Table of Contents
For the Exterior
Your car's exterior is the most prominent and obvious place to start detailing a car to make a sparkling first impression. The following set of tools and accessories is a great way to give your car a fine makeover.
Meguiar's Gold Class Car Wash
Cleaning the exterior doesn't start without first washing your car. However, there are just too many car wash soaps available in the market. We always pick the Meguiar's Gold Class Car Wash, as it results in a clean exterior, doesn't harm the paint, and doesn't wash off the wax, all within a reasonable price.
Meguiar's Gold Class Car Wash gets a lot done with a little bit of soap. Tree saplings, dirt, tough mud, bird droppings, or literally anything – this car wash soap gets them all. It's a simple solution for a clean car wash that is also recommended by professional detailers.
You don't just have to trust us. It has a 4.7-star rating from over 5,000 users, and the many positive reviews by consumers on Amazon speak for themselves.
You can buy Meguiar's Gold Class Car Wash from Amazon for $13.99.
Relentless Drive Car Wash Mitt
A car wash mitt is essential to get the best results out of the car wash soap. After trying out several car wash mitts, we find the Relentless Drive Car Wash Mitt to have all the right attributes for car detailing. But why don't you just use a towel? How different can car wash mitts be? It turns out, very!
This car wash mitt is super soft, extra thick, and has superior water-absorbing qualities. Its thick microfiber chenille and triple mesh leave behind no dirt, mud, or scratches. You can even use it dry to clean dust and dirt off windows due to the microfiber material.
You can get the Relentless Drive Car Wash Mitt from Amazon for $7.99.
Sun Joe SPX3001 Pressure Washer
You can use a rubber hose with a pressure nozzle to get the soap off your car. But if you are looking to make car detailing a habit, we recommend the Sun Joe SPX3001 Pressure Washer for the best results.
A simple rubber hose works fine, but a pressure washer gets every drop of soapy water from your car and removes even the most stubborn filth with ease. You might not even need to use the soap to get easy pollutants off your car. Plus, it saves a lot of time.
For that, the Sun Joe SPX3001 Pressure Washer is the perfect equipment. This pressure washer is powered by a 14.5-amp/1800-watt motor that generates 2,030 PSI of pressure along with 1.76-GPM water flow. It comes with a detergent tank, so you don't need to apply the car wash soap manually.
You can even use attachments like foam cannon and a rotary brush to make your job easy and fun. A deck and patio cleaning attachment widens this tool's application for the household.
You can get the Sun Joe SPX3001 Pressure Washer from Amazon starting from $168.62.
Meguiar's X2000 Drying Towel
You will need a towel to dry your car after the wash. Leaving the water to dry itself leaves stains behind and attracts dirt. Meguiar's X2000 Drying Towel is an excellent towel to dry your car. It has a microfiber material that absorbs water quickly and leaves shiny paint behind without scratches.
While there are many microfiber towels you can find in the market, we have had the best results from Meguiar's X2000 Drying Towel over the years.
Moreover, it is economical and long-lasting. It cleans and dries quickly after a machine washes, providing you with great value for a long time and at the most economical price.
It is widely popular among professional detailers and the general public. That's why it has a 4.7-star rating on Amazon from over a staggering 12,500 users.
You can buy the Meguiar's X2000 Drying Towel from Amazon for $11.99.
Meguiar's ScratchX 2.0
Have scratches on your car effectively ruined its appearance? If so, you can get rid of them using Meguiar's ScratchX 2.0. Getting rid of scratches is a vital part of car detailing. You will be surprised how removing small scratches from your car's exterior can bring out a freshened-up look.
Getting the right scratch remover is extremely important. Even the popular brands can get it wrong when it comes to scratch removers, as they end up damaging your paint instead of making it up. We've been using Meguiar's ScratchX 2.0 on a wide range of car paints and have received nothing less than magical results.
This scratch remover uses a micro-abrasive technology that swirls the paint finely to remove small scratches. Don't worry about the scratches reappearing after some time as it removes them permanently.
You can buy Meguiar's ScratchX 2.0 from Amazon for $10.40.
Meguiar's 3-In-1 Wax
Finally, finish off detailing your car's exterior with Meguiar's 3-in-1 wax. This wax uses a light-abrasive polish to bring back the shine of your car. But its 3-in-1 quality makes this product stand apart from other car wax products. Not everyone has the time to do three different steps to clean, shine and protect their car.
Meguiar's 3-in-1 wax removes light scuffs, scratches, and water spots from the paint. It restores the gloss and shines using rich polishing oils. Lastly, a fine mix of carnauba wax and synthetic polymer coats your car to give it a long-lasting shine and keep the dirt from staying on the surface.
The best part is it comes with a free wax applicator pad, which is far more effective than applying the wax by hand.
You can get the Meguiar's 3-in-1 Wax from Amazon, starting from $15.05.
For the Wheels
Your car drives through many environments that roughen up its appearance quite severely. Rolling through different surfaces, they catch mud, oil, and many other pollutants. You might not notice this, but the result will surprise you once you apply these car detailing products for the wheels.
