so today on Stauffer Garage we're gonna be talking about 16 detailing tips that you need to know
before you start your next detail and with that being said make sure you hit that subscribe button
down below and let's get started now the first tip that i have for you guys is to use the power of
steam steam cleaning tools are very very powerful because they one they're not chemical based and
two they can get a lot of things out off of many many surfaces from the outside paint
to your carpet to getting gum play-doh anything you know food pretty much everything that you can
imagine steam is a great tool to use especially for stubborn stuff that you struggle to remove now
there's a lot of different types of steam cleaners out there i use a specific one called from wagner
and i have a link in the description box below for you guys but one of the things that i struggle
with sometimes is detailing brushes do help with getting into those nooks and crannies but if you
have things that have solidified or if you have things that are farther down that your brush can't
technically reach steam is a great tool to spray into all those different seams to help blow out
that dirt to help you know remove any liquid that is solidified or dirt that gets stuck in there
pretty much any use you can use it i've used it on carpet you can use it on plastic
you can actually even use it on paint there's actually specific steam cleaners that people
can use on just outside surfaces alone instead of actually washing a car in typical fashion you can
use steam instead for a waterless type solution but in these video clips you see here these are
from some of the nastiest details i've done and some of the different things that i've removed
just by using steam and brushes and tools and another great benefit to steam is obviously the
fact that the temperature is so high that any mold or bacteria viruses and things like that
get killed instantly and it also helps with deodorizing as well
now if you've watched my videos in the past you know that i remove a lot of the
interior and most the cars that i detail and a lot of the times you find things like this
underneath the center consoles underneath the seats underneath door panels and trim pieces
there's a lot of different things that you can remove inside a vehicle and with a lot
of modern cars they go together in very similar fashions there's usually you know eight millimeter
10 millimeter or phillips head screws or just clips like these side panels come in
and out of this king ranch that i detailed they literally just pop off remove you can clean them
and then just you know hit them back in and they go right back together um so for this
tip it's just don't be scared to you know disassemble things take things apart because
when car manufacturers build these cars they have to put them together fairly easily obviously
because the you know assembly line has to put them together in a very fast process
so when you think about that go online look up a youtube tutorial on how to remove your seats
or how to remove your center console look up different you know forums they'll have
diagrams on how to do it or people post you know step-by-step instructions they all go together
fairly easily take your time if you've never done it or like i said look it up online so that way
you have a better idea how to do it without having to guess and figure it out on your own
now for detailing tip number three it's to clean around your door frames your door sills your
underneath your hood your trunk lid and gas cap cover these are all commonly missed areas that
just get missed especially if you're washing your car yourself make sure you check those
spots you can get leaves build up inside you know the trunk lid area underneath there where there's
drain tubes so water doesn't drain properly so you can have leaks and and stuff inside
your car underneath your doors you can get rust underneath there because you just get dirt and
grime and oil and it breaks down the paint over time and then underneath your hood just wiping
it with a microfiber towel or all-purpose cleaner it's just a good maintenance practice especially
if you work on your own car it's always nice to have a clean workspace that you're working on
now for detailing tip number four it's to use a drill brush and it's a it's a tool that i highly
recommend everyone has in their detail and arsenal whether you don't clean your car on a
regular basis or if you want to use it inside your house drill brushes are a fast way to expedite
the process of having to hand scrub things and then you know wearing yourself out if you're
trying to clean your own car but for me personally drill brushes are a staple in my detailing tool
collection whether it comes to carpets seats door panels that are plastic it just allows you to have
the ability to speed up the process without wearing yourself down especially when you're
doing a longer detail that is extremely dirty you can use a drill brush to help you out instead of
having to hand scrub things which you're never going to be able to replicate how much of a
how much rotation a drill brush provides when you use it in your drill
detailing tip number five is to restore your plastic trim over time what happens with plastic
black trim or gray trim any color trim for that matter that goes around the headlights door
handles front and rear bumpers mirrors as that plastic gets faded and it loses its shine and
loses the original color so getting a trim restore kit whether it's a single product that
