Author Archives: Mike Phillips

How to Prep for Ceramic Coatings
20
Sep
Behind the Detail, Ceramic Coatings, Exterior Detailing, Guides & Tips, How To, Professional Detailing, Videos & Media

How to Prep for Ceramic Coatings | Beginner’s Guide

Posted on by Mike Phillips

Transcript Hey, welcome to this video. I’m going to be sharing with you how to install a ceramic coating. So, if you’ve never done this before, uh, no need to take notes. You can actually download a PDF checklist. It’ll cover everything I use and all the steps. Plus, I’ve written a blog article on […]

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Step-by-Step Guide to Cleaning Engine Bays for Beginners
06
Sep
Behind the Detail, Exterior Detailing, Guides & Tips, How To, Videos & Media

Beginner’s Guide to Engine Bay Cleaning | Step-by-Step Video Tutorial

Posted on by Mike Phillips

When is the last time you cleaned your engine and engine compartment? In fact, when’s the last time you even opened the hood? Let me share five reasons to clean your own engine compartment. One, it’s actually easy and there’s no special tools required. Two, a clean engine compartment actually increases trade-in value or resale […]

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Mike Phillips demonstrating how to correctly hand wash a car using a microfiber wash mitt for a scratch-free clean
16
Aug
Behind the Detail, Exterior Detailing, Guides & Tips, How To

How to Correctly Hand Wash a Car | Beginner’s Guide

Posted on by Mike Phillips

TRANSCRIPT You know, the most common way we get swirls and scratches into the finish on our cars comes from the way we wash it and dry it and also anytime we wipe it with a microfiber towel. Now, I’ve already completely polished out this car. It has a scratch-free, a swirl-free finish. And I’m […]

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Beginner's Guide to Polishing Cars
09
Aug
Behind the Detail, Exterior Detailing, How To, Paint Correction

Beginner’s Guide to Car Polishing

Posted on by Mike Phillips

TRANSCRIPT Over time your car becomes filled full of swirls, scratches, water spots, and oxidation. And if you’re a beginner—you’ve never machine polished before—trying to fix this can be kind of intimidating. Let me show you how, and I’ll make it easy. In this video, I’m going to show you how to remove swirls and […]

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Close-up of hand holding clay bar with imprint marks showing contaminants removed during car detailing with header text that reads "what are clay bars?"
11
Jun
Behind the Detail, Exterior Detailing, Garage & Equipment, Guides & Tips, How To, Paint Correction, Professional Detailing

What Does a Clay Bar Do? Detailing Clay, Explained

Posted on by Mike Phillips

A clay bar removes above surface bonded contaminants off the surface of your car’s paint to restore a clean and smooth surface. However, there is some confusion over the topic of how a clay bar works, why you should use one and what it does for a vehicle’s paint.  Let’s take a deeper dive. Myth […]

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Guide to Rupes Polishing Pads
12
Dec
Behind the Detail, Exterior Detailing, Garage & Equipment, Guides & Tips, Paint Correction, Videos & Media

What are the Different RUPES Polishing Pads?

Posted on by Mike Phillips

Transcript When you hear the word Rupes—and by the way, that is the correct way to pronounce the name—the first thing that comes to mind is normally their amazing tools, like the long-stroke polishers, the Scorpio sanders, and also the Rupes Nanos. But something that a lot of people might not know is they also […]

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How to Clean and Restore Black Plastic Trim
17
Jun
Behind the Detail, Exterior Detailing, How To

How to Clean & Restore Black Plastic Trim on Cars

Posted on by Mike Phillips

Most modern cars have some amount of black plastic trim as function of the body design or for beauty accents.  Over time, with exposure to the sun and inclement weather, these black plastic trim components will fade, oxidize, and lose their original factory appearance.  Besides aging from exposure to the sun and the elements, the […]

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Wet sanding with 3M Trizact system
08
Nov
Behind the Detail, Exterior Detailing, Guides & Tips, How To, Live Detailing Classes, Videos & Media

How to Wet Sand Paint Using 3M Trizact System

Posted on by Mike Phillips

The 3M dry sanding system is actually what I consider like one of the safest sanding systems out there and especially if you’re brand new to sanding. One of the cool things about this system is you can use it by hand or machine. They make these in sheets. This is the 3000 six-inch disc, […]

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How to use a paint thickness gauge
30
Apr
Behind the Detail, Exterior Detailing, Garage & Equipment, Guides & Tips, How To, Paint Correction, Professional Detailing

How to Use a Paint Thickness Gauge

Posted on by Mike Phillips

A paint thickness gauge (PTG, also known as a coating thickness gauge) is an electronic device used in the auto detailing industry to accurately measure the thickness of a car’s paint and/or any protective coatings applied to it.  In this article, I’ll explain what paint thickness gauges are used for, how they work, when to […]

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Comparison of cordless rotary polishers from Flex, Harbor Freight, and Milwaukee for car detailing
24
Jun
Behind the Detail, Exterior Detailing, Garage & Equipment, Guides & Tips, Live Detailing Classes, Paint Correction, Professional Detailing, Videos & Media

Which Cordless Rotary Polisher Is Best? Flex vs. Harbor Freight vs. Milwaukee

Posted on by Mike Phillips

There are so many cordless (battery-powered) rotary polishers on the market today versus 10, even 5 years ago. With all these new options comes analysis paralysis, and I’m here to help YOU make an informed decision before investing in a new tool. It’s all here in this clip from one of my recent LIVE monthly […]

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