New Car Detailing: Professional or DIY?

[smckenna92]

Is it worth paying someone to detail and protect new car or can I realistically do it myself?

Watching some youtube videos(Ammo NYC) on detailing makes it look easy, but still a bit scared of damaging paint when polishing and choosing the correct sealant for the job.

[InitialDave]

Do it yourself and treat it as a learning experience. Ammo's videos are very good, though obviously he wants to sell his stuff!

Would you be working by hand or using a machine?

[xjay1337]

Depends on your experience.

If you want it done properly it is worth paying a professional. Especially if you want a coating.
I did it for a few years and as such have the skills now that I do friends and families cars now if the need arises, once you learn you never really forget.

If you haven't ever done it before then it makes little sense to do it on a new vehicle incase you risk burning through.

Where are you based? If you are local I don't mind popping over and doing it/showing you for a some pepsi and food.

[smckenna92]

xjay1337 said:

Depends on your experience.

If you want it done properly it is worth paying a professional. Especially if you want a coating.
I did it for a few years and as such have the skills now that I do friends and families cars now if the need arises, once you learn you never really forget.

If you haven't ever done it before then it makes little sense to do it on a new vehicle incase you risk burning through.

Where are you based? If you are local I don't mind popping over and doing it/showing you for a some pepsi and food.

Know how to wash cars properly i.e. rinse, foam, rinse, two bucket, claying etc just never done the whole polish, wax or coating thing

Based in Glasgow and going rate seems to be £250-400, which seems quite a lot when I believe I could do 70-80% of the process, this is lease car so more just looking for light protection and aesthetics.

Could I realistically get the dealership who supplied the car to pay some of the bill if it turns up with love/ swirl marks tomorrow?

[InitialDave]

smckenna92 said:

Know how to wash cars properly i.e. rinse, foam, rinse, two bucket, claying etc just never done the whole polish, wax or coating thing

Based in Glasgow and going rate seems to be £250-400, which seems quite a lot when I believe I could do 70-80% of the process, this is lease car so more just looking for light protection and aesthetics.

Could I realistically get the dealership who supplied the car to pay some of the bill if it turns up with love/ swirl marks tomorrow?

I have to say, if using "normal" products and working by hand or with a DA machine, you'd have to do something remarkably aggressive to damage the paint.

[Black_S3]

It depends how OCD you want to go but with a brand new car I'd go with a full pro detail (you could even skip this), then spend the time yourself on keeping it perfect with proper wash/dry techniques and using decent towels/pads etc as one use disposable items.

The initial outlay on correction kit is more than you will pay a pro... Get the pro to start you with a perfect base you should be able to look after so there's no need to have the correction tools out.

If it's something you're interested in buy a propper DA (Rupes 21E or Das copy) and practice on someone's old car (not that you'll damage it) before you try to improve the paint on a brand new car.

[smudgerebt]

Depends on the car and on the coating.

You could just ask for a paint coating and do the wheels, glass and interior yourself if you want.

The sealants i use all take at least 24hrs to cure.

Now some use infra red heat lamps to cure so the time comes down.

So £400 seems reasonable with that in mind. (Cost of unit, time taken etc)

[smckenna92]

InitialDave said:

I have to say, if using "normal" products and working by hand or with a DA machine, you'd have to do something remarkably aggressive to damage the paint.

Thanks. This gives me more confidence I think I may just give it a go. I have access to cars that are going to be scraped so I should be able to have a practice on a car i dont care about.

[rainmakerraw]

I was in the exact same boat as you, and decided to learn for myself. I saved £250 on a detailer's services, and now own about £1,000 of power washer, foam lance, DA/hex pads/polishes, sealants, decontamination products, clays, foams, shampoos, brushes, mits and assorted bits. My wife had to buy a small shed to hold all my microfibre towels and wash buckets. I also spend a few hours a week keeping the family daily spotless, and admiring the beading. But hey, at least I saved £250...

Being serious, it's worth doing if you can be bothered and don't want a ceramic coating. Don't expect to save money though, especially if you have to buy all the products, a DA polisher and a pressure washer etc. On the other hand, though, you own them forever and will make good use of them. Alternatively spend the £250 for it done 'right' with no effort, then just concentrate on easy maintenance.