Turtle Wax T-18 All Wheel & Tire Cleaner
No need to go for separate wheel and tire cleaners. Turtle Wax T-18 All Wheel & Tire Cleaner removes the most challenging residues from your wheels and tires and restores the shine. We cannot stress enough how many tire and wheel cleaners we used until we found this magical solution.
Turtle Wax T-18 All Wheel & Tire Cleaner contains a synthetic solution that cuts through the sticky compound made from all the filth the wheel gathers. Once that brown liquid is washed off, you will find the light reflecting off your wheels like never before.
It is also a safe product, unlike other wheel and tire cleaners that harden the tires, making them wear out quicker.
You can buy the Turtle Wax T-18 All Wheel & Tire Cleaner from Amazon for $34.99.
Meguiar's Endurance Tire Gel
All tire gel makes your tire shine. There's no doubt about that. However, if you want to keep your tires shining longer and do it without making a mess, try Meguiar's Endurance Tire Gel. This tire gel has advanced specialized macro polymers and copolymers that stay on your tire even after driving through muddy water or after a car wash.
Tires are heavily affected by UV rays, forcing the tires to wear out way quicker than they are meant to be. Luckily, Meguiar's Endurance Tire Gel also protects the tire from the harmful UV rays by breaking their effect with a thick coat over the tires.
We recommend this product to everyone looking for an excellent tire shiner within a moderate price range. Tire shiners in the form of foam are cheaper, but they are hard to apply, and a lot of it gets wasted as it comes out rapidly, making a mess.
With this tire gel, you can shine your tires with a simple application without making a mess. That's why this product is so popular on Amazon, having a 4.5-star rating from nearly 12,000 users!
You can buy Meguiar's Endurance Tire Gel from Amazon for $17.50.
For the Interior
Although the interior is not exposed to the harmful elements – not as much as the exterior, anyway – it gets more than its fair share of dirt, mud, debris, and spills, stealing the shine of fiber and plastic components and vinyl trims. These products will ensure your interior stays in the best shape.
DeWalt Car Detailing Vacuum
Interior detailing doesn't start without vacuuming. You need to clean the dirt, debris, and miscellaneous things such as wrappers, tissues, etc. The best way to do that is to use a powerful vacuum to suck everything up. Some people use a blower or dusting cloth.
But they simply blow up the dust, which will settle again all over your car's interior. You should buy a vacuum to avoid that, and the DeWalt Car Detailing Vacuum does the best job.
This vacuum has a powerful four-horsepower motor that not only sucks up the dirt and debris off the surface but pulls up stubborn and deep sitting dirt from the carpet and upholstery. This vacuum provides a one-stop solution for interior cleaning. Besides dry cleaning, it also offers wet cleaning and blowing.
So you can wash your carpet and upholstery and suck it up easily and blow it for quick drying. Multiple cleaning accessories and 360-degree rotation allow you to reach the deepest and smallest corners of your car.
You can buy DeWalt Car Detailing Vacuum from Amazon for $112.87.
Meguiar's Quik Interior Detailer Cleaner
UV rays from the sun harden the plastic and fiber in your car's interior, leading to cracks and a dried-up look. Moreover, the dirt does its job and makes the interior look even dirtier. Meguiar's Quik Interior Detailer Cleaner is a spray polish for all fittings in your car's interior, excluding the carpet and upholstery.
It cleans the toughest spots with ease and provides your dashboard, doors, steering, and chrome trims with the much-needed hydration to soften them and returns them to shine like brand new! Besides that, a well-lubricated coat protects your car's interior from UV rays for a long time.
Meguiar's Quik Interior Detailer Cleaner has been ours and other car detailers' long-standing favorite interior detailer because it livens up the surface quickly without leaving a greasy mess.
You can buy Meguiar's Quik Interior Detailer Cleaner from Amazon for $14.99.
Don't Forget the Headlights!
The headlights oxidize over time, leaving a blurry and dirty glass that restricts the projection of the lights. Have cleaner and brighter headlights with the headlight restoration kit mentioned below.
Sylvania Headlight Restoration Kit
Are your headlights protecting weaker and hazy lights? There's nothing wrong with the lights, but it's the headlight cover that needs to be restored.
Sylvania Headlight Restoration Kit is the one true solution for this task. This is a complete restoration kit that removes the haze and corrosion from the damaged plastic and brings out the original illumination of your headlights.
The kit application process involves only three steps and uses only 30 minutes of time. You might find other headlight restoration kits that take less time, but Sylvania produces a superior result.
That's why this is the most popular Headlight Restoration Kit among professional car detailers and has a resounding rating on Amazon from over 16,500 users.
You can buy Sylvania Headlight Restoration Kit from Amazon for $30.22.
About The Author
Charles Redding
I've spent many years selling cars, working with auto detailers, mechanics, dealership service teams, quoting and researching car insurance, modding my own cars, and much more.
Read More About Charles Redding