Starting your own detailing shop can be a great experience and an opportunity to turn your hobby into a profession. Professional detailing has been around long before the automobile, detailing goes way back to the horse drawn carriage where resellers would hire professional detailers to refinish the carriages for resale.

A combination of increasing values of automobiles and a decrease of spare time for today’s busy people adds up to a great opportunity to make a career in detailing. Auto detailing is also a great compliment to other auto services such as a garage, rental cars etc. One of the most frequent questions we get here is “I want to start a detail shop, what do I need?”. This can be a very hard question to answer in an email. A question like this can be answered in a book but we will try our best in this article!

Where to start

Start detailing for yourself, family members and friends. Get an idea of what you are getting yourself into. Many assume detailing is easy money, IT IS NOT! Detailing is a skill and takes many years of practice to learn techniques and problem solving. It is also hard on the body and requires decent physical shape. The simple fact is you will not be successful if you are inexperienced! Starting a detail shop cold turkey without any experience is a recipe for failure. Keep in mind, a customer is paying good money and they will scrutinize your job. Good news travels fast but bad news travels faster!

What do I need?

This question is answered with a question, what services do you plan on offering? A full blown detail shop that offers services from interior shampoos and steam cleaning to paint correction will require much more equipment and knowledge than a person that only offers interior vacuuming, exterior washing/waxing and so on. I will separate this into two groups below, Cleaning and correction. I will also keep this as simple as possible. There is no set package that will accommodate all detailers trying to start a shop; this is why we do not offer full detailing product packages.

Exterior Cleaning

It is possible to run a successful detail shop without offering polishing. Many customers are simply looking for a good interior cleaning/shampooing and exterior wash and wax. Below are the different steps of an interior/exterior cleaning with a few different products (In no specific order) that can be used on each step. Products are for reference but can be substituted for any product of your choice that performs the same job.

Exterior Prewash. One of the most used chemicals we use in our detail shop is an All-Purpose Cleaner (APC). We use properly diluted APC’s as a prewash on every vehicle; this removes grease, wax, oils, loose dirt etc. We also spray this onto wheels, wheel wells, and engine bays. APC’s are then rinsed off with a pressure washer before we hand wash the vehicle.

Examples of products needed:

• Kleenzit APC, SONAX Multi Star APC, Poorboy’s APC,  Chemical Guys Grime Reaper etc.
• Rims. We like to clean the rims before the final hand wash of the vehicle as it is common to have the grime from the wheels splash onto the paintwork while cleaning.

Examples of products needed:

• Sonax Full Effect Wheel Cleaner, Griot’s Garage Wheel Cleaner, Chemical Guys Diablo Wheel Cleaner etc. You will also need wheel brushes, EZ Detail Brushes are one of our favorites.
• Exterior Wash. You will need a good wash mitt, sponge, or towel. Which do we prefer? A CLEAN ONE! I have never had a clean wash tool scratch a car, dirt scratches. Period. Keep your tools clean and you will have great results. You will also need a good auto wash.

Examples of products needed:

• Lake Country Blue Wash Sponge, CarPro Wool Wash Mitt, or a washing brush.
• For exterior soaps/shampoos; Sonax Auto Shampoo, Chemical Guys Mr.Pink, Pinnacle Auto Wash,  Blackfire Wet Diamond Conditioning Shampoo,  etc.
• Exterior Drying. Again there are many towels manufactured for drying. Microfiber has been the best choice for the last few years but if not kept clean, it will not perform well!

Examples of products needed:

• Dehydrator Waffle Weave Drying Towel, Ol School Drying Towel, Cobra Guzzler Drying Towel.

At this point you have yourself a clean dry vehicle. If you are equipped and skilled for paint correction this would be your next step. If not you will at least want to offer waxing/sealing to protect the vehicle.

• Waxing or Sealing. We won’t get into a “Which wax is best?” debate, let’s just say you will need to have a few different selections of waxes or sealants on hand for your customers. Most customers who daily drive their vehicles are looking for long term protection as they may only detail their car once a year, in this case sealants are preferred.

Examples of products needed:

• Collinite 476S, Klasse Sealant, Chemical Guys 50/50, Pinnacle Souveran etc.
• You can also use Semi-Permanent paint coatings such as Optimum Gloss-Coat Paint Coating (10cc), CarPro Cquartz, Pinnacle Black Label etc.

Paint Correction and Clay Bar

For paint correction (Swirl removal, scratch removal stain removal etc.) You will need a good electric polisher, Several pads, and compounds. For clay barring or decontamination you can use a good clay bar or a liquid chemical.

Examples of products needed:

• Porter Cable Polisher, Griot’s Garage Polisher, Flex 3401, Flex PE14, Rupes Polisher etc.
• You will also need a good collection of properly sized and compound buffing pads and backing plates.
• Lastly you will need several grades of polishing compounds made by such companies like Menzerna, Sonax, Chemical Guys, Pinnacle, Wolfgang etc.

You should not need more than three different grades of compound as most jobs should not require more than two steps of correction.

• For decontamination a good clay bar like Riccardo Clay or a liquid like CarPro IronX,  and Iron Maiden Fallout Remover will work great.

Additional supplies needed.

• Good quality microfiber buffing towels like The Cookie Monster, Tornado Towel or Cobra Towel are needed for buffing off wax and compound residue.

Above are the basics you will need to fully detail and correct the exterior of a vehicle. Although there are many specialty products and tools you can purchase you need to start with the basics and add to your products as you come up with different needs.

Interior Detailing

Interior Fabrics, Plastic and  Leather. Although the interior contains many materials and different textures it is possible to complete interiors with just a few products thanks to multi-use products that are now available. Below is a list of products you will need.

Examples of products needed:

• Hot Water Carpet extractor, Mytee HP60 or 8070. This is the most valuable tool to any detail shop. In most cases the hot water alone will remove all dirt and grime from interior carpets and seats. It can be used together with cleaning chemicals to amplify its effectiveness. Although it is a large initial investment it quickly pays for itself and I cannot imagine running a detail shop without one. For low volume shops the 8070 is fine, for higher volume go for the HP60.
• Chemical Guys Inner Clean, Griot’s Garage Interior Cleaner

The above products can do 95% of the interior! They work on plastic, vinyl, rubber, leather, and fabrics!

• Dedicated Leather Care. Although you can use multi-use cleaners on leather it is a good idea to have a dedicated cleaner and conditioner for leather. If you want to use a multi-use cleaner on leather you will still need a leather conditioner.

Examples of products needed:

• Lexol Cleaner and Conditioner, Pinnacle Leather Cleaner and Conditioner, Griot’s Leather Care.
• Interior Protectants. Protecting both fabrics from stains and vinyl/plastic from UV bleaching is important.

Examples of products needed:

• 303 Aerospace Protectant, Wolfsteins Vinyl Protectant, 303 Fabric Guard, Chemical Guys Fabric Guard, Lexol Vinylex.
• Interior/Exterior Glass. A combination of good glass cleaners and proper towels are important, you need both to get great results. Aerosols vs pump trigger is a matter of personal preference.

Examples of products needed:

• Stoner Invisible Glass Aerosol, Chemical Guys Window Clean, Griot’s Glass Cleaner, .Sprayway Glass Cleaner and The Thief Glass Towel.

In summary, the above is a great start to what you will need to start a detail shop. Your final chemical collection will start to get tailored as you start detailing. It is unlikely you will first purchase products and love them all the first time around.. Everybody has different opinions and preferences, different detailers here at eShine use their own favorite products.