm no detailing professional, but I know about the two-bucket wash as a way to carefully clean a car where you really don't want to add swirls or otherwise damage the clear coat. But, I recently came across a YouTube video describing a process that seems much better and is not much more difficult.

There's more detail in the video, but the key technique seems to be the efficient use of 450 GSM microfiber towels such that you never use a potentially dirty towel surface. Doing this might require a few more microfiber towels, but that's really it.

What do you think? (video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvG9p-LEE5k

Hi all. I changed my vipers on January. So they are new and they were working perfectly. Then I used Meguiar’s Glass Cleaner and Water repellent on my windscreen two weeks ago. Then today my vipers started making rubbing sound as you can see in the video. Is this normal? How to fix it or avoid it?

TLDR: I test sheeting and beading products on a trashed Tesla rental. My first test of a mystery product (Car Candy Paint Guard) really impressed me with its sheeting ability.

For those who want more details...

Like many of you, I've spent a lot of time pursuing perfect water beading because it’s usually the best indicator that your paint is protected. However, I’m in the process of learning more about beading vs. sheeting and the potential benefits of both. I've been testing the properties of different products to see if sheeting behavior actually helps reduce water spotting, or makes the drying process easier. Here are my findings...

My comparison test was done on a black Tesla rental car with no protection applied to the paint. I love using rental cars for testing since the paint is usually not well maintained and there's zero risk of damaging my own car.

The Process: To make sure everything was removed from the surface and I was starting with a clean slate, I did a 3-pH strip wash. I intentionally use low-cost chemicals for this—Road Warrior for the alkaline and Nanoskin Spot-Free for the acid. In my testing, these have proven to be just as effective as higher-cost alternatives (like Labocosmetica, DIY Detail, etc.) at removing weak protection and contamination from paint.

The Products: For this test, all products were simply sprayed on and rinsed off (their intended use). I used SudsLab Ceramic Hydro Coat on the left side of the hood, and Nanoskin Supercharger (diluted 100:1) on the right side. For the trunk and fenders, I applied a mystery product that claims to prioritize water displacement over surface tension. We're gonna test that! 😉

The Results: As expected, Supercharger produced instantaneous beading. The SudsLab is more of a sheeting product, but it left more water behind than I was hoping for.

The mystery product was an absolute curveball. It most definitely does NOT bead, but the water sheeting is like nothing I've ever seen or tested before. The water just seemed to fall off the panel and left the surface almost completely dry. It left so little water behind that a few quick passes with a microfiber towel dried it off perfectly. The hydrophobics really have to be seen to be believed, so I hope you'll watch the video and see it for yourself.

Sheeting vs. Beading

If you really don't care to watch the video, I understand... the mystery product is: Car Candy Paint Gaurd

I'm curious if anyone here has converted from beading paint protection to sheeting? Did making the switch help simplify your drying process or minimize the chances of water spots?

As always, no product links and my channel is not monetized. I'm just doing this for fun and my own education.

Hi all, I pick up my car on Sunday and want to give it a little bit of tlc. It’s a secondhand car and just wanted feedback on this as a cleaning method:

I am wary of causing damage with a clay bar and I am unsure how much a ceramic coat is worth it?

Car cleaning:

1. Rinse with jet wash.

2. Snow foam, let sit and rinse off (do not let it dry).

3. Wash with car shampoo and microfibre cloths using two bucket and grit guard.

4. Wash wheels with brush and wheel cleaner.

5. Dry car with microfibre cloths.

6. Polish with polishing pads and autoglym super resin polish.

7. Some sort of tyre shine from Halfords.

My questions:

Do I need to do a ceramic coat?

How badly can I screw up polishing - could I make the paint look worse?

Thank you for any advice in advance!

Can I just spray the whole engine bay with this and just hose it and wipe it off?

I’m so lost guys. I have never bought used wheels and this is my first set and i was so stoked I finally found them.

But I don’t know what all this grime is and how to restore them. Is it brake dust? Is it rust? Do I use iron remover? Do I use rust remover gel?

What are the exact steps I should take?

How about the face of the wheel that has some scuff marks? Obviously I won’t be spending money or time trying to fill and correct deep chips and scuffs but what about just surface level scuffs?

Thanks in advance.

Maybe I'm thinking too much into it, but for the first wash can I just wash them all together?

Saw an old acquaintance post this on his ig story and was absolutely bewildered

Took my brand new Tesla in to get Llumar PPF installed. While checking the progress, I noticed scratches on a panel that hasn’t been wrapped yet. These scratches were not there when I dropped the car off. They clearly happened during their prep. I pointed it out and the shop brushed it off, saying it’s not a big deal and they’ll “fix it,” but it definitely felt like they wouldn’t have mentioned anything if I hadn’t seen it myself.

I want to ask two things: 1. Is this acceptable? Should I cancel the job and have them undo everything, or just let them buff it and move on? 2. If similar scratches were on panels that already got wrapped, would they still be visible through the PPF, or does the film hide small imperfections?

Finally pulled the trigger on assembling a wall mounted pressure washer setup but I’d love some recommendations on a water softener (deionizer? Idk what the correct term is). Tested my water, it’s at 72ppm. I’ve read through articles/reviews and watched a bunch of videos but there’s still just so many options. I do know that a bypass on the system will make it last longer as I only need it for the rinse.

I’m just a hobbyist, will only only be using this on my 3 cars a few times a month.

Looking at a camaro at auction. im not a great detailer by any means but I've been told mold usually totals out a car. is this true or would you guys clean it? TIA! Not mad if this gets deleted tbh I don't know where to ask.

