Hello fellow detailer, definitely should wash your focus a lot more often yourself safely to reduce all those swirl marks cause by car washes with improper technique!

When it comes to shampoo, you'll really have to consider what sort of qualities you like in a shampoo, foaminess? detergency? lubricity? hand feel? scent? free rinsing? etc etc. The Meguiar's Gold Class is a fantastic shampoo with a great handfeel. Have you tried Meguiar's Hyper Wash? It has fantastic lubricity and handfeel, good detergency against road grime and rinses off easily to boot.

Another great shampoo is Optimum Car Wash. Regardless of which shampoo you decide to pick up, always remember to check the dilution ratios, the higher the dilution - the more economical your wash will be. Dilution ratios are also dependent on the quality of your water, the harder your water - the more you have to use. Also factor in your wash tools such as foam guns or foam cannons (foam guns 100ml shampoo concentrate, foam cannons 50ml)

Clay bars, you should try and pick these up from a reputable seller, but keep in mind that claying your car could potentially cause marring on your paint. It may be a good idea to follow up your claying with a one step polish. Claying your car will also strip off your wax coating but you can always use pour a shot of APC into your foam cannon or foam gun or wash bucket, that will give some degreasing ability to your wash. In this way you can wash and strip off the wax at the same time.

Another and probably more effective way to ensure that wax is stripped off, pour some APC (usually at a dilution of 3 : 1) in a pressure pump sprayer and pre-soak your vehicle and follow up with a thorough wash. Make sure you rinse your car down well as some APCs do not rinse free.

Polishing and compounding all boils down the proper technique. As long as you stick to a DA type tool and also polish and compound products geared towards newcomers, you should A-O-K

Waxes and sealants. In the past the best way to actually protect your car is by using a wax, but these usually don't last long and so they've come up with sealants which last a lot longer than waxes. So you either choose a wax or a sealant to protect your car from the elements. As to which you actually use, that really depends on your car care methodology. How often do you wash your car? How much time do you have when washing? Do you like doing it often or prefer to do it only once in a long while?

If you like washing your car often but don't have much time in your session, I would recommend using a spray wax. After every wash, just use your spray wax as a drying aid along with your microfibre towel / waffle weave, this will give your car the protection that it needs until your next wash which isn't too far away.
If on the other hand if you only prefer washing once in a long while, use a sealant which will last a couple of months. You can always use a wax as a topper on your sealant but ensure that you check with the manufacturer of your products, some products aren't meant to be topped or won't play well with other products.

Use a detail spray for your clay lube or if you are a fan of waterless washes, your waterless wash concentrate properly diluted will also make an excellent clay lube. A shampoo is also possible if it has very good lubricity.

Happy detailing,

-d