My advice, if you do it yourself (it's fun) don't fall for the 'latest awesome must have Product X'. Find what works, keep it simple and save yourself as much time as possible. Is this anathema to detailing? Well maybe for purists, but there's no point wasting time for the sake of it. I spent two days prepping my car (I took delivery still in the transport wrap and went from there), and was obsessively spending hours a day spot cleaning and sprucing up with quick detailer. That got old, fast. Especially when I'm sick and have kids to run around after in between!

Now it's simple, effective, and enjoyable again. Grab a cheap K2 pressure washer (£45), an iron/fallout remover (BH Korrosol), tar remover (Gyeon Tar), clay (BH), sealant (Menzerna PowerLock) and Gyeon WetCoat to spray on during the big monthly wash to keep the sealant topped up (does glass, wheels and bodywork in seconds). For the interior get something like Gtechniq C6 Matte Dash protector, as it does leather, plastics, vinyl and everything else. That way you can seal your dash, doors, and even seats (leather or vinyl) out of one product/bottle to save a few quid. A spritz of fabric guard on the seats (if cloth or Alcantara) and you're done. Feel free to add G1 to the windscreen if you like, but WetCoat (or C2v3) on the side windows lasts months and is extremely good at keeping them clear.

Take your time, enjoy it, but don't work yourself sick. If you choose to do a polish before you seal (recommended) then it's time to watch some good YouTube tutorials (JunkMan, ChemicalGuys, whatever) and have a practice. You can't really do any harm with a DA, especially with a new-fangled diminishing one-step polish from Scholl or Sonax.

When you're done you can just do a weekly or so maintenance wash; a quick pressure wash, TBW with pH neutral shampoo, top up the sealant with a LSP like WetCoat, and give the interior a wipe down with Sonax Cockpit Cleaner followed by a quick hoover, then spray the tyres with CarPlan Tyre Slyk (£2 in Asda/Tesco, extremely good product) and clean the glass inside and out with Halfords Glass Cleaner (cheap, mildly abrasive and quick to flash off without streaks), and you're done. It sounds a lot written like that, but it's barely five cheap, effective products and an hour of your week max. Then maybe once a month spend a couple of hours doing it 'properly'. It's quite easy really.

Don't forget the initial expenses (the equipment, sealants like PowerLock, C6 etc) and the time spent applying them is a one time thing. It might take a day or so to get it all spot on, but after that it's time to reap the rewards with a car that looks decent and is quick and easy to wash. If you constantly have to spend hours and reams of expensive bottles of product fixing it up again, then you're doing it wrong imho (unless you're doing it to enjoy the process for its own sake, in which case knock yourself out). As a side note, if you do grab some WetCoat don't make the usual mistake of using tons (like half a bottle) on the whole car. You literally need 2 or maybe 3 sprays for a whole panel - even the bonnet or roof of a Skoda Superb as I have - and then power wash off. It goes a LONG way, and it's not worth wasting ££. People always 'intuitively' spray enough to literally wet the whole car with it. Nope, you let the pressure washer do that when you rinse - think of it as a concentrate that you dilute over the whole car as you're rinsing it off.

Have fun.

[xjay1337]

I can do a single stage polish (gets most of the marks out on most cars) and ceramic coating in 1 day on most cars without problem.
There's no reason why you wouldn't.


For the last 5 months I have been washing and drying my car..takes me 45 minutes tops :-)


I'm way down in Berkshire dude so can't really travel to Glasgow hah.

[Craikeybaby]

I was in the same position as the OP a few years back - had a new lease car delivered. However it was before nano coatings really took off.

I spent a day detailing it myself, washed, clayed, polished by hand, then a coat of carnuba wax and some waterproofer on the soft top. The car looked great the whole time I had it and I didn't have to pay any extra when I handed it back. I'm not sure I would spend £££ protecting a lease car that I'll be handing back in a few years.

