Detailing your vehicle can be a long and tedious process, as there are many details you want to consider and be mindful of. But if you care enough for your car, you will be willing to put in the time and effort to ensure that it is looking spotless for the next time you take it out for a spin. Here are some tips, tricks, and reminders from professionals when it comes to detailing your vehicle.
Preparation Before Detailing
Before diving into the detailing process, it’s essential to properly prepare both your vehicle and your workspace. Start by gathering all necessary supplies, including car wash soap, microfiber towels, brushes, and wax. Ensure that your vehicle is parked on a flat surface to prevent any accidents during the cleaning process. Additionally, checking for any modifications, such as installed coilovers, is important, as these can affect the detailing approach, particularly the cleaning method used on the suspension components. A thorough inspection will help you determine areas that might need special attention.
Where To Do Your Detailing
The best place to detail your vehicle is inside a garage. Avoid doing any detailing outdoors. You need to do your detailing in the shade, in a dry and cool place. This is crucial for different reasons. The first thing you want is to prepare to detail your car is to be working in a clean environment and the outdoors are risky to detail in as there is a lot of dirt and debris that can affect the outcome of the detail work. Additionally, you want to stay out of direct sunlight, so even if you are indoors, avoid windows. This is to ensure that watermarks don’t become a problem as heat and warmth can cause quicker water evaporation.
Detail The Interior Of The Car First
There are several reasons why you should always start the detailing on your car with the interior. First is if you are doing any cleaning and shampooing on the interior you want to provide as much time for it to dry as possible. If you are working on the engine, this area can get messy to detail and clean. Any dirt can be cleaned with you doing the exterior after. If you reverse the order and happen to get dirt on the exterior, this is simply adding an extra step to your job. Detailing inside out is the most efficient way in most cases.
The Material You Use To Clean Matters
When cleaning your car, don’t just use any rag or sponge for the job. Certain particles tend to attach and stick in the sponges and towels and certain cloths are not as a repellent to dirt, meaning you are more likely to be washing a car with a dirty rug if you use it multiple times. A review from AutoGuysLand advises using microfiber cloths or gloves when cleaning the exterior of your vehicle. These soft materials will ensure that you are as careful with the exterior as possible, avoiding the risk of scratches and scrapes. Other materials may catch certain dirt particles that in turn scratch your paint. They are also good materials to use to wax your car and buff the surface. For other areas, microfibre is also great to use on leather, plastic, metal, wood, all of which might be materials you find on the interiors of your car.
Use Different Buckets
Depending on the detailing job, you want to ensure that you use different buckets to avoid cross-contamination. This cross-contamination refers to the dirt and debris from certain parts of your vehicle. Your tires and wheels will often be the dirtiest and have loose debris like stones and dirt. You want to avoid cleaning your car’s paint after you clean the tires, and having different buckets for different areas is important. Additionally, different buckets for soap and water will make the job move a lot faster.
Use Dedicated Car Cleaners
When you are detailing your vehicle, you do not want to use household cleaners such as dish soaps or bathroom soaps. This might seem appealing for convenience, but if you truly care for your car, you will use dedicated car cleaners and substances. This is because general cleaners will have ingredients in them that are meant to handle and breakdown grime and grease. Using such substances on your car could lead to your paint being stripped.
Use Wax To Seal Your Vehicle
After you finish the majority of cleaning the exterior of your vehicle, the job isn’t quite finished until you apply a wax coat on it. This is to protect your car from sunlight and UV rays, which can cause the color and paint to fade with constant exposure to the sun. Additionally, specific wax sealants are important to use to keep dirt and contaminants off your car and reduce water marks and water spots from rain or storms.
Detailing is not just simply washing your car, but caring for and maintaining it. You want to ensure that you practice good cleaning habits to not only ensure that it is fresh and clean but also protected. Be sure to take your time so that you do not miss anything.
