What is “How to Auto Detail” or HTAD?
How To Auto Detail (HTAD) is a community of detailers ranging from hobbyists to professionals. Detailing is a huge industry and there was a big lack of organized resources to learn about it online, so this site was created to help others cut through marketing fluff and misinformation. What started out as a bunch of links on Reddit turned into a fully-fledged community wiki over the years. The website has been around since 2018.
Is HTAD sponsored or owned by a company?
No. We list brands and products all over the place, but we do not have any sponsorships, corporate agreements, kickbacks, affiliates, advertising, or paid marketing. The professionals in our community are pro detailers who use various products and help us with recommendations based on experience.
If you found this wiki helpful and would like to contribute towards website hosting and maintenance costs, we accept tips via ko-fi.
Who writes on HTAD?
We’re normal people with normal jobs, and detailing is a major hobby we want to share with others. Our contributors write articles, guides, and product reviews. Interested in joining? Hit us up on the Discord community.
Below is a timeline showing how far we’ve come!
January 2026
4.0 – Boosting performance
We revamped the website on a fancy new server upgrade and streamlined the design for quicker load times and searches.
February 2024
3.0 – Growing for more guides
The website got a fresh coat of paint and we tried a more formal organization system for articles. International articles from Discord contributors were added.
August 2023
2.5 – A bigger team with Discord
As the Discord server for HTAD grew, we added more editors and expanded our content to cover more aspects of detailing including chemistry and business perspectives.
October 2018
2.0 – We have a website!
We outgrew the Reddit wiki and needed better formatting and organization for more content. Guides were updated, rewritten, and polished on a new website: howtoautodetail.com
November 2015
1.0 – Collection of Reddit threads
A cluster of links to informational threads was compiled into a wiki on Reddit. The initial “Recommended Kits” guide and beginner guides were created to help newbie detailers learn the hobby.