One of my favorite parts of being a detailer is watching the industry evolve as new and exciting products are introduced that help us produce better results, perform our jobs quicker, and even create completely new solutions to existing problems.

This year, like most years, we have been able to purchase and test a wide variety of products and tools.  Most of these items work well enough to earn our praise, but a few really stand out and become part of the short list of products that we use very regularly.  This article will go through some of the products and tools that we have tried in 2016 that have exceeded our expectations.

CarPro Essence

Essence was announced at SEMA 2015, and we were able to obtain a sample almost immediately after the show.  If you missed it, you can read my initial impressions article here:  Product Review: CarPro Essence (Initial Impressions)

CarPro Essence is a unique polish that prepares the surface for either a silica based nano coating like CQuartz, or a silica based spray sealant like Reload.  It contains the same abrasive technology found in CarPro Reflect Finishing Polish, and has worked extremely well for us as a final polish to produce a crystal clear finish that is ready for coating.

Essence can also be used more like a glaze or AIO polish to produce outstanding results when true paint correction is not a reasonable option either due to budget or paint constraints.  Check out James’ article highlighting the popular Essence and Reload combination:  Product Review: CarPro Essence + CarPro Reload

Fast Correcting Cream

Griot’s Garage released their BOSS product line in 2015, and we were given some of the products to test later that year.  I am usually pretty resistant to changing our “go to” products, but after trying Fast Correcting Cream, and seeing outstanding results time after time, it quickly became our most used cutting compound, and I know several other Ask-A-Pro Blog authors have fallen for this product as well.

FCC provides great cutting power and can finish down rather nicely for a heavy cutting compound.  You can read more about it in product review articles written by myself and Joe Metlow.

Product Review: Griot’s Garage Fast Correcting Cream by Zach McGovern
Product Review: Griot’s Garage Boss Fast Correcting Cream by Joe Metlow

Tornador Air Blow Gun & Tornador Black

These 2 tools have saved us so much time this year!  The Tornador Black can be useful in cleaning almost anything, but we use it most on interiors.  It makes quick work of cleaning embedded dirt and grime from carpets and floor mats which allow us to produce even better results to our customers without spending any extra time on the job.  It doesn’t get any better than that!

The Tornador Blow Gun can be used to blow out intricate areas as it is much easier to maneuver the smaller profile of the blow gun than the tornador black with the fluid reservoir, however we really do not even use the blow gun too often on vehicles.  This blow gun has become our #1 tool for cleaning microfiber pads.  In my article How to Clean Microfiber Pads with Compressed Air I discussed the benefits of using compressed air to blow out your microfiber pads, but I had no idea what I was missing by using a standard air gun.  The cyclone effect of the tornador blow gun removes so much more debris from within the pads… you’ll be amazed!  I scrub our pads with APC, then pressure wash them, let them air dry, and then blow them all out with the Tornador Blow gun before using them.  The amount of dust that comes off of these “clean” pads is outstanding.  This means that even after scrubbing and pressure washing the pads, there is still a lot of residue trapped in the fibers.  We also use the blow gun as we are working to keep the pads clean and fibers fluffed up.  It makes a bit of a mess with the dust that is thrown around, but it is so worth it!

GTechniq Crystal Serum Light

We apply nanocoatings to the majority of vehicles that come through our shop.  Throughout the years I have tried all of the popular products, and have done extensive testing with many of them on my own personal vehicles.  I’ll be the first to tell you that they all work pretty well, however there are certain characteristics that distinguish them.  Whether it is ease of use, price, durability, resistance to dirt/contamination, slickness, or gloss, all coatings are slightly different.  To me, the biggest factors are ease of use and resistance to dirt/contamination.

Crystal Serum Light has become one of our favorite coatings for several reasons.  It is easy to use, impressively slick to the touch after application, and based on my ongoing personal testing, it makes maintenance cleaning very easy due to its ability to shed water and resist dirt/grime.

These 4 products are just a small selection of many that have found a spot on our shelves this year.  I look forward to continuing to evaluate these and many others as detailers and manufacturers continue to push the boundaries of the automotive detailing world.

If you have any new products that have really exceeded your expectations this year, or in the past, please let us know in the comments!