This was a disgusting discovery

This road paint removal just came into the shop. I've never dealt with road paint this severe, and on plastic no less. Does anyone have any ideas besides alcohol and shit loads of elbow grease to get it off?

I played this car for the first time at the weekend. There was alot of contamination. Photos 3 and 4 was the clay after I had finished claying.

On a side note, do people notice a difference in iron contamination and then claying vs only claying?

One is plastic the other is rubber. I’d like to make both of them look nice, and ONR is not cleaning it. What chemicals and processes can I use to clean it and keep it looking nice?

One of my family friends asked me to detail their car and I went a bit overboard. I was honestly just practicing how to get a good polish and Im pretty proud of how it came out. What do y’all think?

Last weekend I drove 3.5 hours in the pouring rain, and about another 30 minutes on a muddy dirt road to go camping. Thankfully the weather improved while we were there, but that left my car in the worst shape I think I've seen it in, at least in a very long time.

I finally got the chance to dive into washing it today. Active Foam and Reset took care of most of it, although there was a bit of road film on the side panels that needed a bit of Carpro TriX to clear up which was surprising. All in all it took about an hour which really wasn't too bad considering. I didn't bother applying trim dressing or tire shine because I'm heading back in another week or two and I'll sort the vehicle out properly when I get back to finish getting ready for winter.

Just got a Ava Go plus. I want to ask sone of the owners here if the garden hose connection on their machine is supposed to be loose. I contacted CS and they said it should have a little play

It’s on my door panel. Unsure how I got them, but I can feel it with my fingernail.

I noticed a small dent and a few chips/scratches in my hood. I was sent a color matching paint and clear coat when I bought the car but it doesn’t look like it matches. The chip goes all the way to the metal so I used a toothpick to put a tiny bit of paint in there to at least stop rust from forming. I shook the paint for over a minute before applying. Should I keep adding paint in layers to build it up and then use the clear coat to seal it? Do you think that will help the color match? I checked the touch up paint to the vin and it’s the correct paint. I have no clue what got kicked up onto the car that did this but it also left a chip in my windshield 🫠

2026 Cadillac CT5-V in argent silver

TLDR: Can I still salvage this?

So I tried to DYI and fix a small scratch on my BRZ.

Watched a few vids 1st and felt confident enough to try.

1st tried using a complete compound, didn't fully work. Then tried filling it in with a clear coat touch up, didn't fully work. Then I went to sanding the clear coat I added and the scratch, started from 1500 grit up to 5000. Spent like 2 minutes with each pad, hoping and trusting the process. "Finished" with complete compound and polish using an orbital polisher, but obviously that didn't fully work.

I probably already fucked up the clear coat in that area, any chance I can still match the paint?

I have a 2023 Lexus GX460 in Nebula Gray Pearl - brought it to a shop to do a full frontal PPF and ceramic coating. The tech noticed a bunch of dots the size of a pencil tip and has tried everything to try to get it off - he doesn’t think it’s tar, sap, cement. His best guess is it’s some form of overspray.

He said he’d tried washing, iron decontamination, paint thinner, clay bar etc and can’t get it off. He said he’s never seen anything like it. Without getting it off I’m worried about proceeding at all with the PPF process.

This is a desperate attempt to see if anyone has ever encountered something like this and found a solution short of a full paint correction. I’m holding out hope that there’s something we haven’t tried that could clear this up.

Hoping this is in the right sub / audience and appreciate any advice.

Hi all,

I am hoping to get some advice/reassurance of the proper steps for some work I need to do.

Image 1 - rock chips on the front, I ordered a different touch-up pen since the shade of this one was off. I know it won't end up perfect, but is this doing touch-up then sanding/compounding until it is smooth?

Images 2/3 - small gashes, similar approach?

Images 4/5 - These are not deep scratches, so should I use more of a polish or wax instead? I'm not looking to take the clear coat off if I don't have to.

I don't have a DA polisher yet but that is next on the list to purchase. Also trying my best to understand when to use compound/polish/glaze.

Thank you in advance!

Client called me today and told me that the local automatic car wash did this to her car. Any idea on how to remove them, or is this permanent staining? She said the car wash tried polishing it and it didn’t work.

I used a Wolfbox MegaFlow 200 to loosen dust around the vent slats and learned quickly that doing it after wiping the dashboard was the wrong order. Debris settled over surfaces I had just cleaned, and some dust seemed to disappear deeper into the vent. For interior detailers, do you check the cabin filter first, clean the vents before wiping the dash, and keep a vacuum nozzle nearby, or is powered air better limited to the vent face?

Lady came in with overspray so I had to clay bar the whole truck. Now doing a correction to take out the marring. It’s not meant to take everything back to new condition.

Soft top window on the Miata is getting difficult to see out of. Recommended products?

I'm very proud of the fact that I wash my own cars. I'm not a pro, It takes a few hours but my cars are clean, the paint shines, no swirls or scratches from washing but whenever I mention it to anyone they look at me like I'm crazy. As in, "why is this guy wasting his time to wash his own car while you can pay $22 a month for unlimited washes" .

It's very hard to explain that i want to take care and have a long lasting shiny car because it's the second most expensive investment after a house. Am I the one who's crazy?

Edit: Glad to know that I'm not the only nut job.

