Car Detailing Products You Need to Buy to Make Your Car Look Brand New

Car detailing is something that most gearheads take as a matter of pride. Speaking as someone who loves to detail their car, it's an experience that makes you feel prideful and makes you really feel like your car is yours.

Now that summer is here, gearheads everywhere are hitting local garages to pick up their favorite car detailing products. If you want a veteran detailer's advice, the following items are must-haves if you want to keep your car fresh as a daisy during the dog days of summer.

It's basically a law of physics at this point: if you love your car and go to a grocery store, it'll come back with at least one or two scratches. ScratchX 2.0 Scratch Remover is the weapon you need to make sure your car looks perfect in the summer sun.

This remover buffs away scratches and adds a new layer of gloss to damaged areas. If you live in an area where scratches and dings are the norm, you need Meguiar's.

What we love about this clear coat-friendly product is its versatility. It works with regular hand polishing, dual-action polishers, and single-action polishers too.

Most people who have tried to do a DIY car wash already know the issue with water: hard water can leave hard water stains on your mechanical baby. To avoid this, get the Aero Cosmetics Waterless Car Wash kit.

This has everything you need to wash your car without the use of hard water, including gentle scrubbing sponges and a quick rinse. One kit's enough for up to 36 cars.

Unlike many car detailing products, what makes this product so useful is its high degree of safety. The ingredients are ammonia-free and are so safe, they even can be used to clean car interiors. No matter what you want to clean, this will take care of it for you.

Car detailing products have a tendency to focus on the more "fun" aspects of cleaning a car, such as shining, glossing, and air freshening. The problem is that driving a car sometimes gets messy—and sometimes, you may end up with bugs on the windshield.

Turtle Wax Bug and Tar Remover will make the bugs glide off effortlessly, along with just about any other sticky gunk that has decided to say hello to your car.

A common misconception about gearheads is that they don't care about the environment. This is just not true, and that's why eco-friendly companies like Green Clean make Earth-friendly car products that are favored by gearheads.

If you're looking for one of the best car detailing products that remains environmentally friendly, the car shampoo by Green Clean is a perfect choice. It's easy to use, super effective, and also removes oxidation from your car.

Meguiar's reputation in car communities is one that is as good as gold. All the most expensive cars in the world, before being auctioned off, are cleaned and waxed with Meguiar's because it's that good a brand. (Or at least, that's what I'd imagine happens, I wouldn't know.)

The Ultimate Paste Wax is one of the best car detailing products you can buy when you want to finish your car's look with a professional-looking wax job.

If you've had a hard time waxing your car before, try again with Meguiar's. This wax is designed for beginners to use and can withstand just about every environment you could imagine. You'll love it.

That being said, you will need car buffers for DIY cleaning when using this wax. Thankfully, they're cheaper than you'd think.

When washing your car, have you ever had your hand cramp up while holding a sponge? It's not as uncommon as you think! Relentless Drive came up with a superb quick fix for this issue with a spectacular pair of microfiber wash mitts.

Slip them on, let the mitts soak up the soap, and have fun scrubbing away. It's really that simple and it couldn't be better for your car. Once you're done washing, throw them in the laundry and they're ready for round two.

If you aren't ready to splurge on a buffing machine but still want that beautiful waxy look to your car detailing, then you can thank CarGuys for one of the best car detailing products ever made.

This kit allows you to get professional detailing-quality waxing without all the fancy gizmos. It works on all paint colors, acts as a world-class polymer sealing, and offers the same mirror shine that waxing does.

Finding good car detailing products that focus on leather isn't easy. In fact, most automotive companies don't do a good job of making leather care products at all. That's why a lot of insiders to the industry have started to hit up indie companies to find better interior care products.

Leather Honey is actually an upholstery company, but they make one of the best car detailing potions for leather seating. A little spritz of diluted formula and a wipe will leave your seating feeling soft as butter.

A common rookie mistake newbie detailers make is to forget about headlights when they start cleaning up their car. Dingy headlights seem like an afterthought, but they make a huge difference when you hit the road at night.

If you want to restore your headlights to "good as new" fashion, 3M's kit will make it a cinch. The kit allows you to restore your headlights in as little as an hour's time, with minimal toolwork involved. Not too bad!

If you're not an "a la carte" type of buyer, we totally understand. It's often cheaper and more efficient to buy car detailing products in a batch. Meguiar's created one of the most complete car detailing kits on the market with their Ultimate Car Care Kit.

This batch has it all—sponges, microfiber towels, buffing pads, polishes, shampoos, rinses... the works. Everything you need for a quick detailing job that looks garage-ready is here. All you really need to finish this kit is a spray bottle of water for spot cleaning.

Tires are the unsung heroes of your car. Without them, all the good mechanic work in the world wouldn't make it go far. Don't you think you should show your tires a little love? ArmorAll makes a wonderful Tire Glaze that goes on easy, stays through everything, and keeps your tires looking perfect.

If you're tired of grimy tires after mudding, this is the gear you need to get.

ArmorAll's Cleaning Wipes are the things that car dreams are made of. They clean every part of the car—both inside and out. The fiber in the cloths grip dirt, dust, and grime effortlessly and once you're done, you just need to throw it in the bin, making it one of the most convenient car detailing products.

Even if you don't typically use cleaning wipes, you should give these a shot. When you're not using them for your car, they work wonders around the house as dusting wipes, sink wipes, and wall wipes.