10 Best Car Detailing Products Found at AutoZone
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AutoZone is one of the US’s leading distributors of automotive parts and accessories, so it’s no surprise that they’d carry some of the best car detailing products out there. I’ve been hand washing and detailing my cars my whole life, so I’ve used my fair share of car detailing products. Growing up, there was always an AutoZone nearby, so I always went in there to get what I needed.
With the rise of interest in car detailing and DIY detailers, I figured I’d put this list together of the 10 best car detailing products from AutoZone that I’ve used to spruce up my cars.
1. Detailing Brushes
Overview
Over the past few years, detailing brushes have gained popularity in the detailing community– and for good reason. They are a multi-use tool, perfect for your car's interior and exterior surfaces. You can use them to clean your AC vents, door pockets and other interior areas. They're also good for dusting off and getting deep within an engine bay and around your wheel spokes. Just be sure not to use these on paint or other surfaces that can easily scratch!
Key Features
- Perfect for exterior or interior surfaces
- Clean and dust hard to reach areas
- Multiple lengths and sizes
Our Experience
These ProElite boar's hair brushes did an excellent job at cleaning the grit buildup between the lug nuts of our wheels as well as helped to dust off our car's engine bay. There's many brushes out there at different price points and materials, but for the price you pay for these boar's hair brushes, you can't go wrong.
2. Microfiber Wheel Brush
Overview
An often forgotten area when cleaning your vehicle is your wheels– and more specifically, the inner drum of the wheel. By using a wheel brush, you no longer have to stick your hands through all the spokes to get a deep clean in those pesky hard-to-reach areas. Get one of these brushes and pair it with a good wheel and tire cleaner and you’re be set.
Key Features
- Non-metal construction to prevent scratches
- Microfiber constructed cone
- Increased length to reach the entire wheel barrel
Our Experience
We paired up this microfiber wheel brush together with the ProElite boar's hair brushes mentioned above on this list. The microfiber wheel brush did an excellent job at tackling the grime in the inner wheel well, while the boar's hair brushes finished off the job where the wheel brush couldn't fit.
That's really the only downside with this brush– If you have some closely clustered wheel spokes where the brush won't fit, you may be better off finding another slimmer brush or using the microfiber mitt mentioned below.
3. Microfiber Wash Mitt
Overview
A microfiber mitt is a must have for all detailers who hand wash their cars. Now, not all microfiber mitts are created equal and you have to watch out for the ones that can easily scratch your paint. Luckily for you, you can avoid that with this mitt, which is offered at a great price. Use this to wipe the soap off your vehicle and due to it's great price, you can replace it often to continue protecting your paint.
Key Features
- Elastic band for a snug fit
- Large mitt size to retain water
- Microfiber construction to prevent scratching
Our Experience
If you wash your car by hand, we can't recommend this mitt enough. While it's not the best mitt out there, the price-to-quality ratio is just right. We paired this mitt with Meguiar's Gold Class wash and it just glides right through, picking up all the grit without scratching the paint. Best of all, you can easily purchase a few of these to easily replace them as they get older without the costing too much.
4. Griot's Garage Orbital Polisher Wheel
Overview
An orbital polishing wheel like this is a must have for any detailer. The good news about this specific one is that it cost 1/2 the price and it gives you the same results as its competitors. It speeds up the polishing process so you don’t have to sit there for hours doing arm circles trying to get that carnuba wax off your cars paint.
Key Features
- Removes swirl and scratches quickly
- Comfortable and ergonomic design
- Half the cost of competitors**
Our Experience
For beginners, we found that the Griot's Garage Orbital Polisher made it easy to learn how to polish. It's very comfortable to hold, plus with its varying speed settings, it's easy to get the hang of polishing without the fear of damaging the paint. It's also not super loud and the orbital is nice and smooth where the vibrations don't really become an issue. One drawback to the polisher is it's weight, where at almost 8 pounds, you'll start noticing how heavy it is in some of the vertical angles.
5. Meguiar's Headlight Restoration Kit
Overview
If you have an old car with foggy headlights, then this kit is for you. It comes with everything you need to restore the plastic headlight housing and you’ll instantly see results in both the clearness and light visibility. The best part about the kit is that you can do everything by hand, or speed things up if you have a drill or your own polisher. This old buff-your-headlight trick will have your car looking like it just rolled off the car lot.
Key Features
- Restores clarity to cloudy and yellowed headlights
- No power tools required,
- Up to 12 month protection
Our Experience
So easy to use, it's almost impossible to mess it up! Here's how we went about it: We put some tape around the headlights to prevent scrubbing on the painted surfaces, we applied and scrubbed the product back and forth, wiped the surface clean, and then finished it with the final spray. Overall, it takes maybe 30 minutes to do each headlight– and you're welcome to take a bit longer if you're detail-oriented. For the price of the kit, don't hesitate to get it!