you just wipe on that lasts a little while or a more extensive ceramic type product
definitely consider restoring your trim because it will make your car or truck look 10 times better
and make it look like new again detailing tip number six is to clean and condition your leather
seats and now this tip might seem fairly generic and simple and fairly straightforward as a process
that you should do in your detail but i think when it comes to the conditioning aspect i think
it gets missed on a regular basis um because of how durable leather seats are compared to fabric
seats and stain resistance but the main reason for cleaning your leather seats is to get into
all those nooks and crannies making sure you get into all those different seams to remove any dirt
and then the conditioning side is to help keep those seats pliable to restore their shine or
original color and to also resist cracking and add a barrier essentially from future staining
it from any spills or anything that happens with the car so for my process i always just use a
detailing brush to get into all those different spots or a drill brush for heavily dirty ones
to make sure they're fully clean wipe them clean with a microfiber towel and then apply
my leather conditioner let it dry and then buff it essentially clean to make sure there's no
additional residue on the surface this process is what i've used every single time and as you
can see this is one of my favorite types of seats from the king ranch and the ford f-350 or f-250
it just looks so much better and it makes your car look like new
detailing tip number seven is to clean your seatbelts this is something that commonly
gets missed as well and it's something that you can clean fairly quickly with all-purpose
cleaner spray it onto your seat belts use a brush drill brush for that matter would
be an excellent tool to use then just wipe in it clean with a microfiber towel
if you want to take it a step further or if you have heavily dirty spots steam cleaners
work great as well most cars don't have overly dirty seat belts so just light staining and light
cleaning with the you know all-purpose cleaner will be sufficient in this case for this car
that i'm working on here i had was able to remove them which made it a lot easier but
because of how dirty they were there was really no other way to get them as clean as i wanted
if i didn't remove them so for me personally cleaning your seat belts is a tedious task but it
does make it take it to the extra step especially if you do get stained on it from spilled coffee
detailing tip number eight is to consider what is hiding underneath and this is regards to your
front and rear seats those spots are hard to clean because one you can never fully reach underneath
there especially between your center console and the seat there's that's like the no man zone
things just fall there and get lost forever so whenever i pull out seats inside the vehicles that
i work on it one helps me with mobility inside the vehicle but two it allows me to make sure
i get every single nook and cranny every single piece of dirt removed as you guys can see in these
shots here how dirty it was underneath these seats and you would have never got those areas cleaned
so for me personally i pull the seats in my details and for you i wouldn't think that this is
something you do on a regular basis but if you buy a car that is used but new to you it is something
consider doing right off the bat to make sure it's perfectly clean all the way inside and out
detailing tip number nine is to clean the most used component of your vehicle and this goes
to your key or key fob you know whether you have to break it down or take it apart like
i'm showing in this video clip or just wiping it down on a regular basis from a you know
sanitation standpoint cleaning your key and key fob is just something that
you should commonly do on a monthly basis or whenever you wash your car
just grab a microfiber towel all-purpose cleaner spray it on the towel and then just wipe it clean
if you have to go to more extremes you know taken apart at key fob is fairly straightforward
take your time or if you know you feel not you know something that you can't do look up an online
tutorial but keeping this component clean is just something that i recommend is a common practice
detailing tip number 10 is to clean inside your spare tire well underneath your trunk lid
this area gets commonly missed as well because one how often do you pull out your spare tire
but two it can collect a ton of dirt or debris or for this case for this bentley gt that i detailed
when i opened up the trunk lid itself the drain tubes were clogged from not properly being cleaned
and maintained and it dumped about half a gallon of water underneath there and that was just from
me working on the car whereas when i pulled up the trunk cover it was honestly full of about
two three gallons of water as it was so once i pulled up all these trim pieces pulled them all
up and looked underneath i was able to wipe that area clean so it doesn't continue to rust further
but two this is also a good opportunity to check your spare tire make sure it
has adequate air make sure all your tools are present if you need to remove a tire
this is something that will help in the long run whenever something does happen
on the side of the road and you need to put your spare tire on it would stink if
your spare tire is completely flat and now you have two flat tires instead of just one
detailing tip number 11 is to clean in between the seams and this goes for your seats of your car
