Car Care Spotlight: Soaps, Cleaners and Degreasers

Every professional auto detailer has a secret mantra, and that chant is this: Time is money. Nowhere is that incantation more appropriate than when you’re busily toiling away on a dirty vehicle and your rhythm and pace come to a screeching halt due to a smattering of tree sap, a compilation of bird crap, a fender lined in tar splatter or a heavy dose of brake dust build-up on a wheel.

This is a time when the collection of chemical compositions you have immediately at hand can help keep you on track, on deadline and in the groove, so you can finish the job and get on to the next car in line.

Labor is an auto detailer’s biggest expense, and having the right equipment on site and within grabbing distance keeps that expense down. The bottom line is the bottom line, and access to the strongest exterior soaps, cleaners and degreasers means bigger profits and less expended elbow grease at the end of the day so you can do the same thing again tomorrow.

And by strong, we don’t mean bad for the environment. Here at Detail King, all of our soaps, cleaners and degreasers are volatile organic compound (VOC) compliant, which means they meet local, state and federal regulations for substances that contain mineral spirits. In addition, all of our chemicals are 100 percent biodegradable and environmentally friendly.

So while they’re safe for the planet, they’re absolute hell on those hard-to-remove greases and grime that seem to become attached to most every vehicle. In fact, our soaps, cleaners and degreasers act as if they’re on steroids — without the Congressional hearings, thank you. And most of them smell good, a factor that makes your job more pleasant and is certainly welcomed by your customers.

What follows is an introduction of some of these products, with maybe our hardest-working cleaners heading the list because, after all, these are the weapons in your arsenal that are going to enable you to maintain a timely pace in your work day:

Brake Up: Black is not a favorite shade when it comes to auto detailing, unless it happens to be the actual color of the vehicle itself. Specifically, months of built-up brake dust deposits can prompt an audible groan from most detailers. But our Brake Up Wheel Cleaner was designed for such problem child wheels, and it contains no acids that can further damage these compromised clear coated and aluminum mag wheels.

Citrus Degreaser and Green Stuff Magnum: Equally hard-working are our Citrus Degreaser and Green Stuff Magnum, a pair of caustic products that are among the top choices for removing heavy grease and grime from engine compartments, as well as brake dust, grease and heavy grime deposits from wheels.

Tire & White Wall Cleaner: While we’re still in the lower extremities of the vehicle, our Tire & White Wall Cleaner is another caustic product that both cleans and conditions the filthiest tires and whitewalls. This product also contains a darkening agent that gives the rubber a conditioned look, so that when our Super Blue Tire Dressing is applied, it sets up faster and leaves a wet-look shine.

Tar Remover: Detail King’s patented Tar Remover is used during the prepping stage to dissolve tar from a vehicle’s fenders, rocker panels, wheels and fender trim. And our Ex Con Concrete, Rust, Tree Sap & Scale Remover is a high concentration of cleaning agents that do exactly what the name of the product says it will do. Equally hard-working is our Spot Spray Waterspot Remover designed to quickly and easily remove hard water deposits from painted surfaces and glass.

Bug Off: Speaking of unwelcome deposits, you wouldn’t think something as miniscule as a bug could become such a pain in the paint for workers of our ilk, but Detail King’s Bug Off puts these dead pests back on the “no big deal” list. Bug Off is formulated with an enzyme that quickly and easily dissolves bug goo from a vehicle’s surface. It also features a pleasant blueberry scent.

Special Force: Equally pleasant is our Special Force PLUS All Purpose cleaner, which has a raspberry scent and is effective in cleaning convertible roofs, bed liners, doorjambs, tonneau covers, plastic running board and bumper cladding, hubcaps, and just about all exterior vehicle components. DK’s Black Cherry Car Wash Soap with Wax relies on cherry scented suds to gently lift dirt and grime from a vehicle’s surface, leaving in its soapy wake a gleaming shine.

Heads Up: Finally, our newest exterior chemical product is Heads Up, a cleaner with tons of foamy suds and a unique bubble gum scent.

Most of our exterior soaps, cleaners and degreasers are concentrated and available in pints, quarts, gallons, 2.5-gallon jugs, 5-gallon pails, and 55-gallon drums. These core products are available in a Special Purchase Package that not only saves you big bucks, but covers all bases of exterior cleaning and detailing.