Hi,

I want to detail my car tomorow. As of now she has an ok, but very dirty, black paint job. I have no power tools but my hands. I dont really want to spend more than $30. I already have a car wash & microfibre towels. What else should I get and do. In addition I dont want to order from auto geek but just pick my stuff up from auto zone.

Help please.:help

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/wolfstrong/detailing/Image9.jpg

-Meguiar's Smooth Surface Clay Kit (http://meguiars.com/?auto-detailing-clay/Smooth-Surface-Clay-Kit): First off, do you have clay? If you don't then invest in that right now as that will be your #1 tool. I assume you have wax, if not, most of those clay kits come with samples of cleaner wax, which will serve you well for now. The Cleaner Wax in there is actually good stuff, despite what some haters may say.

-Meguiar's Hot Shine (http://meguiars.com/?tire-care/Hot-Shine-High-Gloss-Tire-Coating) or NXT Insane Shine (http://meguiars.com/?tire-care/NXT-Generation-Insane-Shine-Tire-Coating) Tire Coatings: If you are working on the outside of her car, also be sure to pick up some tire shine (the Meguiar's aerosol version is the easiest to use with the least mess). This really finishes off the look of the car

-Window Cleaner. Stoner's works great, or if you can find it, Meguiar's NXT (http://meguiars.com/?glass-care/NXT-Generation-Glass-Cleaner) Window Cleaner is the best yet. Be sure you do NOT use Windex (with ammonia) as this can ruin tint. Not only that, but Windex in general just tends to be streaky and such. Another little trick I learned from a window washer is water mixed with Dawn Dish Soap works FANTASTIC. Just as well as Meguiar's NXT IMO.

-Vinyl/Rubber Cleaner/conditioner. If you are working on the inside, pick some of this up, along with some leather cleaner/conditioner. You will need these for sure.

-Meguiar's Quik Out (http://meguiars.com/?cloth-carpet-cleaners/Quik-Out-Carpet-Stain-Remover): This is only if you are working on the inside, but again, this stuff is nothing short of incredible. Best carpet cleaning tool yet that I have tried.

So if you are just working on the outside, there ya go; you will be well be right at your $30 limit. If you work on the inside, well expect to pay a bit more if you don't already have the right tools. All the stuff I listed can be found at your local Autozone/Pepboys/Kragen without a problem.

$30 budget for just paint.

Mothers paint cleaner, glaze and wax. (or just cleaner wax... not the best choice though) Black is very hard color to make look its best without polishing. You'll like the results with Mothers. Highly underrated IMO.

$30 for the whole car. That's a lot harder. Go as far as you can with Mothers. They make very good products for the money.

All I have is what I listed. I just want to clean the paint. I allready have cleaned the interior and am neutral on tire shine. I really just want to know is what should I get with $30 to clean my paint.

On a side note, I have no tint. Can I still use windex on my glass. Its worked really well for me so far.

While I would still highly recommend tire shine as it does help and have multiple uses (in the aerosol version at least), here is what you MUST have:

Meguiar's or Mother's Clay Kit. You honestly can't go wrong with either. This has some Cleaner Wax in it, which you WILL use if you are doing an exterior job. Thats $18 you just have to invest. After that, its all just optional.

The advantage of the aerosol tire shine is that I love to use it on trim too (well use to until I got a trim detailer in aersol). It works fantastic for black plastic grills where you don't feel like getting a rag in between each one since the spray will completely cover it nicely. Wipe off the access. Works great on all non-painted plastic trimmings as well.

Definitely CLAY first.

Clay bar

Some NXT wax

And some sort of Quik Detail spray for future use....

If you do not have tint then Windex will be fine to use. If you get it tinted don't ever clean them with anything that has ammonia in it as that will deteriorate the tint. If you are looking to just do a quick one-step process on your paint I would recommend Meguiar's Cleaner/Wax. It is very easy to use by hand and produces a pretty nice finish. Downside is that it will probably only last about a month unless you keep your car garaged.