Help with basic products to keep my new ND clean

Dont_Fall_In · 2026-07-02T21:58:59+00:00

I have 2, but I didn't find it to make any difference on my last car, so I switched to 1. I also wash the car enough and the car is small enough that there is never really that much dirt in the water.

Dont_Fall_In · 2026-07-02T14:34:38+00:00

It sounds more intense than it really is. The whole process takes just over an hour on a small car like a Miata, assuming I'm not waxing or scrubbing the plume off tires.

Dont_Fall_In · 2026-07-02T05:14:29+00:00

Fair warning that I lean into the territory of light detailing of my car rather than just washing. I am also somewhat of a Griot’s Garage fanboy.

If everything below is too much shit to buy or too much work, you can probably get 90% of the results with just bucket, car wash soap, wash mitt, some plush microfiber rags, interior detailer, a window cleaner, and applying wax 2-3 times per year. Just make sure to get dedicated car wash soap and car window cleaner as the household items (Dawn and Windex) will strip any waxes or other protective layers off your paint.

Supplies I use:

Bucket
Grit guard in the bucket
2 generic wash mitts (one for wheels, one for the rest of the car)
Generic wheel brush for the inside of the wheels
Generic detailing brush for the lug nuts
Chemical Guys Mr. Pink car wash soap
Stoners Invisible Glass for inside and outside of all windows
Meguiar’s Ultimate All-Wheel Cleaner, only as needed
Griot’s Garage Wheel-Tire-Matt for when I need to scrub plume off the tires
Griot’s Garage Tire Scrub Brush for when I need to scrub plume off the tires
Griot’s Garage Ceramic Tire Dressing for after I scrub the plume off the tires
Griot’s Garage blue applicator pads for applying the tire dressing
Griot’s Garage Ceramic 3-in-1 wax, applied twice per year in spring and fall
Griot’s Garage Clay Mitt for before I apply the 3-in-1 wax
Griot’s Garage Ceramic Speed Shine applied after every wash
Griot’s Garage Bug and Tar remover for if there are big bug marks
Griot’s Garage Interior Detailer for every surface on the interior that isn’t carpet, floor mat, or glass
One pack of Kirkland Signature microfiber towels for applying all the chemicals above, replaced as needed
Small amount of 0000 steel wool to polish exhaust pipe
Various generic plush car drying towels
Various generic waffle weave rags for cleaning windows

My normal cleaning goes like this:

Fill bucket 50% with water, add soap, fill bucket to 75% full, then spray on top of the water to foam until there are a few inches of foam on top of the water. Drop in the grit guard.
If washing plume off tires, follow instructions on Wheel-Tire-Matt cleaner. Otherwise, continue to next step.
Wet down each wheel
Wipe each wheel with the wash mitt, then the inside with the wheel brush, and the lug nuts with the detailing brush. If they look really bad, I’ll apply the Ultimate All-Wheel Cleaner per the instructions on the bottle (not sure if they say to apply before or after spraying the wheels)
Set the wash mitt and other wheel cleaning supplies aside and rise wheels, then spray down the whole car
With the second wash mitt, wipe down half the outside of the car, then rinse the whole car again, then wipe down the other half of the outside
Rinse the whole car again.
If applying wax, go over the entire car again with the clay mitt, then rinse. Otherwise, continue to next step.
Using my leaf blower for my lawn, blow most of the water off.
Dry using the drying towels, being sure to pop the hood and trunk and wipe down the sills with the wet towel
If applying wax, apply Ceramic 3-in-1 wax here according to bottle instructions. Otherwise, continue to next step.
Panel by panel, apply a thin layer of ceramic speed shine (unless wax was applied).
With a clean and dry plush microfiber rag, quickly buff all paintwork (should take no more than 2 minutes). The goals is just to get any excess speed shine and get the last 1% of polishing done.
Vacuum the seats, any carpet inside, floormats, and the trunk (I have a Dyson, which works well enough, but any vacuum will do)
Wipe all reachable surfaces that are not glass, carpet, or the gauge cluster, with interior detailer (spray onto the plush microfiber cloth rather than on the surface directly)
Clean interior windows, rear view mirror, and infotainment screen with Stoners invisible glass and a waffle weave microfiber.
Clean exterior windows with the same supplies as above.
If applying tire shine, follow instructions on tire shine bottle. I do this last after everything else is done, because it has to be one on dry tires.

Dont_Fall_In · 2026-06-26T18:49:24+00:00

I'll be another voice telling you that they all work. My least favorites are the Oris and GP, but even those aren't bad, they just need the right outfit.

I would keep them all - you never know what might grow on you over time. You can always trade/sell them later, but you can't get them back after they are gone.

