Meguiar’s Quik Detailer Review (Mist & Wipe)

If you’re like me and like to keep your car clean, then you know how much of a struggle it can be to stay on top of things.

While you might have a routine car washing/detailing “cycle”, that doesn’t stop the weather, birds, or any other ‘force of nature’ (or man, in some cases) from deciding to get your paint dirty earlier than you might like.

You might clean your car on the Sunday, and then by Tuesday some bird has decided to do its business all over your nicely prepared paint finish.

What is a man (or woman) to do in this frustrating situation?

You could behave like a true barbarian, and just use water to clean off the mess and touch up your car’s paint in between detailing sessions.

But there is a better way (or so the manufacturer likes to claim).

It’s called “Quik Detailer” by Meguiar’s – specifically the “Mist & Wipe” product as pictured above.

In this Meguiar’s Quik Detailer review, I’ll be looking at the pros and cons of this popular product to help you decide if it is the right choice for you when it comes to a ‘quick and easy’ touch up solution.

What Is It?

Long story short, Meguiar’s Quik Detailer is a “spot cleaning” product for your car.

You’re not meant to use it to clean your whole car, and it isn’t meant to replace a routine washing and waxing regimen.

What it is meant for is touching up your car’s finish between washes.

I have read of some people using Quik Detailer as a way of removing built-up dust between washes (and when I was testing it more thoroughly – as per some of the images in this review) it worked well for that purpose. For example, if you cleaned your car and then it rains when taking it out, you might want a quick and easy way of getting the inevitable dust buildup off until you have a chance to wash it again – Quik Detailer is ideal for that purpose.

Another use for Quik Detailer is as a lubricant for clay bar application. If you’ve ever tried to clay bar a car, then you’ll know that you need to use something to create a slippery surface the clay bar can glide over (in fact, without something like this you risk damaging the paintwork if you just rub the clay bar on to a dry surface).

You can purchase Meguiar’s Quik Detailer here on Amazon or on their own site.

How Much Does It Cost?

Meguiar’s Quik Detailer is “reasonably” priced.

It isn’t dirt cheap, but isn’t horrendously expensive either.

Meguiar’s offer a couple of other detailer spray products (Ultimate, and Hybrid Ceramic) which are about $10 and $20 more expensive respectively in my local currency. Quik Detailer in the red bottle is the ‘entry level’ product from the Meguiar’s range, it seems.

Here in New Zealand, it costs around $30-35 a bottle, depending on where you are buying from (bear in mind that is NZD, so in USD at the time of writing I could buy from my local big box auto store for around $22.50 USD).

If you know anything about New Zealand, you’ll know it’s a beautiful country but we get absolutely hosed in terms of value for money – and car detailing products are typically much more expensive here than in the United States and other larger markets.

At the time of writing, you can score a 16oz bottle of this product for $6.99 USD on Meguiar’s official online store (https://www.meguiarsdirect.com/meguiars-quik-detailer-16oz.html) – which comes out to $10.50 in my local currency. So it’s basically 1/3 the price to buy this product in America!

One other thing to bear in mind is that Meguiar’s bundle Quik Detailer into a ‘Smooth Surface Clay Kit’ which also comes with a clay bar twin pack and microfibre buffing cloth. This costs $50 NZD ($33) at time of writing from my local retailer.

If you’re getting into car detailing and don’t yet have a clay bar product, then I’d suggest that ponying up the extra money from the ‘Smooth Surface Clay Kit’ is worth it … it seems like better value for money to me than buying Quik Detailer alone.

I actually got my bottle of Quik Detailer this way, and it does appear to be a better way to buy if you don’t already have a clay bar kit (as this is something useful to have in your detailing arsenal).

How Do You Use It?

Honestly, Meguiar’s Quik Detailer couldn’t be easier to use.

Spray on to the surface you are looking to clean, wipe it, and then buff off … it’s about as “idiot proof” as you can get.

If I can use it and get good results, so can you – end of story.

