The SkyLog · Watertown, SD

Notes from
between details.

The cheap habits that keep a machine looking right between my visits. I'd rather teach you these than charge you to fix what skipping them does. Two posts a month, seasonal, no products to buy from me.

Written by Zachary Thompson · RSS
A detailed Chevrolet Suburban in the shop, rockers and wheel wells clean
Winter · get ready now · September 14, 2026

Salt on the rockers

The five-dollar winter habit that beats rust in South Dakota. Not a detail; a rinse, aimed at the right places.

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Water beading on a ceramic-coated surface after a wash
Any season · September 8, 2026

How to wash a ceramic-coated vehicle

A coating makes washing easier, not optional. Here's what keeps it working, and the three things that quietly undo it.

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Corrected black paint with a mirror reflection, the finish a proper wash protects
Any season · September 1, 2026

The two-bucket wash

One bucket is how you scratch your own truck. Two buckets, a mitt, and ten extra minutes is how you don't.

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Ready when you are

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Got a question these posts didn't answer? Text it to me. If it's a good one, it becomes the next post — and if it needs hands, the quote is the price.