Reddit mentions of The Grit Guard Insert (Red) - Fits 12 inch Diameter Bucket

If you are planning to detail for the long term, I'd suggest investing in some bulk / concentrated products rather than the consumer-grade & Ultimate Meguiar's line.

I've tried to break down the supplies I'd suggest. Of course, don't just throw out your existing supplies. Use them up and then get the concentrates / bulk.

Note: There's no need to get everything in this list. Just get what you need. There's also cheaper alternatives to several of the products, and probably cheaper sites than those in my links. Some of the products I use because I want to support the manufacturer and/or because I trust the manufacturer. Use what you like and use it often. :)

 

Dust, light bug gut, and light bird bomb removal / lube

• Garry Dean's Infinite Use Detail Juice
  
• Platinum Pluffle Premium
  
   
  
  Heavy bug gut and bird bomb removal / light grime removal
  
  
• Ultima Waterless Wash+
  
• Platinum Pluffle Premium
  
   
  
  Wheels & Tires
  
  
  Cleaning
  
  
• AMMO Brute Wheel Soap
  
• AMMO Plum Wheel Cleaner
  
• Wheel Woolies
  
• Uber Detail Brush
  
• Microfiber Wash Mitts
  
  
  Drying
  
  
• 400 GSM Waffle Weave towels
  
  
  Dressing
  
  
• Optimum Opti-Bond Tire Gel
  
• Hexi-Grip Tire Gel Applicator
  
  
  Protecting
  
  
• Rejex
  
• Foam applicators
  
   
  
  Body
  
  
  Rinseless wash
  
  
• Ultima Waterless Wash+ (presoak)
  
• Optimum No-Rinse Wash & Wax
  
• 480 GSM Edgeless MF towels
  
  
  Two bucket wash
  
  
• Gilmore Foamaster II (presoak)
  
• AMMO Foam Paint Cleanser (presoak & main wash)
  
• Three 5 gallon buckets
  
• Merino Wool Wash Mitt
  
• Four Grit Guards
  
  
  Drying
  
  
• 320 GSM MF towels
  
• AMMO Hydrate
  
  
  Protecting
  
  
• AMMO Skin
  
• AMMO Creme
  
• Hexi-Grip applicators
  
   
  
  Glass
  
  
  Cleaning
  
  
• Stoner's Invisible Glass
  
• 300 GSM MF towels
  
  
  Drying
  
  
• 320 GSM MF towels
  
  
  Protecting
  
  
• Either Rejex or Nanolex Ultra Glass Sealant
  
   
  
  Engine
  
  
• P21S Total Auto Wash
  
• Chemical Guy's Grime Reaper APC (if needed)
  
• Uber Detail Brush
  
• 303 Aerospace protectant (Looks like you have this already)
  
• Autozone towels
  
   
  
  Exhaust
  
  
• Chemical Guy's Grime Reaper APC
  
• P21S Metal Polish
  
• Metal Polish MF towels
  
  
   
  
  Paint Prep
  
  
• Stoner's Tarminator (grime decon)
  
• Carpro Iron-X (fallout decon)
  
• P21S Total Auto Wash (clay pre & post wash)
  
• Clay
  
  
   
  
  Paint Correction
  
  
• PC 7424XP or, for more power, Griot's Orbital
  
• Compound
  
• Polish
  
• MF Cutting Disks
  
• Foam Polishing Pads
  
• 320 GSM MF towels (pad cleaning)
  
• Pad conditioning brush (cleaning + raise microfibers)
  

Sure! The two bucket method helps reduce the chance of putting swirls into your paint.

The most common configuration is 2 - 5 gallon buckets with grit guards in the bottom of both of them.

You would use 1 bucket with just plain water for rinsing your wash mitt and the 2nd bucket would be water with soap. You will start by dunking your mitt into the soap bucket, wash a panel on your car, dunk your mitt into the rinse bucket, scrub your mitt against the grit guard, squeeze out any water, and then move back to your soap bucket. Repeat until the car is squeaky clean and swirl-less :)

Rag Company Starter Kit - $30 - Includes wash mitt and other assorted towels needed to get started.

2 buckets from Home Depot - $6

2 Grit Guards - $18

Megs Gold Class Soap - $9

Megs Gold Class Carnauba - $11

einszett Cockpit Premium - $10

Stoner Invisible Glass Cleaner - $4

Chemical Guy's APC - $10

Optibond Tire Gel - $11


Grand Total of $109

There are obviously some nicer products you could get, but this is a great start for a beginner I think.

