When you're ready to stop being a filthy peasant with your windex and paper towels, you can do what I do for my car which is keep some Stoner invisible glass cleaner and some shop towels in the trunk. Less lint, more cleaner, better throat hit.

Products used:

• 303 Aerospace protectant for interior
  
  
• Stoner Invisible Glass for windows, mirrors, etc
  
  
• Chemical Guys waffle weave towel for use with glass cleaning
  
  
• Basic microfibers
  
  
• Mothers Reflections Tire Care for tires
  
  
• Mothers Microfiber drying towel for drying whole car
  
  
• Black and Decker cordless vacuum
  
  
• Eagle One 665854 All Wheel and Tire Cleaner
  
  
• Meguiar's G14422 Ultimate Quik Detailer
  
  
• There's also opticoat on the whole car
  
  The new products were the Eagle One wheel cleaner and the Meguiar's Quik Detailer. I'm very happy with them!

My parents' neighbor has been watching as I borrow Mom and Dad's hose and he recently asked if I could take on his car and I was happy to oblige! Overall, the exterior was in okay shape - couple bugs, a few spots of tree sap and bird poo, as well as just a good amount of dirt and mud tucked in some spaces. I gave the car a two bucket wash, clay, Iron X treatment, Iron X, clay and topped it off with a sealant. Thanks for pointing out that I listed my procedure out of order, /u/Deadfable! Here's the deets:

Products Used:

• Meguiar's Gold Class Shampoo
  
• Optimum No Rinse (Quick Detailer dilution for claying)
  
• CarPro's Iron X for decontamination
  
• Nanoskin AutoScrub Fine Grade Sponge
  
• Meguiar's D101 (4:1 on tires, wheel wells - 10:1 on the interior)
  
• Aerospace 303 Protectant for interior dressing
  
• Meguiar's Ultimate Liquid Wax
  
• Harbor Freight DA Polisher w/ Buff & Shine 5.5" red pad
  
• Wheel Woolies
  
• Solo Horton Brushes
  
• Other assorted brushes
  
• Microfiber towels from The Rag Company
  

• 0000 Steel Wool from Home Depot (used with QD for the exhaust tips)
  

• Optimum Opti-Bond Tire Gel applied via foam block
  
• Stoner's Invisible Glass
  
  Overall a fun job! Got rewarded with a hearty lunch of sausage and peppers on Italian bread. Happy detailer!!

I'm fairly new, myself. I've driven clunkers most of my life. Spent about five years downtown where I didn't have a car. Now I'm back in suburbia, so I've got a brand new GTI, and it's the first one I've ever cared to take good care of. Here's what I started with:

• Meguiar's D101 APC - the D103 APC+ has apparently been discontinued.
  
• Two Chemical Guys detailing bucket kits, which each have a bucket, lid, grit guard, 16oz citrus wash, and some washing pad thing I didn't really want.
  
• Two-pack of Rag Company Dry Me a River towels
  
• Five-pack of Rag Company detailing towels
  
• Bottle of Stoner Invisible Glass
  
• Two-pack of Griot's Garage microfiber wash mitts
  
• A Nanoskin wash mitt
  
• 32oz Optimum No Rinse Wash and Wax - for use as a quick detailer and easy maintenance washing.
  
• Lexol leather care kit
  
• Thee-pack of spray bottles
  
• A microfiber window towel
  
• A cheap electric blower
  
• 16oz Chemical Guys Jetseal
  
• Microfiber applicators
  
  I should have picked up some of Chemical Guys' citrus wash and clear, too, to help deal with a winter's worth of grime left by terrible touchless car washes. I've also got a tire brush, hand vacuum, and some assorted cheap microfiber towels around already.
  
  Your kit looks a lot more cost-effective, though. Throw in some cheap buckets, grit guards, wash mitts, and drying towel, and an extra stack of cheap microfibers and you're still under $100 for practically everything you would need for a proper two-bucket wash and wax.

My current kit...

For the interior, I'm a fan of Sonus Cockpit Detailer

For glass, I used something called Invisible Glass, although I'm thinking of picking up some of the CG's Glass Cleaner in the future!