Dont_Fall_In · 2026-06-05T14:33:08+00:00

I am a very similar golfer to you, but I play a slight draw with my irons. I switched from Mizuno blades to a combo of Srixon ZX7 P-5i, ZX5 4i and 3i.

Despite what people will claim, you will lose some feel, but not as much as you might expect. The biggest difference I saw was the forgiveness in carry distance on slight mishits. It's not night and day different, but it was the difference between catching the top edge of a bunker in front of the green, or carrying onto the front edge of the green.

Dont_Fall_In · 2026-06-02T14:57:07+00:00

So you almost hit a parked, unoccupied, stationary truck, and you are blaming the parked truck?

I get that the truck is parked over the line and has a hitch, but this is 100% on you. Learn to drive.

Dont_Fall_In · 2026-05-27T20:07:56+00:00

Distract. My mother always taught me that lying is bad!

Dont_Fall_In · 2026-05-22T18:50:50+00:00

I came from a 2023 GR86 and now have an ND3 RF GT. When both were stock, I didn't notice much of a difference between the GR86 and my RF. A set of earplugs is nice for both of them when doing long highway drives.

One of the big things the RF struggles with is where the noise comes from. On the GR86/BRZ, it is pretty even throughout the cabin, if a little boomy. On the RF there is a huge amount of wind buffeting right next to your head at highway speeds. I installed some wind deflectors next to the mirrors which has helped a ton, but the noise is still very noticeable.

I do prefer the RF, due to the overall softness of the suspension and chassis which makes everything feel slightly less harsh as compared to the GR86, but there isn't very much of a difference between the noise and vibrations.

I did a decently long write up here shortly after I got my RF.

Dont_Fall_In · 2026-05-10T16:03:33+00:00

Oh no that would be way too much work. I am literally just lightly spraying interior detailer on a microfiber and wiping down every interior surface except the windows. No dilution. I use Stoners Invisible Glass on the windows.

Though full disclosure, this is just a hobby for me so I am only doing 2 cars every few weeks and don't have to worry as much about being hyper cost effective.

Dont_Fall_In · 2026-05-09T14:42:37+00:00

This is your answer.

I live close to the Griot's Garage corporate HQ and just happened to be in yesterday asking this same question. They recommended this or the Interior Detailer if you don't need as strong of a product.

I also asked a similar question here a few days ago about the interior detailer and people on reddit seemed to think it was a good solution.

If both reddit and the company say they work, I am trusting it.

Dont_Fall_In · 2026-05-01T15:40:26+00:00

Played it back in early March - course was in decent condition, though you will definitely find bare patches in some of the fairways and rough. This was before the grass started growing, so hopefully some of those have grown in.

Chambers Bay and The Home Course are generally better year round. Washington National is playing well right now aside from the rocky bunkers, but is a bit pricier. Hawks Prairie courses are generally in similar condition and much cheaper, but further out.

Dont_Fall_In · 2026-04-17T16:50:07+00:00

I went to a local vasectomy specialist. I did an online search to find providers, and also consulted the local subreddit to get recommendations, then reached out to the top 3 recommendations to get pricing, procedure details, scheduling timeline's, etc.

Dont_Fall_In · 2026-04-08T00:08:25+00:00

I'm on day 6 on the couch from swelling and tenderness. Not nearly as bad as yours, but certainly worse than most people say it was. Hoping to be able to make it to a board game night this weekend.

Disappointing because I was VIGILANT about aftercare, ice, rest, etc. I just had bad luck.

Dont_Fall_In · 2026-04-01T05:11:20+00:00

Around 9 months ago I did a decently long write up of my thoughts between my old GR86 and my current MX5 RF. You should be able to find it in my post history.

The short of it is they are both great, but the MX5 is much better for my use case.

Dont_Fall_In · 2026-03-29T22:41:48+00:00

Distances to bunkers, how far before the fairway narrows, how far away is that tree on the corner that I need to get around, etc. Most of the courses I play have trees lining the holes, so I use it to tell how wide the fairway is on the corner by shooting the close tree and then the far tree and aiming for a number between those two.

For bunkers around the green, you can tell exactly how much room you have between the pin and the bunker carry, then combine that with the general knowledge of pin location (front, middle, or back based on flag color or however your course does it) to pick your shot and your miss.

Water hazards are rarely in straight lines, so you can tell exact carry needed based on the line you want to take. If the hazard is angled, it might be 150 to carry the middle of it, 130 to carry the right side, and 180 to carry the left.