What’s Good

• Easy to use & fast – As I mentioned above, this is very much an idiot-proof product. Buy a bottle, wait until there’s something you want to spot clean on your car (or until it’s covered in dust but you don’t want to properly wash it due to time constraints) spray on, wipe, and then buff off. You can quickly and easily improve your car’s finish with this product.
• Effective – good results – I’ve tested this product on a few different cars/paint surfaces/scenarios (as per the images in this review) and have generally always been impressed with the results. I find it spot cleans much better than water alone, and does a good job at bringing lustre and shine to the finish of the surface.
• Multi-purpose  – Not only is Quik Detailer a great “quick detailer”, you can also use it as a lubricant for clay bar usage. This amplifies the value of this product, making it even more appealing. I’m always a fan of products that you can use in multiple contexts, and this fits the bill nicely.

What’s Bad

• Not the cheapest – It’s more expensive than spraying on water (obviously) and there are other quick detailing products like Turtle Wax Quick & Easy Clean And Shine; although pricing seems to vary greatly from region to region and . If you are on a tight budget, then you might want to look elsewhere; Meguiar’s products are typically never the most affordable in their category.
• Some have complained of hazing on the finish – I haven’t personally noticed this issue myself, but some other reviewers have said that the product can leave a bit of a hazy finish on paintwork. This might be an artefact of the type of wax or other sealant that they are using; I haven’t been able to replicate it. However, this is something to note. Maybe see if you can borrow some off a friend or family member first to check how it will work on your car.
• If you are doing spot cleaning of very small areas you can probably just use water – Okay, a proper product like Quik Detailer will ultimately work better, but if you’re just an average car owner who wants to occasionally spot clean bird dirt etc, then it’s probably good enough just to use a sprayer bottle with some water and a microfibre cloth.
• More elbow-grease than you think is sometimes required – If you’re just removing road dust, then Quik Detailer makes light work of the situation. However, I found that when trying to remove “aged” bird dirt (that I hadn’t spotted) as well as some dried, splattered bugs, I needed to apply more effort than I was expecting. I was hardly sweating by the end of the process, and some of this might also be due to the fact that I was testing on a paint surface that hadn’t been waxed in a while … but don’t assume that you can just melt away imperfections without applying some good old-fashioned elbow grease.

Meguiar’s Quik Detailer Review Conclusion

Overall, I’m a fan of Meguiar’s Quik Detailer.

I wouldn’t use it as a replacement for a regular washing/cleaning regimen (instead I would recommend using something like Meguiar’s Ultimate Wash & Wax – read my review on that link). It’s also not a replacement for a proper car wax/sealant product like Meguiar’s Ultimate Liquid Wax. If you’re the kind of person who is particular enough about their paintwork to use something like a paint coating thickness gauge, then you’re unlikely to be completely satisfied with this product.

However, as a good way of “touching up” your car’s paint finish between cleanings, it works very nicely indeed. Just spray on, and wipe off, and you’ll find that it’s easy to lift away issues like bird dirt or splattered bugs. Too easy, too simple, too fast.

Meguiar’s Quik Detailer is also decent value for money. While it isn’t the cheapest product on the market, it is affordable – and because you won’t be using it all of the time, it should last. This isn’t something you’ll be chopping through every few weeks. As I pointed out above, in ‘rip off New Zealand’ it’s reasonably priced by our standards, and in America it is about 1/3 the price so this won’t break the bank.

Furthermore, it is ‘multi purpose’ e.g. you can use it as a lubricant for clay bar detailing (as I mentioned above, I got my bottle after purchasing a Meguiar’s Clay Bar kit – which I will be doing a review of in due course).

I honestly haven’t tried any competing ‘touch up spray’ products – so if you think there’s something else out there that is better value for the money, then let me know in the comment section. However, all things being considered, I really like this product and would recommend it to other car owners wanting an easy, affordable way to quickly touch up the paint finish on a car.

I would like to try some of the more premium quick detail sprays from Meguiar’s in the near future, but for now I am content to use up my supply of Quik Detailer.

You can purchase Meguiar’s Quik Detailer here on Amazon or on their own site.