6. Meguiar's Gold Class Wash
Overview
A detailers cult classic. It’s pretty much the work horse of car wash soaps. While other car wash formulas are too busy focusing on the color they produce and the smell of the soap, the Meguiar's Gold Class car wash soap cares about none of that. It suds up nicely when used with a foam cannon and has a nice slickness to it, which allows it to clean off smoothly. It focuses and works best on what really matters.
Key Features
- High lubricity
- Increased foaming
- Dual wash and condition formula
Our Experience
When it comes to concentrated car wash solutions, there isn't a ton of detail to go into. They either do the job well enough, or they don't. We used a couple cap fulls of this soap in a pressure washer bottle and it suds up great, cleans up all the dirt and debris, as well as the occasional bird dropping. If you don't have a pressure washer, you can also mix the same amount into a bucket and go the manual hand wash route. Simply put, this is one of the best all around soaps out there for washing cars.
7. Meguiar's 105 and 205 Compound and Polish
Overview
Once again we have another Meguiar's product on the list, but this time we're introducing a combo that is going to help you get rid of those swirl marks in your paint. With Meguiar's 105 and 205 compound and polish, you’ll get that 1 and 2 step paint correction needed to help your car look like new. Pair this with a Meguiar's headlight restoration kit that was listed above and you’re one step closer to a good-as-new car.
Key Features
- Permanently removes swirls and paint imperfections
- Can be used by hand or orbital polisher
- Produces deep reflection and gloss
Our Experience
Because our car only had light swirl marks in the clear coat, we avoided using the ultra-cut compound as we felt that the ultra finishing polish compound was more than enough to do the trick. Paired with the Griot's Garage Orbital Polisher mentioned above, the Meguiar's Finishing Polish did a great job. We made sure to wash our car first, put some iron remover, went over the paint with a clay bar and waited for the vehicle to dry. We couldn't recommend this product enough.
8. ProElite Car Vacuum
Overview
While you’re picking up some of the other products from this list, be sure to get this small cordless vacuum. The small design makes it easy to get into some of those nooks and crannies and due to its cordless nature, you don’t have to fiddle around finding a plug for it. Another plus side of having a cordless vacuum is that its small size allows you to have it in your car at all times. You can simply take it out to clean up any quick messes or do the occasional spot clean while you’re waiting in your car.
Key Features
- 15 minute of continuous use
- Cordless, battery operated
- Comes with 2 attachments
Our Experience
The cordless-ness of the ProElite Car Vacuum was it's shining feature. If you have enough storage in the trunk of your car or truck, you can keep this vacuum there and whip it out whenever the children spill some Cheerios in the back seat. We found that the suction power of this vacuum was okay, and the vacuum is able to pick up debris from most areas, so long as the nozzle fit. You may need to find some other alternatives if you want to get a deeper clean between and under any seats.
9. Adam's Wheel and Tire Cleaner
Overview
A top contender for the best most affordable wheel and tire cleaner option on the market. As soon as you spray Adam's Wheel and Tire Cleaner, you can instantly see it working its magic. It suds up nicely and you’ll know it’s working because your wheels and tires will most likely turn brown with all the dirt and grime it’s removing. The best part is, you don’t have to agitate it by hand, it works right away. (Although, they do recommended to scrub it a little to get the best effect out of it.)
Key Features
- Safe on all tires and painted wheels
- Removes brake dust easily
- Removes tire browning and oxidation
Our Experience
If you tend to neglect your wheels for months, then be sure to stock up on all the Adam's Wheel and Tire Cleaner you can get. In our experience, our wheels had accumulated lots of brake dust and for heavily neglected wheels and tires, we found that we needed to use about a quarter of the bottle to clean off all the gunk.
But here's the catch– It works! If you simply need a top-up clean for your wheels, you'll be using a lot less product and you'll have something that's guaranteed to work.
10. Turtle Wax Hybrid Ceramic
Overview
No longer will your arms get sore from trying to keep your car shiny with this new groundbreaking product from Turtle Wax. Turtle Wax Hybrid Ceramic Spray makes it easy to protect your cars paint, keep it glossy and hydrophobic for extended periods of time. All you simply have to do is spray this on a few times on a clean panel, wipe it off and that’s it.
Key Features
- Can be used in direct sunlight
- Apply and remove by hand
- Can be applied to paint, metal, plastic and glass
Our Experience
Turtle Wax's Hybrid Ceramic is one of the most groundbreaking products to come out in the car detailing business. If you're looking to wax your car, but don't want to spend hours prepping and applying the wax manually, then we couldn't recommend this product enough. It took us about 20-30minutes to completely protect our cars paint, add a bit of shine to it and add hydrophobic properties.
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