where all those cushions meet those different seam areas typically collect all of the dirt
and when you spread them apart that's when you can vacuum that out and remove it before you condition
or extract your seats so all that dirt doesn't get then pushed around to the rest of the seat surface
itself so vacuuming in between those seams and in between the top and rear portions of
the seats you know take your crevice tool and just kind of push it in between there to make
sure any crumbs don't then fall back onto the carpet after you've got that cleaned as well
detailing tip number 12 is to polish your exhaust tips and chrome components around your vehicle
the stuff that i use is from mothers it's a it's a polishing compound and you just put it
on your microfiber towel spread it onto the component and then just essentially
buff it and there's there's different processes and steps on how to do this
but it is um something that kind of is a above and beyond what you typically would do with the detail
and it just helps make your car look like new again and it's a fairly easy process
to do it just takes a little bit of time and elbow grease to get those components cleaned
detailing tip number 13 is to be conscious of overspray and this goes for the exterior or
the inside of your vehicle if you're spraying a chemical onto your wheels or if you're spraying
an all-purpose cleaner on your dashboard you know be conscious of fans going on wind
anything like that because you don't want to spray on a component and have that blast
onto everything else if you've just cleaned it or a chemical that you don't want on a certain
surface so be conscious of the wind be conscious of where you're spraying and how you're spraying
you know use a piece of cardboard in this instance for the wheels that
i'm using to help protect the paint from getting any of that over spray
detailing tip number 14 is to use a pet hair brush or some sort of dedicated tool for this matter
for me personally i have my own set of detailing products from foxclean.com
where i carry the foxtail pet detailing brush i found this to be the most useful tool when it
comes to removing pet hair because of how wide it is and the ergonomics of the tool itself but using
a pet hair tool in general or even if you're using it on a non-pet hair vehicle you'll be
surprised with how many loose fibers in the carpet or the seat backings you know you'll remove from
the vehicle you know you can see from these shots how much hair removed from inside these vehicles
and just how bad the carpets were before compared to after before using a tool and
all of these carpets that you see in these shots were after vacuuming was done and then i used
the pet hair brushes to remove the actual loose fibers and pet hair that was inside the vehicle
detailing tip number 15 is to know your worth and this is for the person that's trying to detail as
a side hustle whether you have a full-time job or full-time business detailing is to figure
out what your time is worth figure out what your chemicals and products are worth what that you
use in a specific detail and then also figure out what your skills are worth you know look at people
in your zip code that are detailing figure out their pricing and then you know be competitive
but also know that if you know you do a better job than everyone out there and if your skills
are worth it in your opinion charge that and then adjust it from there go after customers see
what their you know responses to your prices and then build your way from there to figuring out
where is that sweet spot for you personally based on the types of cars you need to kill
detailing tip number 16 is to follow a routine or process and stick with it and this goes for if you
just clean your own personal vehicle on a monthly or weekly basis or if you're doing this for a
living is there's a process that you're going to want to follow because what that allows you to do
is when you go into a detail you know what you're going to do you know what process you're going to
follow you know what steps are involved so that way you're being as time efficient as possible
and even if you're not doing this as a living when you have time to wash your car you don't want to
be fumbling around trying to figure out oh yeah i need to do this or that or oh i forgot to do this
if you know that you start with you know washing your wheels and then you go to washing the paint
and then you go to the inside with vacuuming or if you're knowing hey it's friday and i take my car
to the car wash and i wash it by hand and i vacuum out the car you know having some sort of process
or routine that you do on your details or to keep your car clean will help you in the long run with
making sure that you maintain your car as best as possible or detailing a car for a client so with
that being said this is the final tip that i have for you guys today if you enjoyed today's video
hit that thumbs up button down below make sure you subscribe if you're new and go ahead and leave
a comment down below on a detailing tip that you guys want to share i want to make this a community
and i always love seeing your guys's comments and it helps everybody else out that watches
these videos to see your tips and suggestions as well and i also want to let you guys know
that tomorrow i'm going to have a bonus video for you guys on how to remove odors from cars
so make sure you're looking out for that video tomorrow morning and if you haven't subscribed
hit the subscribe button down below and i'll see you guys next week