First off, sorry for the lengthy post but car care products are kind of a passion of mine. I love seeing a car that looks like it's dripping wet.
It all depends on the amount of effort you want to put into your detailing. We just recently started working with one of the leaders in car care products, Adam's detailing products. A few years ago I built myself a desert/show truck that had a paint job worth about 10K on it. I regularly took the truck to the desert and every now and then I would scrape a bush or whatever and get some desert pin striping. I began searching for detailing products that I can use myself without damaging my paint or anything like that and I literally tried EVERYTHING. I even tried a product called mother F#$)ers from a guy named Mother Fer that I met at SEMA LOL! After trying all of the different products I finally came across Adam's and I have never looked back.
The thing I like the most about Adam's car care products is that Adam was a professional detailer himself for ten year's before starting his company. This means he knows what a PITA it can be to detail a car and he keeps that in mind when making his products and they are SUPER easy to use!!! I currently own a 2007 Toyota Tundra, lifted with big wheels and tires and everything and in only four hours I was able to wash, clay bar, polish, and wax the entire truck by hand, without the use of a buffer or anything else. Their products go on very easily and remove easily with no left over residues or flakes.
If you have a buffer I would recommend taking the following steps:
Do a 50/50 mix of the Adam's swirl and haze remover mixed with the fine machine polish: For the polishing step you will want the orange polishing pad.
Adam's Swirl & Haze Remover Car Polish
Adam's Fine Machine Car Polish
Adam's Dual-Action Swirl Killer Pad
If you do not own a buffer currently but you are interested in buying one. I highly recommend getting yourself a Porter Cable 7424XP. It's an awesome machine that will not burn your paint/clear coat. Because it oscillates and does not spin, you don't need to worry about the friction building enough heat to damage the paint/clear coat. It's relatively inexpensive at only $119.00 with a simple google search. It will last for years so it's worth the investment.
If you don't want to purchase a machine and you would rather do it by hand, keep in mind that it will take a lot longer and your results will not be quite as nice but you can still achieve a great finish. For removing the swirls by hand I recommend the following steps:
Again, start with the swirl and haze remover but don't mix it with the fine machine polish and don't use much product. The swirl and haze remover needs to break down and be spread very thin in order for it to really work its magic. A common mistake is covering a panel with huge amounts of polish/wax when you really only need a very thin layer.
Adam's Swirl & Haze Remover Car Polish
To apply the swirl and haze remover by hand you have two different options. You can A: use a simple microfiber applicator pad which will work OK, but it won't be the best. However, it does offer you the flexibility of being able to wash out the polish and re-using the same applicator pad for wax or any other product.
For best results when polishing by hand, you will want to use the hand polishing pads. They are a little firmer than the applicator pads so it allows you to apply more pressure:
Adam's Polishes - Adam's Hex-Grip Polish Applicator ORANGE (Swirl & Haze Remover)
Finally, once you have completed these steps you will want to finish with your wax. Here you have three different options:
For the absolute, hands down, most amazing shine possible...You will want the Americana paste wax. This stuff isn't cheap but it offers an amazing shine and the really good thing, is that it does not take much paste to wax the car. Even though it is kinda pricey, one jar of paste wax will do about three or four times the amount of wax jobs as one 16 oz. bottle of the other waxes. So, in time, it pays for itself.
If you decide to do the Americana paste wax then you will want to apply it with the supplied applicator pad and wait about 20 minutes for it to cure. If you can, do this in the sun. The paste wax does activate with heat so it works a bit better in the sunlight. After 20 minutes just wipe it down with a microfiber towel and you're good to go.
Adam's Americana Premium Paste Wax
Option 2 is for the guy with a buffer again. If you own a buffer and want to wax your car with it then I recommend using the black applicator pad:
Adam's Dual-Action Wax Pad
With the Machine Super Wax. There really aren't any tricks to the machine super wax, it's just like the polishes in that it does not take much to go along way and you want to spread it on pretty thin. Basically just enough to keep the pad lubricated.
Adam's Machine SuperWax
And finally, option 3 is for the guy without a buffer. I went for three years without using a buffer and I never thought I needed one until about a month ago when I used one for the first time and immediately went out and placed my order for the Porter Cable LOL.
This is the Buttery wax. This stuff is awesome and leaves a finish that is as smooth as silk. It is incredibly easy to apply and even easier to remove. Sometimes when you wax your car I'm sure you notice that with some companies products it makes the car kind of staticy and makes the wax clump up and kind of stick to the car. Well, you won't get this with Buttery wax!
Adam's Buttery Car Wax
At this point your paint should already be pretty smooth because you did the swirl and haze remover steps so you can simply apply the wax with a microfiber applicator pad. BUT, if you want to spend a little extra money for the best shine possible again, then you will want the wax applicator pad.
Adam's NEW Hex-Grip Foam Applicator - RED (Wax & Sealant)
Now, I have probably scared off a lot of people who are thinking "holy crap, that's like $200.00 in car care products!!!" And you're right, the first time I started using Adam's I thought it was expensive and I thought, "it can't be THAT much better than the other stuff." Until I used it...Once I used it, I became hooked. Keep in mind that these waxes and polishes are designed to be used in small amounts. You won't be using half the bottle to wax or polish your car. You'll only be using about 1/5 of the bottle if you do it right. So basically for $20.00 per bottle, you really only spend about $4.00 per use. Not bad when you look at it like that. Plus, a lot of the items I have listed are one time only purchases. The Porter Cable buffer, applicator pads, microfiber towels...All that stuff only needs to be purchased once and you have it forever. All you need after that are the liquids.
If you're interested and would like more information please shoot me an email at
kmillen@stillen.com. I will be happy to anser any questions you might have.
Just for an example. Here is my 2007 Toyota Tundra from a few weeks ago. This was three weeks after I hand washed, clay bared, polished, and waxed the truck. During that time it rained lightly one day. Two days before this photo was taken I did a quick thirty minute wash down before heading out to the desert for the weekend. This photo was taken after the truck had driven 3.5 hours to the desert, drove around all day through the sand dunes and right next to the firepit...It still looks pretty amazing to me.