You can't clear up a solid 2-4 hours to clean your car?

Honestly, some good car soap/shampoo, a bucket/grit gaurd, some good wax, and few cans of engine degreaser should be all you need to look pretty good.

I'd recommend this, this, and these to get started.

After you get the engine clean, and the outside cleaned and waxed, just vacuum out the inside and clean up any dust, grit, or dirt you might see. This should all take about 4 hours if you take your time.

honestly, i wouldn't get either of those. yeah they're both good, but you really don't need all of that.

what i use:

griot's garage clay

meguairs soap

mothers cleaner wax

nu finish

and of course a (or a couple) 5 gallon buckets with a grit guard , which is completely not necessary, but highly recommended by professional detailers. i don't use one, and my car comes out fine. and a good, soft wash mitt. either a good sponge or a wheel brush for your wheels would be needed as well.

my once a year routine is as follows:

wash, claybar, nu polish, cleaner wax

usually wash every 2 weeks or so, and rewax every 6 weeks or so. if i did a bunch of off roading and the paint is gritty i'll clay as needed, but usually it's once a year.

also head over to /r/autodetailing for a lot of tips. beware though that they use a lot of very high end products, and circle jerk over polishing and getting perfect reflections. if all you're looking to do is keeping your paint in good condition, then what i do is just fine. if you're interested in keeping your paint better than factory, follow them.

Definitely look into the Two Bucket method. I'll give a brief explanation though. Basically the idea of the two buckets is to clean dirt and other grime off of the wash mitt after it touches the car. Just dunking a mitt back into the bucket of wash is not entirely effective at this. This is were the Grit Guard come in. One of these is in each bucket, used to rub your mitt on to free up dirt. One bucket has your wash and the other is just water. The process would be: Mitt into Wash. Clean panel. Mitt into Rinse, rub against Grit Guard. Mitt back to wash, rub against Grit Guard again. Back to Car. The Grit Guard will also help trap loose dirt particles at the bottom of the bucket. The whole idea of the whole bucket system is to cut down on transferring dirt from the mitt back onto the paint and scratching it.

As far as other supplies, it's already been suggested to check out the Bare Minimum Supplies List, but also have a look at the Massive Product List.

I'd recommend picking up a tire gel as well. These last longer and won't sling.

Also, a good dedicated wheel cleaner goes a long way. While it may be a bit pricey, Sonax Full Effect Wheel & Tire cleaner is amazing at cleaning brake dust and other grime. It's also pH balanced so it's safe on any surface.

I've used Megs Deep Crystal Wax and it does not hold up very well. Not sure if that's the exact one you have, but if you want something that's going to provide the best bang per buck, I'd go with Collinite #845 Insulator Wax. Amazingly easy application and removal.

If you want a semi-gloss shine for the interior, I'd use 303 Aerospace Protectant. Awesome stuff. Acts as SPF 45 for your interior plastics, rubbers, whatever. Also works great in the engine bay.

However, if you aren't looking to "upgrade" any products, I'd definitely say pick up a clay bar. I've had good luck with Griot's Garage clay bar. Also, I've got the Mother's Clay Bar Kit and that worked quite well also. If you are wondering if your car needs to be clay bar'd or not, there's a simple test you can do. The "plastic Bag" test is very simple and effective and showing how contaminated the paint of your vehicle is. Basically, just put your hand in a plastic bag and rub it along a lubricated surface of your car. If it feels rough, the car needs clay barring. I recently got a 10 year old used car and the paint felt like sandpaper. Took me forever to clay it, but it brought back a lot of the shine because there was so much contamination dulling the paint.

Oh! How many microfiber cloths you have? If you're in need, be sure to check out The Rag Company. The Microfiber I got from them is amazing.

Let me know if you have an questions and hopefully I didn't ramble too much.

If you wanna keep it under $30 and want a very basic method of keeping your car clean then I would recommend the tried and true 2-Bucket Wash method.

1. 2 x 5-gallon buckets (Lowes or Home Depot) - $2/bucket
   
2. 2 x GritGuards - $17
   
3. 2 x MicroFiber Wash Mitts - $15
   
4. Meguiar's Golf Class Car Wash Shampoo - $10
   
   TOTAL: $45ish
   
   I know that $45 is over your budget of $30, but I highly recommend using the 2-bucket wash method. You can get away with using 1 grit guard and 1 wash mitt if you want to cut a little bit on cost. You could also buy a smaller size of car wash shampoo... this may get you closer to budget.
   
