Drew’s secret list of tried and true products

After about 14 years of being in the cleaning, polishing & restoring world, I have found some reliable, easy to use favorites. I hope that you can enjoy them as I have for so many years.

Quick Detail Spray

You use a Quick Detail Spray to mist onto your paintwork when it has accumulated a light amount of dust or light road film / dirt.

For example, you will use it in a scenario like these.

• You pull your freshly washed “perfect” car outside to look at it while you mow on a sunny day for a few hours. Because you forgot to turn off your mower deck when you drove across the driveway, your car has a light layer of dust when you pull it back in the garage.

• You drove your freshly washed car to work on a sunny day and drove it home after it sat outside all day. There is a gravel parking lot near where you park it, but not where you park it. It has a light layer of dust.

• You drove your clean car to cars and coffee in the morning. The sky started to turn gray, so you headed home. It started to sprinkle as you pulled onto your street.

Think of it this way. This product is not mysterious. There’s no fancy chemicals or science behind it. It is almost completely water. The product in it simplest form is lubricant & water. Don’t overthink it.

If you try and mist the product on it after doing one of these — you’re going to damage your finish. (Unless you have paint protection film) You need to wash the car, don’t be lazy.

• You drove in the rain for anything more than a 2 minute sprinkle.

• You drove down a shitty old gravel road above any speed other than “creep” for any period longer than 4-5 minutes.

• And countless other times when you do something that requires the lubrication of soap and water to emulsify and lift dirt off of your finish before you use any sort of mechanical abrasion (your wash mitt) to remove it from the car.

  Products we recommend

  We have been using both of these products for years. They are easy and reliable and don’t claim to do anything else other than clean the dust off of your car safely. They are DESIGNED to be diluted. You are buying concentrate. Too high of a dilution and its going to be a little streaky/smeary. Too little of a dilution and its going to feel like your pushing water around. Just right and its like spreading butter on a hot piece of toast & just melts into the finish.

Ultima Waterless Wash

- It’s not fancy. It’s inexpensive, it will last you a really long time, and it smells nice. MIST it, do not HOG it on 3-4 mists per panel from 24” away and follow up with a high quality MF towel folded into 4’s. Flip it and buff. Easy - done.

American Detail Garage Waterless Wash

• Another option. Does the same as above. Smells good,

Microfiber Towels

Buying Expensive MF Towels sucks. Esp if they suck. There are a lot of different terms relating to the thickness and “absorbency” of MF towels. We aren’t going to get into that. But …

BASICALLY —— most quality MF towels consist of two main components. Polyester and polyamide. They blend them together. I don’t know how they do it, but they are combined. Science maybe? Anyway - one is absorbency and one is “scrubbing” or cleaning ability.

The blend that we have found is best for wiping down and maintaining a perfect finish is 80/20.

We have used a ton of expensive MF towels over the past decade and think that the best deal can be found in this product.

Autofiber Korean Plush 470 GSM

They come in a lot of colors but we like gray. They aren’t ruined after one wash. They are durable. They are the hot knife spreading out your country crock on a freshly toasted English muffin. Filling in all the nooks and crannies.

Microfiber Drying Towels

If your finish has a wax or sealant on it, its going to bead water. Which means the water will sit on your finish. It’s hydrophobic. If it were Hydrophilic (meaning it LOVES water) it would “sheet” water.

But thats neither here nor there. If you are reading this you have been hand washing your car for years. So let me cut to the chase and give you a drying towel that will change your drying experience forever.

So you have washed your car. It’s sitting there wet as hell. DON’T drive it around the block really fast to “dry off the water”. I can’t tell you how many times guys go “ i drove it to the hand spray bay at M**** car wash, rinsed it off and then drove real fast on the highway home. Then I towel it off when I got home.“ Tuck your shirt back in put the Budweiser down and listen to me - don’t do that. Shantelle can wait another 10 minutes the creamed corn isn’t getting any colder. That why they invented microwaves anyway, for Inconsiderate husbands.

Went down a rabbit hole there for a minute. What was i saying?

Oh yeah. You are going to love this towel.

Griots Garage PFM MF Wash Towel

Tire Shine

The days of spraying on tire shine via a spray bottle are over. That is something you can really only do with a solvent based tire shine. Solvent based tire shines are messy, oily and attract dust and dirt - to create that nasty brown layer over time on your tire.

Water based tire shines are less glossy, but have a rich dark satin/semi gloss shine. When sprayed onto a foam applicator, then rubbed into the sidewall of the tire, they look great. The product may sling a little bit, but if you let it dry for an hour or apply it in the sun and let it sit for 15 minutes you should be ok.

We recommend CarPRO PERL. Perl can be diluted (has to be diluted) to your desired shine level. We have been using it at 1:1 dilution ratio for years and love the way it looks. It lasts a while but nothing crazy. Cleans off easily.

CARPRO PERL

Car Wash Soap

If i had to pick a favorite car wash soap of all time it would likely be Chemical Guys Citrus Wash and Gloss. It smells amazing and foams great. They have a bunch of different labeled soaps but ultimately it is marketing and they are very similar. The company is famous for marketing and relabeling products that are basically the same thing and do the same thing. But they do have nice soap.

Chemical Guy’s Citrus Wash & Gloss

…. More Added later!

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Why it is important to pay for a professional

A question I get a lot is - Can I wrap my emblems black too? Well, yes - but we suggest removing the emblems, replacing with OEM black, or buying a OEM emblem and having them professionally painted black. Below are a few photos of some Tesla Model Y emblems that were DIY wrapped in gloss vinyl, and they used the painted panel as their guide - leaving deep permanent cut marks in the painted panel.

