There are lots of ways to clean your car and revive its sparkling finish after the long winter months. Here we’re going to cover the basics of a good clean for a vehicle that spends its life outside. It is important to note that you should avoid washing your car in direct sunlight as this will heat up the paintwork and allow both water and chemicals to evaporate, leaving streaks.
Items You’ll Need To Clean Your Car
- At least 2 buckets & a grit guard
- Hose or jet spray
- Car wash/shampoo
- Car wax
- Wheel cleaner + soft bristle brush
- Clay bar
- Microfibre wash mitt
- Microfibre drying towel/chamois leather
Things To Note
If at any point your drop your microfibre mitt, cloth or applicator pad on the floor leave it there. Once a cloth hits the floor it will pick up grit and the last thing you want to do is spread that grit over your paintwork as this will leave scratches.
Cleaning Your Wheels
The first step to clean your car should always be the wheels. This is especially true if you have alloy wheels that you’d like to bring back to their former glory. If your alloys are particularly dirty you may want to remove them from the vehicle in order to remove all the dirt.
To remove all the dirt; you want to use a good rim cleaner and possibly a soft bristled brush to help lift all the caked on dirt. Then rinse off the rims and replace on the vehicle.
Work Top To Bottom
Whether you’re using a powerful jet spray or a simple garden hose; you should always clean your car, both rinse and wash, from top to bottom. This is because the dirt will always be tougher the lower down the car you go. Once you’ve foamed up the car, the suds will work their way down helping to release any stubborn dirt towards the bottom of the car.
Cleaning With The Two Bucket Method
The two bucket method is very simple, get two buckets (make sure they are clean by rinsing them to remove any dirt), fill one with clean water and the other bucket with your preferred car washing solution.
Once you’ve dipped your microfibre wash mitt in the washing bucket proceed to clean your car one section at a time (remember to work top to bottom). Before dunking the wash mitt back into the soapy bucket give it a good dunk in the clean water bucket. This helps to remove any grit that may have been captured in the mitt and helps to avoid scratching the cars paintwork. Try to avoid dipping the mitt right down to the bottom of the bucket as this is where all the grit will be, ideally you should have a grit guard to prevent you from reaching the bottom.
Wash Wheel Arches
Ideally you should use a separate bucket and cloth to clean inside the wheel arches and underneath the car. This is because these areas will have the most amount of grit and you don’t want to spread this any further than you need to.
Once you’ve washed the car, give it a final rinse with the hose and then you’re ready for drying.
Drying Your Car
To dry your car you should use a fresh, clean microfibre drying towel or chamois leather. Gently move the towel along the body of the car and ring out the water when you feel it getting too wet. As with all other processes in cleaning your car you should work from the top to the bottom.
When you get to drying the door sills you should use a different drying towel.
Clay Bar
Now you’ve dried the car it’s time to reach for the clay bar. Clay bars are designed to remove any remaining wax, sap, tar, grit and road grime that hasn’t been removed during the wash. When using a clay bar it is important to not press to hard, otherwise you risk pressing any remaining grit into the surface of the paint. If you’re using a traditional clay bar remember to fold in the surface so you constantly have a fresh section of clay to remove the surface dirt. Once you’ve finished using the clay bar you should be able to clearly see all the dirt that has been removed and trapped within. Now it’s time to give the car another rinse and dry.
Wax On Wax Off
There are a wide variety of car waxes available for this stage, however the process is pretty much the same for all of them. Apply a small amount of wax to the applicator (if one was provided, if not a clean microfibre cloth), and work it into the surface of the car using small circular motions. Most waxes take about 5-10 minutes to dry. Once dried use a fresh microfibre cloth to buff off the wax, remember to turn the cloth regularly. Ideally you should use a second microfibre cloth for the final buff.
At this point you can stand back and admire how much better your car looks.
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