   The reason I buy 2 grit guards is to use 1 in each bucket. You can buy only 1 and use it in the rinse water bucket for when you rinse your mitt.
   
   You can also get away with having 1 wash mitt and look at different brands. I personally use 2 (one for upper half, one for lower half) to reduce contamination.
   
   ---
   
   If you want to expand later on to go beyond cleaning the car... then you can put some money into additional products. You will want to look into wheel brushes, all-purpose cleaner, glass cleaners, detail sprays, waxes, etc.
   
   Once you start, you cannot stop!

two bucket method and grit guard. Dont apply wax in direct sunlight

http://www.amazon.com/Grit-Guard-Insert-Red-Diameter/dp/B000N3W8J0/ref=sr_1_1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1426439413&sr=1-1&keywords=grit+guard

I would reccomend these materials for the two bucket wash method. Its probably the most common method, and one of the safest. There are plenty of youtube how to's on this. These are the materials you'll need.

• Two buckets that will be used for the two bucket wash method. They can be purchased from a local home center for relatively cheap. $10
  
• Grit Guards. Preferably two, in order to prevent grit from reentering the wash mitt. $20
  
• Wash Mitt. Something like this will be just fine. $8
  
• Car soap. This is completely up to you. Something like Meguiar's Gold Class is fine. $10
  
  
• Wheel brush. Dependent on what you type of wheels you have. A quick amazon search will give you an idea. $10-20
  
• Sealant. I use Meguiar's M21. Not the best not the worst. Im sure others will chime in an have recommendations for you. $20.
  
• Wax. I don't use a wax because my car is older, and the sealant does just fine.
  
  
• Microfibers. The Rag Company has some great starter kits.
  
  Not Necessarily essentials, but recommended.
  
  
• Wheel cleaner. Something like Sonax. $15
  
• Clay Bar. This will be used to intitially remove contaminants from the car. Plenty of youtube how to's and kits can be found easily through amazon or your local auto parts store. $20
  
  I don't think you need anything like a DA at this point. Others will have recommendations for you, and I encourage you to take their advice as well. Some great youtube channels are Ammo NYC, Larry is a master at explaining how to's. He has is own line of products but they're expensive. You can even email him with questions and he'll respond quickly and go above and beyond to explain somethingto you. Junkman, also another great channel. Chemical Guys, they have some pretty good products but their customer service is shit. Their youtube videos are pretty good but all they do is upsell their products.
  
  I'm fairly new to detailing like you. I dont have the best products, but what I use seems to work for me. There are better products out there but budgets can only be so large.
  

Well I've just started getting together my own kit and felt I HAD to get these:

1. Meguiar's Clay bars and quik detail spray
   
   
2. Butt-load of microfiber towels
   
   
3. Waffle-weave drying towel
   
   
4. Grit-guards
   
   
5. Iron X wheel cleaner
   
   
6. Industrial Spray bottles
   
   
7. Meguiar's Gold Class car wash soap
   
   
8. Meguiar's Gold Class Wax
   
   
9. Purple Power
   
   
10. Proper wash mitt
    
    I still feel like there are atleast ten other products that I NEED!
    
    -Pressure Washer
    
    -Foam Cannon
    
    -Detailing brushes
    
    -Sealants/Compounds combined with a proper rotor drill
    
    -ETC
    
    

Prima stuff: http://www.primacarcare.com/

Foamer I use: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000Y190WE/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Grit Guard for your buckets (FFS buy two and two buckets): http://www.amazon.com/Grit-Guard-Wash-Bucket-Insert/dp/B000N3W8J0/ref=pd_bxgy_lg_img_z

Adam's Car Wash: http://www.adamspolishes.com/

Monster MF Extra Thick Towels: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001UFK9NM/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here's a long thing I wrote for a friend just getting started. It was an email and i don't feel like fixing links.

1. Menzerna (Now called Jescar) Power lock Sealant:
   
   https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0050IQH9K/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
   
   
2. Optimum Spray Wax (this is a topper wax to go on top the sealant, or touch up areas any time):
   
   https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GG9FI8I/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
   
   
3. Meguiar's Drying Towels (I HIGHLY recommend these, super effective) I got 2:
   
   https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009IQZFM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
   
   
4. Mother's detailer kit (gives you detail spray, clay bars, and micro fiber towel as a bonus)
   
   https://smile.amazon.com/Mothers-07240-California-Gold-System/dp/B0002U2V1Y/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1476666101&sr=8-3&keywords=mother%27s+detail+kit
   
