What's the best way to clean the car when winter's done with it? Road salt, dirt and general grime has played havoc with cars in more States than usual in 2021 - even as far south as Texas - and getting rid of all of that corrosion-causing muck should be a priority.
Yes, washing your car can be a difficult job, especially if it doesn’t end up much cleaner than it was when you started. But do it right, and your car can look like a gleaming new showroom model and be a place you actually want to spend some time in.
Don’t just throw a bucket of soapy water over your car though – give it a proper clean! Here are 10 tips for cleaning and detailing your car the right way…
1 What’s the best time of day to wash the car?
Don’t try to wash and wax your car in extreme heat or direct sunlight, so avoid the middle of the day. If the weather has warmed up then water will evaporate quickly and form grimy residues before you have a chance to wipe them off.
Dark-coloured cars can absorb so much heat they become hot to the touch – this doesn’t just burn your fingers, it can affect some of the chemicals used for car detailing.
An overcast day is best for car cleaning, but keep an eye on the weather forecast - the last thing you want is a rain shower to ruin all your hard work.
2 Clean the car’s interior
Before you clean the outside, clean the inside. Start by removing any obvious rubbish from the ash trays, door bins, glove box and other interior storage spaces. Don’t forget to check under the seats for sweet wrappers, missing spectacles and mislaid dimes (hey, you never know).
If you use seat mats, take them out and clean them separately. A quick dusting down won’t usually do it, so if they’re rubber, wash them with warm soapy water. If you use carpet mats, you may even be able to run them through the washing machine – but check the instructions.
3 Use a vacuum cleaner on the car
Now you can vacuum up all the dust and grit, but first you have to loosen it up or move it out into the open where the nozzle can reach it. So use a stiff brush to loosen any dirt in the upholstery or carpets.
If you have a dog you’ll know how difficult it can be to shift pet hairs, so try a moistened rubber glove or wrap scotch tape around your hand with the sticky side facing outwards.
Finally – and this is a cool tip – use a compressed air canister to blow dust and grit out of nooks and crannies you can’t reach with a brush or the vacuum cleaner nozzle.
4 Don’t forget the dash!
We’re not quite done with the interior yet. The dashboard and instruments collect a lot of dust too, but these are more delicate, so use a damp cloth on the dash and controls – there are dash and upholstery cleaning products for this – and try using a soft paintbrush to flick dust out from the rims of the instrument dials.
Don’t be tempted to use a silicone spray to add some shine – a shiny dash can create horrible glare, and if any overspray gets on to the pedals it can make them dangerously slippery.
5 Wipe down the sills
Finally, while all the doors are open, fetch a bucket and clean the sills and door openings. These are easily overlooked during a regular car wash, but stick out like a sore thumb when you open the doors later.
6 Best technique for cleaning a car?
What's best way to wash a car? Some suggest you wash down the car with plain water first to get the worst of the dirt off. That’s not a bad idea if your car is especially dirty, and it will reduce the risk of rubbing grit into the paintwork later.
Now wash your car with proper car wash solution. Don’t use household detergent because this will strip away any protective wax layer on the paint.
Start from the roof, then work your way down the sides, front and rear of the car. This gives the car wash solution a little more time to soak into the grimiest areas near the bottom and means your water stays cleaner for longer.
Be careful that your bucket is not collecting grit. You can get grit guards to fit in the base – effectively a plastic grid that stops your sponge reaching the bottom of the bucket – or you can just keep an eye on the color of the water or feel any grittiness in the base of the bucket as you rinse out the sponge.
If in doubt, get a fresh bucket of car wash rather than risk rubbing grit into the paint.
If you’ve got some stubborn spots, don’t just keep rubbing away because this may damage the paint. Instead, use a tar and bug remover spray. And if you have any dirt that appears to be bonded into the paint, you can use a clay bar to remove it – though read the instructions carefully, because this is professional detailing territory.
7 Wax on, wax off
You don’t have to wax your car every time you wash it. There are car shampoos that contain wax, too, but most detailing experts would rather wax the car properly 2-4 times a year. If you use the right car wash solution, any existing wax layer should be preserved.
You will need to rinse off the car before waxing it and allow it to dry too. Don’t leave water to ‘puddle’ and dry naturally because this will often leave some residue, even when the water looks clean.
Instead, use a chamois leather or a silicone squeegee. These aren’t designed to dry the surface on contact – instead, they spread the water out into a thin layer that evaporates more quickly and cleanly.
If you do see any puddles of water, you can use compressed air to blow the water away.
So now apply your wax, following the makers’ instructions carefully. You apply the wax in straight lines – you don’t buff the paint surface in circles – then you leave it to dry before polishing it off. A microfiber cloth is perfect for this.
Don’t use more wax than the instructions tell you to. It won’t make the car any shinier, but it will make it more likely to get trapped in seams and fittings where it will dry, look messy and be hard to shift later.
Some detail pros will wax the car twice, and there’s a clever test you can do to check the depth of the shine – place a ruler perpendicular to the surface and see how many numbers you can read off in the reflection. The more you can see, the better the shine.
8 Get rid of the brake dust
Don’t forget the wheels. You’ll probably need a pretty stiff brush to remove all the brake dust and road grime, and here’s a handy tip – when you think you’re done, push the car forward through half a rotation of the tires and do it again so that you clean the parts you couldn’t get to properly the first time around.
There are special wheel degreasers and cleaners which will remove grime without damaging paintwork in the way a regular detergent might. Some even contain sealants to help protect against grime and pitting in the future.
You can also get tire cleaners that give your wheels that new car look. The shine soon fades away, but it looks great while it lasts and it’s a handy tip if you’re just about to sell your car.
9 Now clean the glass
Now’s the time to clean the glass. It’s a good idea to leave this until last because the windows tend to pick up dirt and grime from all the other steps.
You need a good glass cleaner for this, but choose one designed for automotive use and not a regular household glass cleaner because these may contain ammonia, which is bad for vinyl upholstery.
Make sure you wind down the windows to get to the top edges, otherwise these will still carry a strip of grime even though the rest of the car is spotless.
10 Take care of that body
While you’ve been cleaning your car you’ve probably noticed a couple of cosmetic flaws that need some attention. Dings and scrapes are best left for the body shop, but faded paintwork and plastic trim can be fixed.
For faded paint you need polishing solution and a bit of skill. Just remember, polish is not wax. Polish is abrasive and designed to remove the top layer of paint that’s faded to reveal the true color underneath. If in doubt, leave it to an expert.
But bumper polish is easy. Many cars have black plastic bumpers and trim that fades to a patchy gray over time. Bumper polish can be messy to apply, but it’s also pretty easy, and restores that showroom gleam to faded plastics.
So even if your car is 20 years old, it doesn’t have to look it. A good clean will leave it looking years younger, and it will also highlight any little nips and tucks you can get done at the body shop to finish the job off properly.