Unless you are very organized and prepare a checklist every time you shop for car wash supplies, there is a great chance that you might miss one or more supplies that will hamper your DIY car detailing projects. Car wash kits have been assembled by retailers such as Amazon and Autogeek not only as a solution to this problem but also to help you economize on car wash supplies. But with the wide range of products out there, how do you select the best car wash kit? Here are some guidelines and recommendations.
A basic car wash kit should include a car wash soap/shampoo, washing mitts, microfiber towels, polish, and wax. A complete car wash kit, however, should include supplies to treat and care for all the parts of a vehicle, e.g. clay bars, wheel cleaning brushes, tire dressing, glass cleaners, upholstery cleaner, plastic cleaner, etc.
Best Car Wash Kit: 3 recommendations
1. Meguiar’s Complete Car Wash Kit
This car wash kit is sold approximately for $55 on Amazon and features premium products from Meguiar’s. It has almost everything necessary for detailing and for $55, it is really a bargain. The first five products listed below come in 16 oz bottles while PlastX and ScratchX are 10 oz each. Hence this kit can be used for several washes. Here are the contents:
- Gold Class Car Wash Shampoo and Conditioner
- Gold Class Liquid Wax
- Quick Detailer
- Quick Interior Detailer
- Gold Class Endurance High Gloss Tire Gel
- PlastX (to remove clouding from headlights)
- ScratchX 2.0 (to repair paint scratches)
- 2 clay bars
- Supreme Shine Microfiber Towel
- Foam applicator pad (to apply wax, polish, etc.)
2. Mothers Hardcore Enthusiast Car Care Kit
This kit is sold by Amazon for $90 and contains a wide range of products. The basic car wash kit is the California Gold Clay Bar system which includes everything necessary for contaminant-free paint. They also have wheel cleaner which is not included in the Meguiar’s kit. Although this kit has leather conditioner, it is not useful to those who have different types of upholstery so a suitable product has to be purchased separately. Contents:
- Car wash solution
- California Gold Clay Bar System (2 bars, Showtime Instant Detailer, and microfiber towel)
- Car wax
- Spray wax (for a quick wax)
- Top coat (to be applied after waxing)
- Tire Care
- Wheel Mist
- Leather Care
- Back-To-Black Trim Care (to restore the appearance of rubber, plastic surfaces)
3. Eco Touch Exterior Car Care Kit
We recommend this kit as one of the best because it contains effective products that are also eco-friendly which cannot be said about many products in the market. All products featured here are non-toxic and biodegradable. It is sold for $58 on Amazon. It may seem that this is more expensive than other kits with larger number of products. But at $58 this kit is a bargain as green car wash products are more expensive than their chemical counterparts. The car wash solution included in the kit is “waterless” which minimizes water wastage during at-home car washing. Contents:
- Waterless Car Wash
- Wheel Cleaner
- Tire Shine
- Quick Wax
- Window Cleaner
- Glass Cloth (for streak free window cleaning)
- 2 microfiber towels
Assembling your own car wash kit
Ideally, to have the best car wash kit, you should assemble one yourself with all products and equipment. As seen above, although ready-made car wash kits are a bargain, they tend to miss some important products such as polish. Also, your kit won’t be complete unless it has equipment such as an electric buffer and a vacuum cleaner. You can customize the kit to match your needs. For instance, you may use glass coating instead of wax for paint protection. Assembling one’s own kit is, of course, more expensive, but it will ensure that all products are available and in one place.
Are you too busy to engage in DIY car detailing? Schedule an appointment with DetailXPerts for professional auto detailing featuring top quality products and equipment.
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