Car Cleaning Tips: How to Wash your Car at Home like a Pro
Keeping your car shining clean is a wearying and time-consuming task. Often in India, we prefer to pay local cleaners, watchmen, drivers, etc., to get it done.
But many a time, the lackluster job by such cleaners causes your paint to dull out and make you wish that you knew how to do it yourself. To help you learn this handy and easy skill, we have listed a few tips that will help you clean your car like a pro.
Always start with the wheels. Products required for wheel cleaning: A separate bucket, wheel woolly, lug nut brush, PH balanced wheel cleaner, a used/worn wash mitt, separate microfiber towels strictly for wheels. What’s used for the wheels never touches any other part of the car as the brake dust can dull out or stain paint.
First hose or pressure wash your wheels one by one. Allocate a bucket with some car shampoo or a wheel cleaner. If you have an iron contamination remover spray some on your wheels and watch it turn red and drip. Use the wheel woolly to agitate carbon build up in the wheel wells and behind the spokes of your alloy. Use the lug nut brushes to clean the lug nuts, spokes, and other hard to reach areas. Then use the old wash mitt with the soap bucket to reach behind the spokes and other intricate areas. Hose down and on to the next.
” THE REASON YOU DO YOUR WHEELS FIRST AND NOT LAST IS TO AVOID WATER SPOTS ON YOUR PAINT DUE TO THE LACK OF IMPROPER DRYING. “
Now that you done with the wheels its time to rinse down the car with a hose or a pressure washer. This removes major dirt build-up and other free contamination from the paint. You will know that the major rinse is done once all lose contamination is removed and you would be left with some bird droppings, road grime, etc., If you used a pressure washer most of that should be out too.
If you have a pressure washer there’s a major possibility that you have a foam cannon too. Load it up with some concentrated car shampoo. Conc. car shampoo has a dilution ratio which you need to make sure you follow. Foam blast your car.
If you don’t have a foam cannon you could go straight to the two bucket system.
Then you bring in two clean buckets. Bucket 1 is filled with car shampoo known as the foam bucket and Bucket 2 is your rinse bucket with clean water. Using a good wash mitt dunk it in your foam bucket a.k.a. bucket 1 and gently making passes from the roof to the hood then the side doors, the lower part of the door, and finally the bumpers and running board. Be sure to constantly inspect your washing mitt after every few passes making sure there’s no contamination like tiny stones and road grime. If there are dunk the mitt in bucket 2 and then in bucket 1 and back on the car. This will avoid putting in scratches and swirls on your delicate paint.
” REMEMBER TO ALWAYS WASH YOUR CAR FROM TOP TO BOTTOM AND NOT BOTTOM TO TOP. THE LOWER PART OF THE CAR IS ALWAYS DIRTIER THAN THE TOP. “
Finally, rinse the car down with clean water removing all shampoo and the loosened dirt. Then with a soft damp microfiber towel wipe the water softly making single stroke motions. Don’t rub a single panel too hard as it will only cause scratches and swirls.
If you have the time or if this is your Sunday car cleaning Pick your favorite carnauba wax and apply on 2 panels. Buff of the 1st panel and then the 2nd. Make sure you use a separate Microfiber to the buff of wax. If the wax has dried too hard you could squirt some spray wax and buff off. Or reapply the same wax on that particular spot and buff off.
For advice regarding car care or do you need help with detailing and protecting your car call us on…. Or drop us a mail on…. Or simply fix an appointment and drop by our store with your ride. Visit https://ocdaboutcars.in to know more.
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