A friend of mine had his Dakota recently detailed and he swore by it. Is it better than a high end car wash?

 

I detail my cars/trucks every time I wash them. Detailing to me means washing, waxing (with either paste wax or a spray on detail wax), cleaning the wheels, tires and wheel wells, vacuuming the interior, using armor-all or some other product on all the interior plastic surfaces, putting tire shine on, I also spray the wheel wells with armor-all, clean the windows, and if I have a lot of time, clean, detail the engine bay. I get satisfaction doing all that myself. You can pay someone to do it if you want to, but that's the idea of "detailing". A high end car wash will do that to some extent, but it's not their car, so they won't take the time and/or care that I do myself. Plus they usually water down all their detail stuff so as soon as you drive down the road, all that tire shine gets slung all over the side of your truck.

 

To me a detailed car is a car in "showroom condition". There is no way I can come even close to that.

 

You should see mine when I'm done with them. Its not that hard to do. Only thing missing is the new car smell. And they make air fresheners for that.

 

I am with Keaton on this... I love detailing my own vehicles. Actually tonight I am going to spend a couple hours and do the truck. Its never a quick job, but the final product is worth it

 

Some places buff out your vehicle which can be very time consuming.

Buffing can remove most surface scratches. Your everyday carwash wax just won't cut it.

Unless of course you bring out your electric buffer wheel. But again....very time consuming if you want to do it right, plus you want to be in absolute shade.

 

Detailing is a common term thrown around, when in reality there are many different levels of detailing. It means something different to everyone. Varies anywhere from a simple wash or wash and wax all the way to multiple levels of paint correction to remove microscratches, swirls, hazing, and marring on the paint. Nothing better looking to a perfectly detailed vehicle.

 

yes i agree with keaton too, i also like to work on cleaning up the engine as well. Maybe ill add some color later on. Doing it yourself gets you to know the truck better thats how i feel at least. I love that moment after waxing it and seeing that nice new truck shine.

 

The guy that bought my truck said it looked like it just came off the assembly line. Thats a great compliment. And it did, I kept that truck immaculate.

 

speaking of detailing, i really like this stuff from lucas

goes on easy,looks good & smells like bubble gum,lol
available at advance auto parts