Category Archives: Guides & Tips

urfactant Chemistry: How the Right Cleaner Matches the Soil
10
Sep
Guides & Tips, Interior Detailing, Professional Detailing

Lab Notes: Surfactant Class Alone Doesn’t Tell You What a Cleaner Is Good At

Posted on by Jim Lafeber

In the piece on why one interior cleaner can’t clean every stain, I made the case that strength is the wrong axis to think about. The real variable is chemistry matched to soil. That piece stayed at the practical level on purpose. This one goes underneath it, into the formulation chemistry that actually explains why […]

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Back-to-school car messes and the right cleaners for each
10
Sep
Guides & Tips, Interior Detailing, Professional Detailing

Back to School: 3 Messes That Need 3 Specific Cleaners

Posted on by Jim Lafeber

Early in the days of Simon’s Shine Shop, a detailer brought me a car that was almost finished. The interior looked immaculate except for one stain on the headliner that the team could not get out. They had already tried the strongest cleaner in the shop, and it hadn’t touched it. Their next move was […]

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Microfiber towel wiping a car wheel during waterless wheel cleaning
03
Sep
Exterior Detailing, Guides & Tips, Matte Wheels

How to Clean Lightly Soiled Wheels Without a Hose

Posted on by Jim Lafeber

Your wheels don’t always need a full wash. If you’re dealing with a light layer of brake dust, fresh road film, environmental dust, or minor water spotting, setting up a hose, buckets, wheel brushes, and a complete wash process can be more than the job requires. That’s where waterless wheel maintenance makes sense. The key […]

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Mike Phillips demonstrating Dr. Beasley’s Wheel Detailer on a car wheel using the Spray & Wipe and Spray & Rinse methods
01
Sep
Exterior Detailing, Guides & Tips, How To, Matte Wheels, Tips

How to Use Wheel Detailer: Spray & Wipe or Spray & Rinse

Posted on by Victor Espeland

Keeping your wheels looking freshly cleaned doesn’t always require a full wheel-cleaning process. Sometimes, all you’re dealing with is a light layer of brake dust, environmental dust, fresh road film, or minor water spotting. That’s where Dr. Beasley’s new Wheel Detailer and Matte Wheel Detailer come in. Designed for maintenance between deeper wheel cleanings, these […]

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cleaning car wheel with flagged tip brush
28
Aug
Exterior Detailing, Featured, Guides & Tips, Matte Wheels, Tips

Wheel Detailer vs. Wheel Cleaner vs. Brake Dust Remover: Which Does Your Wheel Need?

Posted on by Jim Lafeber

If Dr. Beasley’s already makes a wheel cleaner, why would you need a Wheel Detailer too? Because not every dirty wheel needs the same type of cleaning — and the science behind why wheels get dirty explains why one product was never going to cover every stage. Why Wheels Get Dirty So Fast (and Why […]

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Blue sports car hood with black racing stripes
20
Aug
Ceramic Coatings, Exterior Detailing, Featured, Guides & Tips, Interior Detailing, Professional Detailing

August Sun: Does Ceramic Technology Really Protect Against UV?

Posted on by Jim Lafeber

Park a vehicle outside on a sunny August afternoon and you can feel what the sun is doing before you ever see it. The paint becomes almost too hot to touch. The dashboard heats up. Leather, vinyl, plastics, rubber and exterior trim spend hours exposed to sunlight and elevated temperatures. Do that occasionally and very […]

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17
Jul
Exterior Detailing, Featured, Guides & Tips, Interior Detailing, Professional Detailing

When Does Cleaning Chemistry Actually Stop?

Posted on by Jim Lafeber

The Science Behind Dr. Beasley’s Adaptive Buffer Technology™  Every product we retire teaches us something.  Sometimes it means the product wasn’t good enough, and sometimes it means we’ve found a better way to solve a problem an existing product already solved well. pH Neutralizer falls firmly into the  second category: it worked exactly as intended, […]

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Matte, Satin, Detailing, Protecting
27
Aug
Behind the Detail, Featured, Guides & Tips, Matte Car Care

20 Photos Showing a Matte Grey SLS AMG Black Series Being Detailed

Posted on by Will MacNeil

A customer of ours is an enthusiast when it comes to cars, especially matte grey Mercedes. This Mercedes SLS AMG Black Series was shipped over seas and it was exposed to plenty of contaminants.  Not a problem because it was brought straight to us to do all the unveiling, cleaning, and protecting. View the process […]

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Wheel Sealant, Brake Dust, Cleaning
29
Jul
Behind the Detail, Exterior Detailing, Featured, Guides & Tips, Tips

What’s Wrong With Brake Dust?

Posted on by Jim Lafeber

Brake dust is one of the most aggressive corrosives in the automotive appearance industry. Even if the rest of the car is clean, dirty wheels equal a dirty car. So what is it about brake dust that is so harmful to your wheels and what’s the best way to clean and keep your wheels safe? […]

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Red BMW sports car close-up in garage
24
Mar
Behind the Detail, Ceramic Coatings, Featured, Guides & Tips, Tips

Wax, Paint Sealant, and Coatings: What’s the Difference?

Posted on by Celine Witherell

Waxes, sealants, and coatings are frequently discussed in the auto detailing world, by both professionals and enthusiasts. But what makes them different from each other? Which product is appropriate for which scenarios? The terms waxes, sealants, and coatings, are organized as such for good reason. They’re in order of products containing the most organic ingredients […]

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