PoorBoy's Leather Stuff has some great reviews too, I'd try it out but I don't have leather anymore haha..

First off, the subreddit that inspired me to start cleaning cars: /r/AutoDetailing . They've got some great material there, along with resources, instructions, and more.

First, clean the windshield. If it's not been done in a while, you'll have to do it very well. Prepping the windshield is the most critical part to a good coat of RainX. My preferred method is to begin after washing the car. Get some good glass cleaner, like Stoners, spray it over the windshield, then use a razor blade, holding it at a 45 degree angle to the glass, to scrape down the windshield in and up and down and side to side pattern. This won't scratch the glass, but help remove embedded particles. After you've finished scraping the glass, wipe down the excess window cleaner with a clean microfiber towel. Then use a clay bar to go over the glass one more time. This picks up any additional leftover contaminants left in the glass. Because it's clay, it will want to stick to the glass, so you can use the Stoners as lubrication. Once done, wipe the excess off with a window with some type of glass rag. Now you can apply RainX. Using a microfiber towel folded a few times, put a small amount of RainX in a corner and begin working into the glass (I've seen AmmoNYC use foam from packaging before). Use circular motions and check it from a few angles to make sure you've covered everything. The product should form a "haze" a few seconds after application. A little bit goes a long way with RainX. Some guys recommend turning on your windshield defrosters and running them as hot as possible for a few minutes before applying the RainX, I've not noticed a huge difference. After 5-10 minutes, use a glass towel to begin buffing it off. You can sprinkle a little bit of water on the window during this process to help take it off, but I just stick to the towel. You can apply a 2nd coat immediately after for improved results, but anything beyond that doesn't help. Double check your working by looking at the glass from all angles (inside/outside) to make sure you didn't miss a spot. Enjoy driving in the rain with no need for windshield wipers above 35mph!

Hope this helps. Again, prepping the glass is the most critical part. You're creating a clean surface to put on the hydrophobic materials of RainX. If there's dirt still in the glass, that's something the water can hold on to and not bead off properly.

I suggest either claying or Scrub Daddy-ing the windshield during a wash. THEN applying a window treatment AFTER cleaning it with Invisible Glass. The more smooth you can get the surface, the better the products will work. At least that seems to be the solution for my cars.

if by "invisible glass" you mean this, then that's the best product to use.

as for towels, just go to any Advance Auto Parts/AutoZone/etc to get some microfiber towels.

Can't help too much on restoration.

For basic cleaning stuff, you can pick up somethings like this:

Stoner's Glass Cleaner

Meguiar's Gold Class Car Wash Shampoo

Meguiar's D101 All Purpose Cleaner

You can dilute D101 for different ratios and use it full strength as a degreaser and lower strengths for interior work.

Meguiar's NXT Generation Tech Wax 2.0 is a popular wax, but I like Collinte 845 more.

Depending on how bad your wheels are, Sonax or IronX if your wheels are bad, D101 if they are Ok.


Check out this thread as well: The Bare Minimum Supplies List

Can you order off of amazon?

I would recommend using Griot's Garage Glass Polish.

I used this along with a glass polishing pad on my DA and quickly cleaned an entire window that was absolutely covered with overspray from a single stage paint job. Since you don't have a DA I would recommend a handheld pad such as a CG Polishing Pad.

However before trying the polish you might try using glass clay. It works pretty well - it should remove the gunk/spots but may not remove tough water spots. If you do use the clay I use Meguiar's or Stoner glass cleaner as lubrication.

Hope some of this will help!

Also on a side note - the pad you used probably didn't do much, if any, damage to the windshield, automotive glass is pretty tough stuff.

Two bucket wash with Meguiars Gold Class Soap, then a quick wax with Meguiar's NXT Generation Tech Wax. Used Invisible Glass for all glass.

It doesn't last longer than 2 weeks for me. You have to apply and then really buff off the excess with a microfiber. I often find that it ruins the wiper blades if you apply too much.

I've instead started using Stoners. The beading lasts about a week but it doesn't ruin my blades.