[smckenna92]

rainmakerraw said:

I was in the exact same boat as you, and decided to learn for myself. I saved £250 on a detailer's services, and now own about £1,000 of power washer, foam lance, DA/hex pads/polishes, sealants, decontamination products, clays, foams, shampoos, brushes, mits and assorted bits. My wife had to buy a small shed to hold all my microfibre towels and wash buckets. I also spend a few hours a week keeping the family daily spotless, and admiring the beading. But hey, at least I saved £250...

Being serious, it's worth doing if you can be bothered and don't want a ceramic coating. Don't expect to save money though, especially if you have to buy all the products, a DA polisher and a pressure washer etc. On the other hand, though, you own them forever and will make good use of them. Alternatively spend the £250 for it done 'right' with no effort, then just concentrate on easy maintenance.

My advice, if you do it yourself (it's fun) don't fall for the 'latest awesome must have Product X'. Find what works, keep it simple and save yourself as much time as possible. Is this anathema to detailing? Well maybe for purists, but there's no point wasting time for the sake of it. I spent two days prepping my car (I took delivery still in the transport wrap and went from there), and was obsessively spending hours a day spot cleaning and sprucing up with quick detailer. That got old, fast. Especially when I'm sick and have kids to run around after in between!

Now it's simple, effective, and enjoyable again. Grab a cheap K2 pressure washer (£45), an iron/fallout remover (BH Korrosol), tar remover (Gyeon Tar), clay (BH), sealant (Menzerna PowerLock) and Gyeon WetCoat to spray on during the big monthly wash to keep the sealant topped up (does glass, wheels and bodywork in seconds). For the interior get something like Gtechniq C6 Matte Dash protector, as it does leather, plastics, vinyl and everything else. That way you can seal your dash, doors, and even seats (leather or vinyl) out of one product/bottle to save a few quid. A spritz of fabric guard on the seats (if cloth or Alcantara) and you're done. Feel free to add G1 to the windscreen if you like, but WetCoat (or C2v3) on the side windows lasts months and is extremely good at keeping them clear.

Take your time, enjoy it, but don't work yourself sick. If you choose to do a polish before you seal (recommended) then it's time to watch some good YouTube tutorials (JunkMan, ChemicalGuys, whatever) and have a practice. You can't really do any harm with a DA, especially with a new-fangled diminishing one-step polish from Scholl or Sonax.

When you're done you can just do a weekly or so maintenance wash; a quick pressure wash, TBW with pH neutral shampoo, top up the sealant with a LSP like WetCoat, and give the interior a wipe down with Sonax Cockpit Cleaner followed by a quick hoover, then spray the tyres with CarPlan Tyre Slyk (£2 in Asda/Tesco, extremely good product) and clean the glass inside and out with Halfords Glass Cleaner (cheap, mildly abrasive and quick to flash off without streaks), and you're done. It sounds a lot written like that, but it's barely five cheap, effective products and an hour of your week max. Then maybe once a month spend a couple of hours doing it 'properly'. It's quite easy really.

Don't forget the initial expenses (the equipment, sealants like PowerLock, C6 etc) and the time spent applying them is a one time thing. It might take a day or so to get it all spot on, but after that it's time to reap the rewards with a car that looks decent and is quick and easy to wash. If you constantly have to spend hours and reams of expensive bottles of product fixing it up again, then you're doing it wrong imho (unless you're doing it to enjoy the process for its own sake, in which case knock yourself out). As a side note, if you do grab some WetCoat don't make the usual mistake of using tons (like half a bottle) on the whole car. You literally need 2 or maybe 3 sprays for a whole panel - even the bonnet or roof of a Skoda Superb as I have - and then power wash off. It goes a LONG way, and it's not worth wasting ££. People always 'intuitively' spray enough to literally wet the whole car with it. Nope, you let the pressure washer do that when you rinse - think of it as a concentrate that you dilute over the whole car as you're rinsing it off.

Have fun.

Thanks man thats some really sound advice.

Think this is the right idea. Shouldn't cost me that much as my dad likes to wash his car so has pressure washer and number of boxes with lotions, postions, mitts, microfibre cloths etc

So only costs would be DA polisher associated materials and sealants.

like has been said I think these skills will be invaluable through life for my own cars as well as friends and family.

Going to enquire about some tuition as defined details here in Glasgow, just so I have a good grounding in the basics.