Hi guys. I’m currently restoring a 1988 VW Golf MK2 and there is a considerable amount of mold in the steering wheel. It seems to be the only area with mold in the car (at least visible) and I need to clean it only to take it to a professional detailer to get a complete interior detail. My question is: what is the safest way for me to clean the steering wheel?

What do I use to clean it and what PPE and protection in general is enough?

The steering wheel is getting replaced after, I just don’t want to replace it with the mold still there due to the mold spores flying around.

Does anyone still do Jescar power lock + 845 collinite ?
Is 2 coats worth it? Man waxing is not easy .. so taxing buffing everything out . Applying I used a buffer which was a lifesaver .if you do which one do you do a double coat .. 845 or jescar ?
Next time im ganna go ceramic coating forsure . I just wanted to try it out .
Maybe ceramic coating and if this works real nice I’ll put it over the ceramic
Also do you guys put anything over it when doing regular washes ? Drying aids?

Are there any effective bug scrubbing sponges or brushes that won’t damage the paint? I’m looking for something that scrubs a little bit harder than a microfiber towel.

Edit: I should have mentioned that this is for removing small brown spots which I believe are tree tannins

The Rag Company Halloween mystery kits are live… I’ve already got a list of products I need to order, but now I’m trying to decide whether to add one (or more) of the mystery kits to the cart.

If you’ve purchased TRC mystery kits in the past, I’d love to hear about your experience!
Are there exclusive or special items that you can only get through the mystery kits?

Is it worth ordering all four kits, or is there enough overlap that I’d be better off choosing one or two?

I’m tempted to grab them all just to make sure I don’t miss out on something cool, but I’d love to hear from people who have actually purchased them before.

Thanks in advance for any insight!

Hi all!

Been lurking for a bit for the past few months as I’m a hobbyist and been seeing a lot of opinions on different types of pads and also cutting compounds along with coatings. I wanted to get some of the communities opinions as this would be my first time using a DA polisher and also applying a ceramic coat myself. I previously helped with washing and decontamination, but didn’t have much clue as to what was being told to me at the time 🥲

I’m also moreso looking for a polish before putting ceramic on and not a full 2 stage paint correction since I wouldn’t wanna screw it up since the model Y is my partner’s. Was gonna test on my already coated model 3 that’s pretty beat up at this point, but considering the options I went with I feel that it’ll be forgiving enough if I get straight into it.

Anyways, the order list (rip my wallet)! Going to list out what I have for the exterior wash and also the things I got to prep for this. Not planning to use everything listed below but want your guys input!

Exterior Wash List:
- KCX Multistar (MS)
- KCX Gentle Snow Foam (GSF)
- KCX Active Foam (AF)
- KCX Reactivation Shampoo (RS)
- KCX So.03 Sealant
- 3D Bug Remover
- ONR
- CARPRO Iron X Iron Remover
- SPTA Clay Mitt (Medium Grade)

Polishing Items:
- Hercules Forced DA Polisher from HF (8 amp, 6 inch) I replaced with the FLEX 4 3/8ths” backing plate from Detail king to use 5.5 inch pads
- KCX Micro Cut (M3.02)
- CARPRO CerriGlass Glass Polish 500mL
- Lake Country black pads (x6)
- Lake Country orange pads (x2)
- CARPRO Rayon Glass Polishing Pad 5 Inch - 5 Pack (her glass has water spots all over so planned to polish out)

Coatings:
- Gyeon Q2 Mohs Evo 50mL
- Gyeon Q2 CanCoat Evo 200mL (trim/glass saw mixed reviews on this)

Based off of this, should I grab anything else? Also I was planning to use the CanCoat for the windows since I heard from others it performs decently well, or as a potential topper? I ordered mainly black pads since I heard that Tesla clear tends to be soft based off what everyone on the sub says, but then I see some people using heavy cut and others advising against it and saying as long as it’s 70-80% there I should leave it.

Also what should my wash process look like for her car? I was going to go about it like this:

Pre Wash: MS -> Rinse
Iron Decon: Iron X -> Rinse
Contact Wash: GSF with Clay Mitt -> Rinse

Then polish, and then wipe down with 70% IPA diluted to 15%, and apply ceramic. I plan to start with her windshield and also other glass on the car before I got into the body work portions, and was planning to also split this up into a 2 day ordeal to take my time. So the first day would be glass polishing only, and second would be the full decon wash + ceramic coating. Been trying to brainstorm best approach and thought about yall.

But I appreciate all the feedback ahead of time! I’ll be doing a bit more research in the meantime…

I live in a condo building and park my car in the garage. A few weeks back we had heavy rain and there was leakage from the roof/piping over my space which left this oily mark. I’ve taken it to standard car washes twice and it isn’t coming out. Any suggestions for how to deal with this?

I have a 16 month old silver Honda CR-V with only 6000 km (4000 mi) on it.  It lives indoors when not driven, and is regularly washed.  I'm now hitting it with Mother's Cleaner Wax (by hand), and I started with the hood.  I cleaned it with Waterless Wash, then clay-barred it, then waxed; all good.
But given the newness and condition of the car, I'm wondering if I really need to clay bar the side panels, as they are vertical, and less likely to hold contaminates.  What do you think?

I used the step 3 ceramic coat wipe on this car and got some on the paint, it is cured now. Can this be removed easily or without sanding? I have the headlight magic lens prep solution and I can also try polish. What would you guys do?