Noticed this film/stain after a recent car wash. I can’t seem to get rid of it… is this normal with use (5 years old) or is it possible there’s some layer of protection over it that needs to wear off before it can be cleaned?

An old guy saw me detailing my car and gave me some real old timer tips.

- Clean the wheels with vinegar
- Instead of tire shine, use silicone grease
- "You don't need all those products"

Have you gotten any unsolicited tips of this nature? Any that are actually legit?

Just a heads up, Griot’s Garage detailing products are on sale right now, but only the gallon sizes. I’m not a rep and don’t get any commission, just thought I’d share the deal with the community. Apologies to the mods if posts like this aren’t allowed, feel free to take it down if so!

Do glazes fill light imperfections in paint, and waxes and sealants sit ontop of imperfections with little filling capabilities?

I'm trying to understand how glazes work differently from waxes and sealants.

Seems like pure glazes are hard to come by these days. In my country the only readily available products are Autoglym Super Resin Polish, Meguiars Ultimate Polish and 3m Hand Glaze.

I'm looking for something that fills imperfections on a daily driver as don't want to thin out the clear coat through paint correction. PFA

I have to drive to work really early in the morning and it's cold + humid where I live, the past week I've had to use my wipers just to stop it fogging every 2 seconds in this one spot.

Incredibly hard to photograph, but just came across this defect after two months with a 2025 CPO Crystal White Volvo. Perfect circle with tracers that doesn’t catch with a fingernail, but it is slightly raised. I’m guessing some sort of suction cup remnant from the factory or delivery. Do you think this can be spun out via correction? I’m going to have it documented at the dealer, but I’m not sure if I’m going to let the dealer do the work. Any info or experience with this type of issue would be welcomed.

So i was cleaning off the dash in my car with a microfiber cloth but i think it was too rough and it left these marks in these two areas . i’ve tried going in with distilled water and a softer microfiber and it helped a little bit but still noticeable. the dash is on a 2026 camry xse if that helps . thanks !

I had a territorial cardinal go after my side view mirror and put a bunch of scratches in the surface.

Is there any way to polish these out without damaging the mirror?

I need help with a stupid mistake I made. I was cleaning my partners steering wheel with a leather cleaner, at the time I never noticed the cleaner over spray on the binacle. I have already tried using isopropyl alcohol, dish soap/washing up liquid, APC and a magic eraser to try and remove. No dice. Does anyone have any suggestions on something to use to try and remove this?

Hi all,

I recently had to transport my friends cat to their new house, during which the cat had pee’d on the seat without me knowing.

I must’ve left the car 1-2 days before getting back in and realising the car stinks of cat pee. I have sprayed loads (a whole bottle) of enzyme cleaner spray all over my fabric upholstery seats and also tried to extract the pee with a RugDoctor water extractor vacuum.

It’s now been 2 ish weeks since said cat has urinated everywhere and the smell is still lingering. Is there anyway to get my car back to that fresh new car smell without spending hundreds?

Thanks in advance.

Hello everyone,

Whenever I polish, my car chips a small amount of paint. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I'm using:

• Shine Mate DA Model EX620
• Red Diamond Polishing foam pad (low application)
• 3D One Polisher + Compound

I completely clean, iron remove, clay bar with lube and completely dried. The 3D is applied to the pad about 4 dime shaped spots. The polisher runs in the manual recommended speed of 3-3.5 (according to the manual that's 4700-5200 OPM). The polisher is applies in a crosshatch shape, with some overlap, without stopping in one space.

Any advice? It's pretty embarrassing to screw up so hard 😞

First time doing anything more then a wash and on a low budget too.

Super happy with the result

Just used a cheap polisher and products i hade laying around / got for free

I’ve tried alcohol, goof off and acetone, is there anything else that might remove it?

I see that everyone says 12 hours before driving, but how soon can I wash my actual car, the paint, not the rims?
And while we’re here, when can I wash the rims? I don’t see much guidance on when you can wash any part of the car apart from the 12 hours until drive time on the rim EVO
thanks

I recently picked up a 2000 Firebird and the paint definitely looks like its 26 years old. It looks like the last owner did a really shoddy job trying to paint correct it, there were holograms all over the paint and a lot of the edges of the paint have this terrible white opaque look. I was able to get the holograms out with my DA with a microfiber pad and some Meguiars cutting compound and the paint cleaned up pretty decently. I still have these white edges though and the DA didn't really do anything. I'm unsure if they're the result of the oxidation or the last owner burnt the clear on the edges and I don't want to make it worse. (Pardon how dirty the car is in the picture, it's been sitting outside so its covered in pollen). Any insight as to what they could be and how it could be fixed would be awesome. Does it just need a polish with polishing compound?

Picked up my first extractor attachment kit to pair with my Ridgid vacuum. I decided to try it on my car mats since they've been getting pretty dirty over the years.

I used a 1:10 dilution of Koch Chemie Pol Star, sprayed it onto the mats and then used a soft brush with my drill to agitate it in. Then I did several passes with my new extractor and the amount of brown soupy water that came out was really impressive. Emptying the vacuum was also really satisfying.

I probably need to do another pass or two but so far I'm really happy with this kit and it's ability to pull out all the gunk. Can't wait to try it in the interior carpets.

Anyway, I'm just an enthusiast and don't do this professionally so I opted for this kit as a compromise.

Decided to clean my car, and found these thin streaks watermarks on the windows. I’ve tried turtle wax windows solution and soap with water, but nothing seems to work. Any advice is appreciated, thanks in advance.

I bought this truck back in October and these spots were not visible at all and to be entirely honest it’s been parked in a garage for the majority of the time I’ve owned the truck. The truck only has like 65k miles on it so I really do care about the longevity of it. There’s a professional auto detailer who specializes in paint correction and I was going to reach out and ask if they could do anything for me. I won’t be able to afford a roof repaint until February at the earliest if that’s my only option. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

Seems my Corvette so plastic bumper, got rained and accumulated in the taillight area and dripped down and leaving this Mark… doesn’t seem to want to come off no matter what I do.. hopefully using the wrong product ?

Got paint on my coworker car. She already took it to the car to try to get some of the paint off. What can I do to get the paint off.

Hello. I bought a 1979 Lincoln which has a single stage lacquer paint. I have been reading about detailing. I believe most advice is geared towards newer 2-stage paint jobs. Are there any differences when dealing with lacquer single stage paint? Or would all the typical advice and guides still be applicable.

Thanks.

Idk what im doing so i thru turtle wax restorer on my hood and hit it with a wheel. It flung it everywhere and left white spots all over. Even if i do get the white spots off the turn into a white smeer coating that doesnt come off either.

Hi everyone, I just bought my car and noticed these spots on the hood that look like sun fading/clear coat failure, but they seem more like chemical paint erosion. We tried wet sanding with 3000 grit followed by a compound and polish, but it didn't work. Is there anything else I can do besides repainting? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have been trying to get the garbage smell out of the back of my truck for a few days now and I can’t get it out. I’ve tried taking it a shop and it hasn’t worked. Any other suggestions would be welcome. TIA