We were doing a lot of touchup repair on the vehicle, and then wrapping it in STEK DynoMATTE, so we were able to mask some of the damage - as you can see in the photos.

On hood…

On Rear Trunk Lid….

Closeup….Hand Carved Forever!!

Finished Results with STEK DynoMATTE PPF installed & New OEM Tesla Emblems..

After on Rear Trunk Lid….

Cheers

Using STEK Dynocarbon ppf to create realistic carbon accents

I would say that over the years I have not seen a viable film option for recreating carbon fiber. STEK DynoCarbon PPF really set the standard here.

The film is constructed of multiple layers and is very thick - producing an excellent depth and gloss - strikingly close to real carbon fiber.

Below is a painted ZL1 scoop becoming carbon.

After, in sunlight, with new OEM badges re-installed.

Another example, and really putting the film to the test - was this Audi RS3. We wrapped not only the roof in STEK DynoCarbon, but the all glass moonroof too.

Thanks for reading, Cheers

STEK Dynoprism - Metallic Color Change PPF

STEK DynoPRISM is a transparent, color changing metallic film that when applied over your paint really has a distinct color. It is as glossy as paint and texture free. Below is a photo before the film was applied to this dolphin grey metallic Tesla Model S Plaid.

Next, this photo illustrates how the film is stretched over the panel and then squeegee’d into place.

The results, once the film has cured.

Before of entire vehicle.

After of entire vehicle.

After photo in direct sunlight..

In person, and in direct sunlight - the finish is nothing like you have seen before. It is a very distinct and glossy metallic finish.

Cheers

Creating custom patterns for beautiful installs

Sometimes, you run into issues when laying film that require some thought. In this particular instance, the 458 Italia spyder pattern had two large seams on either side of the body line, making the engine cover three separate pieces.

I think that it is important to note that most patterns are generally designed with thought and tension management. I am sure that the pattern that was designed would fit well, but in my opinion, wrapping the engine cover in a modified “bulk” installation was the better route.

Instead of two large seams, I was able to wrap the engine cover in one piece, and manage the tension to create a seamless result.

Below is the modified pattern with the antenna cutout.

Below is the pattern floating on the paint, applied, before any squeegeeing has taken place.

Below is a photo of the initial fit and squeegee. A much better result than three pieces. Next, edges will be wrapped and final trimming commences.

Final results before emblem placement.

Completed!

Protecting soft black plastic trim, and other wear and tear areas with ppf

Most people get ppf to prevent from rock chipping. That’s why it has become so popular. However, the topcoat has gotten so good, that well, it really has the ability to enhance your paintwork. Not only that, it makes a swirl free, perfect finish on whatever it is applied on.

The photo below shows the B-pillars on a 2020 Lincoln Navigator. PPF was applied on the left about 6 months ago, while there was none applied on the right.

You can see how quickly and poorly the pillar looks after such a short amount of time, while the right pillar still looks glossy and defect free.

Below, you can see even more glossy pillars that should be PPF’d to stay perfect and swirl free on this SQ7. For whatever reason, these areas are really soft. They swirl a lot faster than paint, and really Stand out. So covering with ppf is a cool solution to keep them looking perfect.

Luggage Area Strips are also common for unloading/loading.

We also put ppf behind door handles to prevent from nails scuffing if you so choose. This has been an industry standard for many years.

Wrapping Roof in Stek Dynoblack PPF vs Gloss Black Vinyl

First of all, Gloss Black vinyl has horrible texture and will not look like paint whatsoever.

STEK manufacturers extremely good quality film. The film has no texture and is extremely glossy. They make a colored PPF which is completely black.

The roof on this GT500 was previously body color. Now it is black and looks like paint. But really, in some ways - it is better than paint, because it will not scratch or swirl.

The only downside is that because PPF is such a thick product, there are limitations. As you can see, this roof antenna is not wrapped in gloss black ppf. The material is just too thick. It could be wrapped in gloss vinyl, or an accent color.

Cheers

Mastering the stretch

Our installers are very talented and experienced in managing tension. Here are some before/after photos.

Below, you can see how involved this Supra hood is. Getting the stretch right, before squeegeeing is essential.

Below, you can see this Cadillac CT5 hood is much flatter and requires much less tension management. The principal remains the same but the stretch is different.

The Tesla Model Y rear hatch shown below shows a seamless install, This is done in one piece of film, instead of a kit install which requires a seam across the body line. It is a good example of managing tension properly.

Cheers

The art of touchup before applying PPF

One thing we have really mastered is touching up any imperfections before applying PPF.

Using multiple coats of paint, through special touchup tools - allows the paint to be placed just where we need it.

We mark all of our touchup areas - ensuring every spot gets the necessary base, mid and clear coats.

After a lot of refining, through our polishing & sanding process - the results can be pretty amazing.

Repairing or Replacing PPF

Sometimes, a customer may not want to replace the entire piece of film that has been applied to a panel. They may just want it to be repaired, cleaned up and made look better.

In this particular situation, the customer bumped a garage and while we were able to remove all of the paint transfer, it did damage the film.

The film did its job, and was the sacrificial barrier that saved the paint finish, but the customer didn’t want to replace the entire panel.

We decided the most cost effective solution would be to “splice” in a piece of replacement film. While this isn’t something we would recommend doing on a fender or hood, it didn’t turn out too terrible on the lower bumper.

While this may not be the solution for some, it certainly did the job for this particular situation.

We recommend replacing entire panels, but if the panel was previously repainted, and is an aftermarket paint finish - removing the film may remove the paint with it. There is always a risk on aftermarket finishes. It does not happen on OEM finishes. This panel was an aftermarket finish, which was why we chose this route.

Cheers