Level up your car care routine with these car washing tips and vehicle detailing tricks.
Any detailer will tell you that properly cleaning cars isn’t as simple as the local car wash makes it seem. It takes special care to get it right, and if you're not taking the right steps, you'll end up with mediocre results – and possible damage to your paint. In fact, many blemishes are referred to as "love" swirls or scratches, as they were created by owners who had good intentions of cleaning their cars but didn't use the best practices while doing it.
This doesn't mean you need to have pro-level equipment or skills to wash your car. It just means you need to know that there's a right way of doing things… and a wrong way. To ensure you get off to a great start, we've put together a list of helpful car washing tips, separated into do’s and don'ts.
Do Use Specially Formulated Car Shampoos
Proper car washing starts with using the right chemicals. Car wash soaps are specially-designed, PH-neutral formulas that won't harm automotive paint or the many different materials found on the surface of your car.
There are all sorts of options out there, including just standard car washes, special sudsy formulas for use with foam guns, and even wash and wax combos. You will need to choose the one that best suits your needs. Just be sure that it's specifically designed for car washing, and you're good to go.
Don’t Use Dish Soap
A lot of people make the mistake of using dish soap whenever they wash their car. The problem is that dish soap is actually a degreasing formula that's far harsher than car soaps. Using it frequently can lead to damaged paint and even fading. The only time it should be used is if you're trying to strip away layers of wax prior to paint correction or when it's time to start a fresh layer.
Do Use a Combination of Towels, Sponges, and Brushes
The world of vehicle detailing is loaded with all sorts of tools for specific jobs, many of which are for highly specialized tasks only a high-end cleaning would entail. While you don't need a premium arsenal to clean your daily driver, you do want to use a small combination of tools – and not just a single sponge.
At the very least, you should have separate towels for the interior and exterior of the car, a sponge dedicated solely to washing the car, and a wheel brush.
Don’t Share Across Spaces
You never want to share towels, sponges, and brushes across the various spaces of the car. Once you dedicate them to a specific use, they should be limited solely to that. Otherwise, you risk spreading dirt and debris over surfaces like the paint, creating the "love" scratches mentioned earlier.
Do Use Multiple Buckets
As you study the world of vehicle detailing, you're sure to find that all professionals use multiple buckets when cleaning their cars. While you definitely want more than one, three should be the maximum.
One bucket should be used for soap, the other for rinsing the sponge between rounds, and the third should be dedicated to cleaning wheels and tires. If three is too many, two is perfectly acceptable, with one being for paint and the other for wheels and tires.
Don’t Cross-Contaminate
The whole purpose of using separate buckets is to avoid cross-contamination. Dirt pulled from the paint or wheels and tires stays in the dedicated bucket. Dipping your sponge into the dirty mixture and then dragging it across your paint is how you do serious damage. Using dirt traps in your buckets is an excellent additional measure that will help avoid this, especially if you're only using two.
Do Stack Layers of Protection
Wax and ceramic coatings are layers standing between your paint and the elements. They protect it from scratches, chips, and other blemishes that will ruin it with time. The higher you build that barrier, the better it will work. That's why it's good to lay an additional layer of wax or ceramic coating whenever you wash your car.
As a general rule, paste waxes and professionally-installed ceramic coatings should always serve as your base layer, while easy-to-use spray waxes and ceramic coatings can be used to build layers after each wash.
Don’t Strip Away the Wax Every Time You Wash
Unless you're trying to get down to bare paint to polish it or repair scratches, you want to leave layers of protection on the car as long as possible. Traditional paste waxes will last around three months, while ceramic coatings can last up to five years. Stripping away these layers and constantly reapplying fresh base coats not only incurs unnecessary expenses but also adds unnecessary wear and tear to the paint.
Do Use a Pressure Washer to Clean the Undercarriage
Don't limit the wash to just the upper half of your car. Make sure to thoroughly clean underneath to remove any debris that may be causing damage. Dirt and road grime cake up and trap moisture in places that essentially eat the car from the inside out.
This step is crucial, particularly for those living in the Rust Belt, where road salt exacerbates the corrosion process. Taking the time to clean these areas ensures the longevity of your vehicle.
Don’t use High Pressure on Delicate Mechanical Parts
Just blindly spraying away with a pressure washer is how you damage mechanical components. Instead, you should target problem areas and carefully work through them with spraying and degreaser. Once you're done, following up with a protective film will help keep gunk from eating up surfaces and can even speed up the cleaning process next time around.
We hope these car washing tips leave your ride gleaming and protected for miles to come!