Detailed knowledge for detailersMiscellaneous detailing related content
There is a lot of confusion between detailing and valeting. Some people think there is a certain difference, other people think they are the same. The difference between these 2 has always been a big part of discussion.
Tire dressing is made to restore faded black rubber. After a car has been detailed, you want the car to look spotless in every way. You cleaned the arches, the wheels, washed the car and even gave it a new coat of wax. In that case, you also want the tires to look deep, dark black. A tire dressing is an (mostly) oily product that helps to bring back the deep dark color or rubber.
There are a few different types of protective products in the world of detailing. The main categories are: wax, sealant and coating. The comparison between these product has always been hazy, and customer have great difficulty finding out what product is the best for their situation. We decided to write a guide that might help you to find the best suitable product for what you are after.
In the world of protective products, their are several different types. Many detailers will be familiar with wax, some also with sealants but not many will have heard of a coating. These coatings are special products that offer extreme durability and protection, but with a cost; much less easy to apply. The technology behind these products is also very different to sealants or wax. There are coatings for paintwork, glass, rubber and plastic. These product are also referred to as SiO2 coatings or as Ceramic coatings.
In the world of detailing, their are several special cleaning products. Among them is the tar remover. This is a special cleaning product to remove tar and often also glue residue. Tar can come from roads and sometimes at industrial places, it is used in asphalt roads and can be used at construction sites for roofing and some plumbing jobs. It doesn’t cause damage, but shows up as ugly black spots which are notoriously difficult to remove.
There are many different steps you can take while detailing. A maintenance wash has different steps than a deep-clean wash or a 3 stage polish. In this guide I will give a very general idea on the order of those steps. More in-depth articles regarding every step will follow. This articles serves to give people a quick overview.
An All In One (often referred to as a AIO) product is 1 product that serves 2 (or more) goals, or works in 2 (or more) ways. This can either be a mixture of properties that result in more than 1 effect that is commonly only achieved by 2 products, or this can be mixture of products. Not all the AIO product are actually called like that. Basically, it’s the opposite of a “stand-alone product”, which is 1 product that is aimed at 1 task/property.
A fallout remover is a special product aimed at decontamination that has the chemical ability to help you to remove iron(III)oxide particles from a surface without having to remove them mechanically. These particles are loosened up via a chemical process, that allows for them to be rinsed off safely. This product is sometimes also called “Iron-X”. This is not the name of the liquid, but a productname of Carpro Trading Ltd, which is only one of many fallout removers on the market.
Within the world of detailing, there are quite a lot of abbreviations. These are often used on the internet to shorten a piece of text. A few of these are actually so common that people even use them in speech. One of these is QD. This abbreviations is used on the internet and many people actually call it a QD when they are talking about the product. Not all of them are very popular. Some are so popular that even manufacturers started using them. DA is one of these abbreviations. This stands for Dual Action, which got shortened to DA. And several manufacturers actually use the term DA these days. Because not everybody knows what these abbreviations mean, we created the tooltip. When you hover with the mouse over one of these abbreviations you get to see a tooltip with the explanation.
A polish is an abrasive or chemical product that is mostly used to remove surface defects by removing a very thin layer of the product. If the removed layer is the same thickness as the depth of the surface defect, you will end up with a smooth surface that will not have a surface defect anymore. Many polishes are liquid, but not all. There are also polish-paste products.