Ceramic coating I’ve learned is a cheat code

I used a clay sponge and then air dry, followed by cleaning all glass with isopropyl alcohol, invisible glass, and then a damp norwex cloth.

I applied griots ceramic topper to all of the body, wheels and exterior of all glass.

Rubber/plastic treatment on the tires.

I was happy to catch a reflection on white

Just sharing due to a sense of self satisfaction

Have tried nothing yet because I don't want to make things worse or permanent. The stuff in the foreground is the underside of the dog bed/material that caused it.

Car is a 2023 Volvo XC60 if that matters.

Should I just use a leather cleaner? Magic Eraser? Spit and a rag?

Thanks for any help you guys can give me! 🙏

I’ve just paid for my first detailing-I’ve been subbed here since I bought my new car and have tried to follow the advice here to baby this car of mine. After a really unfortunate bit of roof work on my garage, I discovered my car completely covered in rubble.

Now I admit that I noticed the occasional light scratch/swirl on the paint that I’m certain I caused while learning how to properly care for my car. But the rubble caused lots of pockmarks and scratches, and I wanted it fixed properly. I took it to a reputable shop in my city and paid over $600 for their level one correction. On top of that I paid for a ceramic coating. But it’s come back with MORE scratches than anything I ever did before I got better microfibers. Am I being unrealistic or should these kinds of scratches have been eliminated with a $600 exterior only detail? These are just the scratches I saw while filling up my car, I’m sure in the sunlight it’s much worse.

The previous car owner spilled power steering fluid in the trunk. It has deteriorated the sound deadening material around the spare tire. I've scrubbed. I've scrapped. I considered drilling drain holes and using a power washer. Current plan is to scrape the deadening material, put hot soapy water in the wheel well and scrub, then soak up with inexpensive towels. Then finish with degreaser.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated because this mess is a mess.

Have been using both of these recently and I LOVE them. I pair them with my rupes hlr15 and lake country microfiber wool pads, and orange ccs foam pads. Genuinely phenominal products with GREAT run time.

My problem with the compound/polish is that the bottles have horrible seals right where the sprayer goes on the bottle. They leak everywhere when not standing upright, or when being shaken, essentially wasting product and money. Anyone have alternative nozzles that they've used with the optimum compound/polish? Or anyone use different spray compound/polish?

Any tips on how to remove these spots? They look like water spots. It's on silver plastic

Well the title says it. I used a plastic bristle brush to wash my 2021 Mazda. Tiny microscopic scratches all over the body. Already used a scratch repair product with a microfiber cloth, it almost looks worse as it just made the scratches glossy and more noticeable. How fked am I and is there anything I can do aside from getting it repainted/detailed? I am quite literally flat broke and don't even have enough for a basic detail currently, and am highly allergic to most cleaning/finishing chemicals. I already needed my hood repainted and back bumper as well due to other issues. At this point I am considering a bridge (jk).

Good morning, all!

I was on my way to a doctors appointment this morning and was attacked by a wild piece of road debris that rolled off someone else’s truck and collided with the front of mine.

Its a new 2026 F-150 Tremor so I immediately became frustrated but couldn’t be late for said Doc appointment.

Damage doesn’t look too bad and looks mostly localized to the headlight housing, but looking for any and all advice to see about buffing it out with minimal scratching to the lens.

Not looking for repair advice per the rules of the subreddit, just advice to buff it out if possible!

Thanks in advance!

Hi there, I'm looking for some tips on some rough spots on my steering wheel. Not sure how to approach this. Is there a buffing technique that could help resort the smoothness of the leather? Or instinct shot?

Any help will be much appreciated!! One of the rims on my 2025 ram 1500 daily driven in Florida 43k miles mostly highway seem much duller and less glossy than the others feels a tad bit gritty to the touch (basically feels dry not like sand paper) no chemicals were spilt onto the rim at any point in time.
Is the wheel duller from grime and minerals?
Could a good cleaner fix this there’s no peeling or bubbling my main concern is did the clear coat fail?
I go to big dans car wash and if the issue was with the chemicals the car wash uses wouldn’t all rims seem duller?
Another thing is tire shine/wax does seem to make the wheels look the same but looking for a more permanent fix.

Someone must have placed something on top of my car and then slid it off. This spot has lots of fine scratches. Is repainting the only option?

Hi all, newb here. I did some clay work on the roof and guessing this is marring from not doing it properly? Some general research suggests I could use a light polish followed by a wax/ceramic. The car is 2.5 years old and I got a professional ceramic coating when new. I typically wash with ONR.

