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🧼 Wash & Prep

Pressure washers, foam cannons, buckets, mitts, and everything you need for a safe, swirl-free wash.

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Step 2 · Pre-rinse

The pre-rinse is the free step everyone skips. Water carries off the loose grit before anything solid touches the paint, and every particle you remove now is a scratch you do not put in later.

Westinghouse

ePX3500 Electric Pressure Washer

An electric washer is the right call for detailing. You are rinsing and running a foam cannon, not stripping a driveway, and the thing that matters is water flow rather than raw pressure — flow is what carries grit off the panel.

Keep the wand moving, stay off the badges and trim seams, and never point it at a lifting edge of paint or film.

💦 Rinsing + feeds the foam cannon 🔌 Electric, quiet enough for driveways 📘 See where this fits in the process
Check price on Amazon → Price and availability on Amazon — we don’t list prices because they change.
Step 4 · Pre-wash

The pre-wash is everything you do before anything touches the paint. Foam or soak the car, let it dwell, and rinse. The less grit still sitting there when the mitt goes on, the fewer swirl marks you put in.

Chemical Guys

TORQ Foam Cannon

Bolts onto the pressure washer and turns your pre-wash soap into thick foam that clings long enough to soften the road film. A spray bottle wets the car; a cannon actually dwells on it.

Check the connector matches your washer before you buy — that is the one thing people get wrong. Pair it with a foam soap from Exterior Chemicals.

🫧 Needs a pressure washer 🔗 Check the connector fits yours 📘 See where this fits in the process
Check price on Amazon → Price and availability on Amazon — we don’t list prices because they change.
Step 5 · Contact wash

The contact wash is where swirls are actually made. Two buckets, a clean mitt and working top-down keep grit away from the paint — the method matters far more than which soap you buy.

Unger Professional

3-Gallon Collapsible Bucket

Folds flat, which is the whole point for a mobile detailer loading a van every morning. Two of these plus a grit guard each and you have the two-bucket method anywhere you park.

Being honest about size: at 3 gallons it is smaller than a standard 5-gallon wash bucket. Fine for mobile work and maintenance washes, less ideal as your only bucket for a heavily soiled car.

🪣 Two-bucket method 🚐 Folds flat for a van 📘 See where this fits in the process
Check price on Amazon → Price and availability on Amazon — we don’t list prices because they change.
Step 5 · Contact wash

The contact wash is where swirls are actually made. Two buckets, a clean mitt and working top-down keep grit away from the paint — the method matters far more than which soap you buy.

Chemical Guys

Cyclone Dirt Trap

Sits in the bottom of the bucket so the grit you rinse out of the mitt stays down there instead of coming back up onto the paint on the next pass. Without one, your rinse bucket is just dirty water you keep dipping into.

Cheapest scratch prevention there is — you want one in each bucket.

🛡️ Keeps grit off the mitt ✌️ One per bucket 📘 See where this fits in the process
Check price on Amazon → Price and availability on Amazon — we don’t list prices because they change.
Step 5 · Contact wash

The contact wash is where swirls are actually made. Two buckets, a clean mitt and working top-down keep grit away from the paint — the method matters far more than which soap you buy.

Chemical Guys

Chenille Microfiber Wash Mitt

Deep chenille fingers pull grit up away from the paint instead of trapping it flat against the surface the way a sponge does. A sponge is the single worst thing you can drag across a clear coat.

Have several and swap to a fresh one for the lower panels — and if one hits the floor, it is done. It goes in the wash, not back on the car.

🧤 Replaces the sponge 🔁 Keep several per car 📘 See where this fits in the process
Check price on Amazon → Price and availability on Amazon — we don’t list prices because they change.
🛒 More products dropping soon — here’s the rest of what this category will stock.

What you'll find in Wash & Prep

We add these as we test them, so the list stays gear we would actually use rather than whatever pays best.

Gear gets you ready. Answered calls get you booked.

The best kit in the world does not help if the customer booked elsewhere while you were using it. We set up missed-call text-back for your shop, so anyone you cannot answer gets a text within seconds instead of a voicemail they will never leave.

See how it works →