The world of detailing can be a confusing place. With so many products, gadgets, power toys, waxes and polishes available, it’s not always easy to know where to start…or how to go about assembling everything you would need to do a complete detail of your truck. Recognizing that this confusion represents a barrier for their customers, Meguiar’s offers a Complete Car Care kit that includes a little bit of everything necessary to get the ball rolling on your detailing project.
Meguiars complete car car kit, about $45 and almost everything you need.
Most of the items listed here can be found in the complete kit. However, upgrades to some of the items included in the kit are available and described here as well. Depending on just how badly you want your truck to shine, you might want to assemble your own “complete car care kit” by mixing and matching.
The complete kit starts off with Meguiar’s Gold Class Car Wash Shampoo and Conditioner. When washing your truck, it’s important to forget that old chestnut that dish soap works the best. Dish soap actually contains powerful and harsh detergents that will strip wax off of your paint and over the long run contribute to paint fade. The Gold Class wash is specifically formulated to be tough on dirt but gentle to your truck’s paint and trim.
The package also includes Endurance High Gloss tire gel, which can be applied to your tires using a sponge or a soft brush. This brings out the blackness in the rubber and also helps to keep the sun from fading the tire’s dyes. Meguiar’s also bundles in a microfiber wash mitt.
Once the car has been washed and dried, it’s a good idea to apply some polish. Not included in the kit is Meguiar’s Deep Crystal Polish, which can take a few years off of your paint and restore a deeper color for a nice wet look. If there are some scratches in your paint that don’t seem to come out after a polish, then you can try using Meguiar’s ScratchX. Generally speaking, any scratch that is shallow enough to allow your fingernail to pass over without catching can be taken care of with a product like ScratchX.
After a polish, it’s essential to seal the paint with a good wax, such as the Gold Class Liquid Wax found in the kit, which is a hybrid polymer-carnauba wax that goes on easily. For a pure, longer-lasting polymer finish, Meguiar’s NXT Generation Tech Wax 2.0 liquid wax is a better option.
Detailing isn’t all about the paint – sometimes, the trim on your truck needs special attention too. Plastx is a gel designed to de-oxidize plastic trim as well as take away stains or small scratches that might have accumulated over time. A bottle of Quik Interior Detailer and standard Quik Detailer are also provided in the kit for when you just don’t have time to wash the entire vehicle but need to take care of something like bird droppings or a spilled can of soda. The product is designed to be a sort of a ‘instant car wash’, but be careful when using Quik Detailer – if you wipe too hard on a dirty exterior surface you run the risk of scratching your finish.
A good detail is one of the best ways to keep your vehicle looking great and put the indignities of winter salt and nasty weather behind you. These Meguiar’s products should have your truck looking fresh and ready for the clean roads of spring.
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If you use a cleaner wax you can skip the polish. NEVER let your paint get to the point of being dull.