Are many things as wonderful as a freshly cleaned automobile? Those of you who’ve bought a new car will know the feeling of driving it out of the showroom and marvelling at its cleanliness. Everything smells great, the car looks super shiny, and it’s in the best condition your car will ever be in.
Trying to recapture that showroom freshness can be challenging, but we’ve got the ultimate guide to help you clean your car. We’ll break the process down into different sections, helping you target specific areas of your car one at a time. Let’s begin the journey outside your vehicle and work our way around it!
Step 1: Remove loose debris
Your first task is to go around your car and remove all the loose debris. This will typically involve getting rid of dry leaves, cobwebs and bits of dirt that have wedged their way into parts of your vehicle. Removing all of this stuff makes it easier to wash your car in the following steps, so it shouldn’t be ignored.
You can use a couple of tools to help with this process. A leaf vacuum mulcher is handy when your car is covered in dry leaves. It can suck them up and shred them into tiny pieces to use in your garden. Also, it helps remove any loose leaves from around your car, so you kill two birds with one stone!
Alternatively, a leaf blower will work pretty well – or any type of vacuum cleaner with a long nozzle to get into the nooks and crannies near the front windscreen wipers. Some people will even choose a pressure washer for this task as it can blitz away most debris without any issues.
Step 2: Give your car a thorough rinse
The next step is simple: rinse your car with water so it’s lovely and wet. This also removes some of the base-level dirt and grime from the bodywork. You can do this with a few buckets of water, but it’s more labour-intensive. For the best results, use a garden hose or a pressure washer. As noted above, the pressure washer is a fine choice as it also helps you remove a lot of loose debris, enabling you to effectively accomplish both steps in one.
If you do use a pressure washer, remember to set it at a safe pressure level for an automobile. Most experts agree that anywhere in the 1,200 and 1,900 PSI range is good. Furthermore, be sure to stand a fair distance from your vehicle. If you stand too close, you’ll get blasted with a lot of spray – but it could also damage the bodywork. Aim to be around a foot away from the car while you’re blasting it.
Why rinse your car with water at this stage? Because it prepares the bodywork for what’s to come. Cleaning your car is far easier with a good rinse; a lot of the less stubborn dirt or stains are removed, and anything else is a lot looser. This will make it easier to scrub away with soapy water in a moment!
Step 3: Scrub your car with soapy water
This step is where things get more physical. You’ll need a bucket full of warm water and some cleaning solution. This next sentence will sound like an exaggeration, but it’s the truth: there are hundreds, maybe even thousands, of car shampoos out there for this task. Look at some reviews and find the best car shampoo for your needs/budget, then add it to your warm water.
You should end up with a nice foamy, soapy bucket ready to lather onto your vehicle. Next, get a good car wash mitt to dunk into the solution. You could use a sponge, but wash mitts are generally preferred these days. They’re softer, which means there’s a lower risk of scratching the paintwork while you scrub.
Dip the mitt into the shampoo and then scrub away at the entire bodywork of your car! Top hint: get a separate window cleaning solution for the windows and mirrors on your car. Special window cleaning soaps or sprays will reduce streaks, leading to a better overall job.
Step 4: Rinse and dry
Strangely, this is the hardest step in the car-cleaning process. Get your hose or pressure washer out again and rinse all the suds off the car. Get it all off – and then immediately start drying it. You might want to rinse it in sections to be sure you can dry a whole section as quickly as possible. Some big microfibre clothes work the best here; the sooner you act, the fewer streaks you’ll see in the bodywork and on the windows.
If your car still looks dirty after the rinse, then go around and scrub it some more before rinsing and drying it.
Step 5: Clean the wheels
Your car’s wheels and tyres deserve extra attention as they are usually the filthiest parts of a vehicle. Get some special wheel-cleaning brushes and tyre-cleaning solutions to do this job. Then, it’s like a mini version of what you’ve done to the rest of your car: rinse, scrub, rinse and dry.
Step 6: Clean the interior
At this point, your car’s exterior should look amazing. Now, step inside your car and give it a good clean too!
This isn’t as hard as it sounds. All you need is a good vacuum cleaner and some surface spray. Vacuum all the surfaces to remove dirt, dust and debris before spraying your cleaning solution and using a soft cloth to go over it.
Finish with a nice car air freshener, and it’ll look and smell brand new again!
Step 7: Polish the exterior
Finally, step back outside your car for the finishing touches. This process is called “detailing”, and it involves polishing your car. You’ll find some great car polishes and waxes out there that add a lovely shine to your vehicle’s paintwork. Apply your product once the car is dry, and it will do an amazing job of making it look showroom-fresh.
Plus, polish/wax helps to prevent rain spots in the future, so your car should stay shiny for a much longer time!
Cleaning your car isn’t a difficult task and should be done at least once a month to maintain an excellent appearance. Also, keeping your car in the best possible condition is helpful when you go to sell it – or if you want to trade it back into your leasing company. You’ll get a higher valuation, which means more money comes your way!