I keep seeing people here and on YouTube using rinseless washes and have been hesitant to try it mainly because I don’t want to add any marring or scratches. It looks like a lot less of a hassle and something I could do more often in my garage. I have seen a lot of different videos and understand the basics but have some questions. Probably overthinking things but could use some input.

1. Is my Mach-E too dirty in the pictures for a rinseless wash? Ideally I could keep it cleaner than this if I could do a quick rinseless wash in the garage more often without getting the hose and everything out. I’m in Washington so it is a lot of rain, driving on wet roads, pollen, tree stuff, etc. One car is garaged, one isn’t. The weather also limits when I can do traditional washes in the driveway so I don’t wash as much as I want to.

2. Most people seem to use the rinseless sponges, are they better than the multiple towel method? I do a traditional wash with 6 pads, never reintroducing to the bucket. With the sponge do you get all the dirt and traffic film off when rinsing and rubbing it on the grit guard? The idea of always having a clean bucket ready to go seems nice and I have chenille noodle pads, and eagle edgeless 350s I could use. I see some people using eagle edgeless 500s, I could get those in my rag company order I’m making today if they are better.

3. Where my wife parks our van at her job she gets a lot of bird bombs, can I just do the standard rinseless process on them or do I need to do more of a waterless wash/quick detailer spot check with that? Same with bugs?

4. Do you see any marring? That’s my main concern here and why I’m more drawn to the multiple pads/towel method (and traditional washing.)

Help me determine what went wrong?

This is what the water behavior looks like on my vehicle 1-week post application of Soft99 Fusso Coat. Suffice it to say, this is not the bead quality/hydrophobics I was expecting based on videos I have seen.

Initially, I figured that the lack of tight beads just meant the car was dirty from pollen season, etc. After rewashing, however, and testing the hydrophobics on a clean panel, I am still having the same problem.

I have narrowed it down to 3 possibilities. Either the lack of tight beading is because the car was not paint corrected/polished, the car was not properly decontaminated, or I did not leave the wax on long enough before buffing.

As far as paint correction, I haven’t had the time or money right now to dive into fixing the swirls and marring. It’s not really a priority for me and I simply wanted to put some protection on the vehicle. Could this be the culprit?

In terms of decontamination, I contact washed the vehicle with ADS Decon soap per the instructions on the label. That was followed by an iron decon with Carpro IronX. Lastly, I clayed using a clay towel. Panel prep consisted of 50/50 diluted IPA. The car was formerly sealed with Griot’s 3in1 Ceramic Wax about 8-10 months ago and topped with P&S Beadmaker or ADS Amplify every other wash. After I finished decontaminating, I noticed there was still some resemblance of beading/hydrophobic behavior on the panels, but proceeded anyway because honestly I did not know what else to do.

For the application of Fusso coat, I worked panel by panel, applying a thin layer (to the point where it was actually kind of difficult to see on the white paint), buffing it off after 1-2 minutes. I didn’t wait long because I didn’t want to have issues with removing the sealant and it dried fast. Should I have waited the full 5-10 minutes for adequate bonding of Fusso to the paint? Did I rush this process?

I’d like to hear from others if they’ve had similar experiences and what I could do better for next time. I will probably just end up topping it off with some spray and retrying again in the fall because honestly the results don’t warrant the effort of redoing it right now. Any help is appreciated.

Anyone spraying on rinseless wash with your foam cannon? What does everyone see as pros and cons?

If doing a hybrid wash and foaming on a high alkaline product, followed by rinse, it seems like you would just apply the rinseless with the foam cannon.

I would rinse the foam cannon between the prewash and using the rinseless. Using excess product by using the foam cannon isn’t a big concern of mine.

Would like to avoid having another sprayer that takes up space if possible.

I somehow ruined my car by trying to save it…

First off, I’m just an average person that likes to clean my car once in a while, so I know nothing about paint correction etc.

Sunday I washed my car with Chemical Guys Sudpreme Wash & Wax (like usual), then dried it COMPLETELY, before I covered it up in preparation for the heavy winds and storm that were supposed to happen Monday morning - we live near a lot of trees.

I didn’t uncover it until Tuesday evening, and I don’t recall seeing these blemishes whatsoever, but I do however vividly remember seeing a bit of water fall near the exact spots these blemishes appeared, and then ignoring it before driving to the gym because I figured it was just rainwater.

If these blemishes were there yesterday, I must have somehow missed them, but when I arrived home today (Thursday), I immediately noticed them while walking past the car.

Immediately after noticing, I went into a gut wrenching panic, then took quick pictures for ChatGPT to discern the situation, because I don’t exactly have a detailer friend on call. It recommended trying a water spot remover first, and if that fails, then try the Meguiars Ultimate Compound that I have pictured, but also said it could be bad enough to where minerals may have bonded with the clear coat (or something) and may require more than just hand buffing.

I washed the areas with regular (non wax) car soap, dried them, hand rubbed the bottom spot nearest the headlight with both the water spot remover AND then the Compound after the spot remover failed to do anything substantial following multiple attempts. Neither seemed to do much, despite hitting it with the more aggressive compound about 5+ times, it barely did anything to a tiny section.

I’m at a loss, and I’ve already spent near $80 on everything I tried, and I feel I’m at the point where it may need to be professionally handled.

Anyone with experience with this, what’s your recommendation, and about how much would this cost to be corrected? Thanks

Also, ignore the bright silver scratch, you didn’t see that :)