Cleaning the car is a task that we associate with the weekend. It is convenient to do a periodic cleaning to make our vehicle beautiful, both outside and inside. But do you know the tips of the professionals? In this article, we will give you 10 recommendations to leave your car as if it had been washed by an expert in the field.
Start indoors
Your vehicle needs care inside and out. The dashboard, carpets, instrument panel or seats deserve as much attention as the exterior paint, hood, wheels or tires. Don't finish washing your car early because you have no parts left in the water pressure machine. If you start from the inside, you won't forget to do the cleaning that makes the difference: the interior.
Air and carpet brushes
The first step to cleaning your car like a professional is to start on the inside, as we saw in the previous point. And the first thing you need to clean are the holes, the carpets and the floor. If you can use an air compressor to blow out the dirt embedded in the carpets, all the better. If you don't have one, you can use a vacuum cleaner and a stiff brush to remove dirt.
Don't forget the air ducts so that they "smell like new
Compressed air from a small portable compressor is an easy way to remove dust and dirt from heating and cooling ducts. The trick is to target the vents, where dust and dirt stick and cause musty smells. If your car has an air filter, you can replace it from time to time, or remove it and blow out the dust and dirt.
Use low acidity tire cleaners
Before moving on to cleaning the bodywork, the first thing is the wheels and tires. For the latter, we can use one of the many products on the market, but the less acidic the better, because acidity can make the tires lose their shine or color.
Use a sponge to clean the bodywork
The best tool for cleaning the body is a sponge. But don't use dishwasher detergent or dish soap like most others, because you will remove the protective wax layer. Instead, you can use a specific shampoo to wash the car. Get a good bucket of soap and water ready and get to work! Once you've cleaned the exterior of your car, rinse thoroughly with water and dry the surface with a microfiber towel or cloth, which won't scratch the paint and has great absorbency. This will prevent stains that occur when water evaporates, caused by traces of dirt and minerals.
Remember, clean paint shines!
It often takes more than a simple wash to clean paint. Bird droppings and man-made pollutants settle into the paint and, after a while, can penetrate the color layer. With the car in the shade, run your hand over the painted surface. If you notice any roughness, it means it needs to be cleaned. For more extreme cases, you can use paint cleaners, a liquid that removes wax and also cleans the top layer of paint by removing unwanted environmental chemicals that have joined the paint.
Do you need to polish?
By polishing the body, you will smooth the surface of the paint. It will shine and your car will look like new. Some polishes contain wax, which also protects the paint, but the wax itself does not soften the paint. To polish the paint, we can use an oscillating polishing machine. Professionals use a rotary grinding machine, which works faster but can damage the paint without special care.
Protect the paint with wax
When it left the factory, your car looked shiny. Over time, the paint deteriorates due to weathering. This is when we need to polish the body with wax. Professionals often use two coats of wax. The purpose of the second coat is to cover the areas that did not finish penetrating the first coat.
Making the windows
The car windows and panes are the last elements we will clean. We can use a good window cleaner (better if it does not contain ammonia) and, once rubbed with a sponge, make sure you have removed all the product with a cloth. To make it cleaner, we can dry the surface with newspaper.
Use wax every time the season changes
Between cleaning and washing, stains and scratches can appear. Especially if your car spends nights and days outside. In these cases, it is recommended to clean the car every season of the year by applying wax to the bodywork to protect it as much as possible, as well as cleaning the particle filter..
