Lexus GX Detailing

[Dragoon]

I need some inspiration, so let's see your detailing setup!

I know there are some nice wall mount systems out there, and I've also seen some cool detailing cart builds. I'm considering doing a detailing cart instead of a dedicated wall system, but I would like to hear some pros and cons. Here are a couple of nice cart builds that I have seen.

 

[German88]

Here’s mine. Built during construction on our new home in 2021. Sprayer is an AR-630 w/auto on at the wand. Hot/cold water supply and pre filtered / softened at main equipment room in basement. Full length garage drain inside the garage which is fully climate controlled. Winters are harsh in my area so being able to wash inside on heavy snow days at 65 degrees is heaven. Nothin too fancy on my roller cart. Lower bucket for wheels etc.

 

[ilumo]

Here’s mine. Built during construction on our new home in 2021. Sprayer is an AR-630 w/auto on at the wand. Hot/cold water supply and pre filtered / softened at main equipment room in basement. Full length garage drain inside the garage which is fully climate controlled. Winters are harsh in my area so being able to wash inside on heavy snow days at 65 degrees is heaven. Nothin too fancy on my roller cart. Lower bucket for wheels etc.

Bravo. This is an amazing garage!!

 

[Dragoon]

Here’s mine. Built during construction on our new home in 2021. Sprayer is an AR-630 w/auto on at the wand. Hot/cold water supply and pre filtered / softened at main equipment room in basement. Full length garage drain inside the garage which is fully climate controlled. Winters are harsh in my area so being able to wash inside on heavy snow days at 65 degrees is heaven. Nothin too fancy on my roller cart. Lower bucket for wheels etc.

That's the perfect setup!

 

[German88]

The AR unit is best car detailing purchase I’ve made besides my “long throw” DA. Having an electric auto on off is game changer. I’ve beat on mine washing dirt bikes, cars and boats since installing it and it never skips a beat.

 

[Jesse H]

I just got a pressure washer and foam cannon and still streamlining the process. I've washed the GX once and my truck 3x and still find my previous 2 bucket method to be a faster and better job at getting it spotless. With the foam cannon I feel rushed to scrub everything down before all the foam drips or dries off and end up missing spots. Especially bug or tar spots that require a bit more attention.

The foam cannon is more fun though!

 

[Bluegill]

I wanted to put some kind of coating on my tires to keep them from turning brown and give them some UV protection, but I'm not a fan of the typical "wet look" tire shine products. It's OK for sports cars but not for big off road tires - the typical tire shine just collects dust & dirt, gets on your pants when you brush against a tire, slings all over the side of the truck when it gets wet, washes off easy, etc.

So, I wasted entirely too much time researching tire coatings and I settled on Adam's Graphene Tire Dressing. It supposedly contains "reduced graphene-oxide ceramic resins" that sounds really technical and magical. LOL, this stuff had good reviews in lots of side-by-side tests I reviewed. The main sales pitch for the tire stuff also sounds perfect: "If you’re looking for a deep black, like new tire appearance then you’ve come to the right place. Graphene Tire Dressing™ is a must-have for those that aren’t interested in a shiny, wet-looking tire and want to maintain a satin appearance for as long as possible with zero opportunities for sling."

My buddy that detailed my truck and applied the ceramic coating back in July also used the Adam's graphene ceramic coating stuff. And come to think of it, he applied a tire coating as well - maybe he used this same Adam's stuff, I'm not sure.

I also picked up Adam's Wheel & Tire Cleaner along with Adam's brushes for wheels (soft bristles) and tires (stiff bristles). The tires need to be properly cleaned before applying the tire dressing.

Yesterday I finally got around to opening the box and doing the tires. I ran my truck through the car wash a few days ago after off-roading the weekend before. I only use the touch-free car wash, never the spinning brushes that slowly grind your paint away. The wheels & tires therefore only get a quick pressure wash and spray of soap, then rinse. I've been off-roading a bunch of times in deep sand and gravel so whatever coating was applied in July was probably pretty well gone.

I cleaned each tire twice - the second time I rolled the truck back a couple feet so I could be sure to get those shoulder lugs at the bottom of the tire that you can never quite get on the first try. On the first clean the suds turned dark brown and on the second clean the suds still turned brown but only in the flat sidewall portion closer in to the wheel. My theory is that the outer shoulders have been scrubbed clean off-road and the inner flat sidewalls still had some old tire dressing and dirt on them.

I dried the tires with a leaf blower and let them sit for about a half hour. I then applied the tire dressing using a folded up soft microfiber towel (the tire dressing didn't come with a concave sponge applicator like I thought it would). I sprayed a bunch of the dressing on the towel and also shot a ring of dressing around the tire. It spread on pretty well but built-up on the ridges and had to be sponged up and moved around a bit. The dressing is medium thick like milkshake as opposed to water but certainly not thick as molasses. I did the same roll-back to get those bottom lugs and re-applied a light second coat over the whole tire.

At first I wasn't impressed because it was really shiny. This morning (about 14 hours later) it looks much better, the shine has calmed down quite a bit.

We'll see how it lasts. Unfortunately it's going to get scrubbed off whenever I go off road and we'll see how easy (and hopefully faster) it is to touch-up or re-apply. I'm also curious to see if it picks up dust and dirt off-road.

I used about a quarter to almost a third of the cleaner bottle and a quarter or a bit less of the tire dressing bottle for my 35" tires.

Another reason I bought this stuff is to do my Porsche tires which should be much easier. I'll do those this weekend.

Finally, I also bought some Chemical Guys interior cleaner based on positive feedback from someone on this forum. I haven't used that yet but probably will this afternoon. I keep getting smudges on the soft-touch surfaces on the interior where skin rubs on the interior (like the door arm rests). It's especially bad when my wife is in the passenger seat from all her lotions and makeup. And my two young boys in the back get sticky shit everywhere.

$28.30 from Amazon for the Adam's Wheel & Tire Cleaner 16-oz with 2 brushes

$26.59 from Amazon for the Adam's Graphene Tire Dressing 16-oz 2-pack

$9.68 from Amazon for the Chemical Guys 16-oz Total Interior Cleaner and Protectant




Tire before cleaning


Tire after cleaning and drying


Tire immediately after application


Tire 14 hours after application