Does this sound like the proper course of action? This would all be done by hand and I’ve read about proper cleaning with IPA after the polish. Thanks in advance!

I have a month-old 2026 Toyota RAV4, and this bird dropping sat on the paint for at most 5 days. I first washed the car with Chemical Guys Honeydew Snow Foam, then tried warm water to remove the spot, but it wouldn't come off. I didn't want to rub too hard and risk scratching the paint.

Does it look like dried bird-dropping residue that's still stuck to the paint, or has it etched into the clear coat?

What would you recommend trying next to remove it safely?

Pictures attached. Thanks!

2013 Jetta Sportwagon. The hood has this hazy patch in the middle, and there are starting to be some more hazy patches on the roof. Trying to figure out if this can be detailed and cleaned up or if I need to start looking at getting the car re cleared. Thanks for the help.

Hey all I work in a super dusty environment ( next to a landfill) I was wondering would it be worth it to apply ceramic coat to my vehicle, I’m hand washing, clay, wax every few weeks. It gets exhausting. Would applying ceramic coating to my car help at all? Would I be able to just rinse the dust away? Would it keep its shine? Thank you for any advice!!

Someone tried to remove a scratch from the piano black surrounding the shift lever and they used an abrasive sponge. Now the finish is fully scratched and completely dull. Can it be saved, or do I have to consider a cover or wrap to make it look better?

I just got a new Volvo S90 and I want to get some new products for taking care of it. It has a light colored interior that is mostly leather-wrapped and the vinyl lower section of the door is going to take some abuse, as you can see from the pic.

Based on the research I did on this subreddit I would have liked to get Colourlock but it seems to be discontinued or out of stock while Koch Chemie transitions it. I understand that my new leather has a synthetic coating so I want to keep that coat protected more than I will be "treating" the leather.

In lieu of Colourlock what's the best pairing of products for cleaning and protecting the leather? Should I use the same products on the vinyl? Any advice for getting those shoe scuffs off of the lower door panel?

The area I live in has long winters so I'm looking to get our new ride all protected before that hits.

My 2026 CRV B and C pillar plastic trims have some tiger stripping defect. While the vehicle is still under warranty, the dealer will not be able to fix the issue because all CRVs have that defect, including 2027 models in the dealer lot. I even ordered one piece from my local dealer and it looks the same. I’m wondering if a ceramic coating could help make it look better. I’m looking for a permanent or semi-permanent solution.

Edit: I had some ADS Phobic on hands and applied it to half of my test piece. Although the trim looks very nice, I can still see the tiger strip defects under the right light angle. I'm currently looking at 3M Black Matte PPF.

This is is the day after applying tyre kicker tire shine. Washed my wheels and tires thoroughly with wheel and tire cleaner, used tec582 on the whole car during drying and dressed the tires last. They looked great last night but today they don’t look shiny just clean. What do I do to make the shine last longer?

I just completed compounding, polishing and waxing my CR-V with Meguiar's Ultimate products.  I got a little of each on the black plastic trim, so wondering if I need to remove all of that as much as possible before applying the Meg's Ultimate Black, or will the bit of compound/polish/wax vanish once the Ultimate Black is applied?

If it must be removed, what is the best solution to use?  Isopropyl Alcohol?

Thanks

Hey crew, long time redditer, first time caller (here)

My wife and I have a 2020 sprinter with adventure buildout. It’s mostly kept outside and taken on amazing adventures

In the past year it’s developed this black streaking wherever there is a vinyl or rubber surface (the one exception to this is where the sliding door rail ends there also seems to be a small streak.)

What can be done to remove this?

I’ve tried everything that I can think of in a Local detailer did his best as well. Which improved things slightly.

Pressure wash?

Detergent of some kind?

Abandon and buy a new van??!!

YouTube? Books? Any websites anyone can recommend?

Ive always been a car/bike person and find cleaning to be therapeutic, I am very meticulous to details. I honestly am not planning to make big coin or anything off this, just want to do it as a side hustle and to work on other bikes and cars. I am a complete noob but. There are courses locally but they are very expensive. I feel like the better route would be to research online as much as possible and slowly purchase items and give it a crack on my own stuff and family and friends. If anyone can recommend a resource that helped them I’d really appreciate it! Thank you :)

Also for products how do you know when to splurge or when to start off cheaper. I hate buying things twice

Some honey bees showed up after I sprayed my car

I was tired of getting air bubbles in the water line and found it took forever to clear them out using the compressor (while off). This valve lets me quickly flush the air bubbles out of line. It also lets me fill buckets and use regular hose pressure without undoing my pressure washer setup. All I have to do is turn off the washer and then I can get water from the hose.