   
5. Applicator pads
   
   https://smile.amazon.com/Viking-862400-Blue-Microfiber-Applicator/dp/B0051MYL8E/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1476666178&sr=8-3&keywords=wax+applicator
   
   
6. Buffing towels (for buffing in the wax or sealant)
   
   https://smile.amazon.com/Detailing-Multi-Use-Microfiber-Professional-Dual-Pile/dp/B01L4L4L26/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&qid=1476666651&sr=8-17&keywords=microfiber+buffing+towel
   
   
   
7. Proper wash mitt (just a microfiber towel won't cut it) - there's also a 2 pack with prime.
   
   https://smile.amazon.com/Meguiars-X3002-Microfiber-Wash-Mitt/dp/B000RXKR6M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1476667551&sr=8-1&keywords=meguiars+wash+mitt
   
   
8. Car wash (this can be found at any autozone like store as well, this is a big bottle)
   
   https://www.amazon.com/Mothers-05664-California-Gold-Wash/dp/B0009H51B2/ref=sr_1_9?rps=1&ie=UTF8&qid=1476668207&sr=8-9&keywords=car+wash&refinements=p_85%3A2470955011
   
   
   
   
   Do you have 2 buckets to use? Always set one bucket up with the soap water, and the other with just water. Soak up your mitt, wash the car, rinse the mitt, then soak again in the soap water. This helps reduce contaminants. If you want to go the extra mile, get these for the buckets to prevent dirt from swashing around the bucket:
   
   https://smile.amazon.com/Grit-Guard-Insert-Red-Diameter/dp/B000N3W8J0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1476667750&sr=8-2&keywords=grit+guard
   
   It fits in a home depot bucket.
   
   If you have particularly pesky tar or bugs on the car, you'll need this that you can get from any autozone type store:
   
   https://smile.amazon.com/Stoner-Car-Care-Tarminator-Remover/dp/B0002LBGWI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1476667917&sr=8-1&keywords=tarminator
   
   WARNING **
   
   When using the power lock (or any sealant / non-liquid wax), DO NOT let it touch any black plastic or rubber parts of the car!!!!! If it does, just wipe it off with a wet micro fiber cloth. Failure to follow this will result in a white hue on the black piece. You could always painter's tape off those areas that are hard to avoid.
   
   Steps for this process:
   
   
9. wash the car, two bucket method with wash mitt.
   
   1b) Bring the car to an area with as little sun light as possible for the next steps!
   
   
10. Leave car wet. Use detail spray to keep all surfaces lubricated. Rub all surfaces down with a flat piece of the clay bar (flatten in your hand). About 2" diameter or so. Every panel or when the clay bar looks dirty, just kneed it a few times, folding it and re-flattening it. Every so often, throw out the clay and get some more. If you drop the clay on the ground, it's garbage throw it out. Each clay bar should last you multiple details of your whole car, just tear pieces off.
    
    
11. Dry the car down with the MF drying towels. Buff in any water spots, streaks, etc from the detail spray. If an area needs a little extra love, spray some detail spray on it and rub her in.
    
    
12. Use applicator pad. Apply a bit of sealant on the pad, even it out in the pad, and apply a thin layer of wax across the paint surface (NOT BLACK TRIM). You can use sealant on windows if you desire. Re-apply sealant to the applicator pad whenever you need more.
    
    
13. let the sealant dry (20-30 minutes, depending on conditions). It will haze when dry.
    
    
14. Use buffing cloths to wipe the haze out. You may need to do some hand "buffing", use different angles of sight to make sure the paint is now completely smooth and clean.
    
    
15. Let dry a bit, 20 minutes?
    
    
16. Spray VERY LIGHTLY with the optimum spray wax on paint surfaces. There are 2 settings on the bottle, make sure it is on the setting that spreads out the wax not a stream.
    
    
17. Buff in the spray wax with buffing towels.
    
    
18. ENJOY protection. Watch the beads of water fly off the car for the entire season.

I used Optimum No Rinse during the winter time, because it allows for small parts of the car at a time, without requiring rinse.

But invest is a Waffle Weave Drying Towel, a couple bucket's from wal-mart (like $2.50 a bucket) and some Grit Guards for each bucket and your in business. You can use any soft wash mitt, and there are a lot of different brands and styles out there, and I also recommend a Detailer or Wax (I prefer quick detailer during winter-times so I can just spray and wipe and it keeps the snow and crap off for a good amount of time.)

I personally like Meguiar's Ultimate Quick Detailer. Just spray it on your clean spot, rub it in all over, then single wipe it off with the dry side of the terry cloth, and you get some bead action next time it rains!