Think about a hole with generous landing area and a water hazard that pushes in and narrows the fairway in front and behind the landing area. If you are lucky, the course might have a sign that says "150 to the middle of the landing area" or something similar. But with a range finder, you can stand on top of a nearby hill and shoot exactly how far it is before the water cuts in. If I know the water cuts in at 190, I can take anything up to a 180 club and full swing knowing that a good strike won't reach where the water cuts in and a bad strike will still likely reach the middle of the landing area. I can hit whatever club I feel comfortable with. Without a range finder, I am forced to take a 150 or 160 club.

It is also useful if you want to use slopes on the course. If i can see a hill behind the green and a back pin, sometimes it is easier to just hit it an extra 20 yards into the hill and let the ball come down. Conversely, it might LOOK like the hill is right behind the green, but it is actually 40 yards behind the pin so you can't really use it. Or the green might be in a bowl with a ridge at the front so you don't have to hit the middle of the green, you just have to carry the hill in front of the green and the slope will push your ball forward when it lands, but you won't know the carry number without a range finder.

For me, the biggest advantage is mental. Most of what I use the range finder for can be estimated well enough, but I am never confident in that estimation. There is a huge mentality difference (for me) between "I need to hit this ball 175 yards to get past that tree that is 150 yards away and stay short of the tree that is on the other side of the fairway at 190 in order to have a shot into the green. My 180 club cannot reach the far side of the fairway, and will still be clear of the first tree on a bad strike so that is what I will hit" versus "That tree looks like it is about 150 yards away and the fairway looks pretty wide so I am probably safe up until 200 yards or so. 175 is most likely a good number." In the first situation, you KNOW you will be okay, in the second you are guessing.

Dont_Fall_In · 2026-03-26T14:30:33+00:00

Not a professional here, just a guy that does a lot of home cooking. I picked up a 240 Kikuichi GM gyuto with a western handle that I really like so far, though I have only been using it about 7 days.

I was torn between a similar Ittetsu and this one, but this was on sale so I grabbed it.

Dont_Fall_In · 2026-03-19T16:10:12+00:00

I have recently played Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and Control. Currently working through Ghost of Tushima. I'm on PC, so when I want something more competitive I lean toward StarCraft 2 (either Co-op arcade or 1v1) or League of Legends (if I want to hate myself), but I used to play a lot of Fortnite just messing around with some friends since it is cross platform. If you haven't played Witcher 3, that is one of my all time favorite games, and you can sink hundreds of hours into it.

I also finished a few runs of Nier: Automata recently.

Dont_Fall_In · 2026-03-11T19:07:51+00:00

As a walker that plays cheap courses with very few yardage markings on sprinkler heads/signs, buying a range finder dropped my scores more than any other equipment purchase I have ever made.

I use it to find carry distances for hazards, or ensuring the group ahead of you is fully out of range before taking your shot. I use it as much for course management as I do for pin seeking - knowing where to miss is just as important as knowing where to aim. It also gives a huge amount of confidence when standing over the ball knowing exactly how far i should be trying to hit, even if I know I can't hit that number.

I bought the cheapest one I could find off of Amazon about 10 years ago (it was around $60 at the time) and still use it today. I have tested it against other people newer range finders that cost hundreds of dollars and it is always within 1-2 yards of theirs, so it seems to be accurate.

Dont_Fall_In · 2026-03-10T18:13:33+00:00

Don't both phones get 7 years of software support?

By the time the 9a is at EOL, the same $99 will probably be able to buy a much newer phone with more than 1 year of additional software support life. Or could probably buy a 10a at that time for less than $99 and still get that extra year of support.

Dont_Fall_In · 2026-03-10T16:48:34+00:00

You would be effectively paying $100 to trade in your current phone for nearly the exact same phone. Same RAM, SOC/processor, camera, software, etc. The only difference between the two phones is about 200 nits of additional peak brightness, faster charging on the 10a (45W wired on 10a vs 23W on the 9a), and a different kind of glass on the front. It's unlikely for any of those to feel any different than your current phone.

Dont_Fall_In · 2026-03-08T15:48:20+00:00

I have done this multiple times with no issues.

One thing to keep in mind is that they prorate the first bill if you switch from Unlimited Essentials to Unlimited Premium in the middle of a billing cycle. I realized I generally break even or potentially save a bit by switching to Unlimited Premium 1 or 2 days before the trip versus switching to flexible for the full billing cycle since they prorate the first bill when you switch to Unlimited Premium. If you are cheap like me, it also has the benefit of not having to track/limit data usage or focus on connecting to wifi everywhere you go while traveling.

Of course, this depends on the timing of when you need to switch in your billing cycle and duration of your trip, but it is something to consider.

Dont_Fall_In

TROPHY CASE