Twistedframe
Well-Known Member
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This is a little article I put together for my blog for customers so they could maintain their vehicles between full details from me. I figured most people know what to do, but it wouldn't hurt to post it here. Feel free to add any information to it that you feel is pertinent!
_______________________________________________________________________________________
ost people think that all they need to keep their vehicle looking good is some Dawn, an old sponge, and a bath towel. Unfortunately this could not be further from the truth. No need to worry though, after reading this article you will learn the proper techniques for keeping your vehicle looking its best between polishing.
When to wash your car
It’s a hot, sunny, summer afternoon, great time to wash your car, right? WRONG. The best time to wash your car is when the sun is at its weakest, like in the early morning or late afternoon and evening. The reason for this is very simple. The intense sun makes almost any cleaning chemicals nearly impossible to use correctly on your vehicle. By using chemicals on a hot vehicle it intensifies the strength of the chemical to dangerous levels sometimes. Hot panels can also cause a chemical to start to evaporate on your vehicle which will usually lead to some sort of staining or streaking if you don’t remove it quickly enough. Also direct sunlight cuts down on the time you have to get your vehicle dry and avoid nasty water spots. By working in the shade, with a cool vehicle, you will ensure that your chemicals works at the strength they were designed to and you will not have any water spots to worry about.
What to wash your vehicle with
It is a very common misconception that all you need to wash your vehicle is some Dawn and an old towel. Well unfortunately it takes a bit more than that to get your vehicle clean and have it remain swirl free in the process. When picking a car wash shampoo there are a limitless number of choices for products out there. The rule of thumb when picking a shampoo is to find one that is as close to pH neutral as possible. This way you won’t risk striping any of the wax or sealant that may be currently protecting the paint. The problem is that most of the inexpensive shampoos at your local auto parts store have a low pH that will wreak havoc on your vehicles finish and strip any protection that you may have on the paint. One of my favorite shampoos is 1z Perls, it has a 6.8pH level and is very slick which allows your mitt or sponge to glide over the paint surface taking all the contaminants with it. The intent is to use as little pressure as possible so you pull the contaminants away from the surface instead of grinding them into the paint which creates swirls and marring. Soap with a good cleaning ability should allow you to use light pressure and still remove all the dirt from the surface.
Now that you have your shampoo picked out it is time to replace that old towel you have been using. Again, like the shampoos, there are a myriad of sponges, mitts, and brushes out there for you to pick from. I have done a lot of searching and come to find out that brushes, for the most part, tend to leave scratches or at least fine swirl marks on your paint that will need to be polished out. My favorite tools are either a wool mitt, or a microfiber sponge. These are soft enough to keep from marring your paints, but strong enough to lift the dirt away from your paint and into the tool. The long fibers on these tools allow the dirt to be forced into the tool away from the paint and then deposited into your rinse bucket.
Before you start washing
Before you hit the ground running you need to step back and take a minute to assess the condition of your vehicle’s paint. Are their bugs covering the front bumper? Is there tar stuck on the rocker panels? Either way this needs to be taken care of, to an extent, before you start washing the rest of the vehicle. What I like to do is take a bug and tar remover, I use Tarminator, and pre-treat the areas with bugs or tar. After this product sits for a short time they bugs and most of the tar will wipe right off with a damp towel. This will prevent you from rubbing the bugs or tar into the paint while you are washing and inducing more defects.
Note: Most bug and tar removers will also remove any wax or sealant you may have applied to the vehicle, so make sure to touch up these areas so they are protected after you have finished washing the vehicle.
The wash stage
Before you put sponge to paint you want to make sure you have removed as many contaminates as you can to reduce the risk of instilling swirls. Generally a good spray from your hose is plenty. However there are some nifty products on the market called foam guns (or canons if you have a pressure washer). To me these are not a necessity, but will be addressed in a future article since they are really gaining popularity.
Now you are ready to wash your vehicle. The technique I use is a very common technique that you might have heard of called the “two bucket method”. It involves two buckets, a grit guard, and your sponge or mitt. You fill one bucket with your shampoo and the correct amount of water, and the grit guard goes into the other bucket that is filled with clean water. The point of using two buckets is to allow you to deposit the dirt and debris that comes off your paint into a separate bucket so it doesn’t go back onto the next panel you clean.
Before you start you want to mentally break up your vehicle into several sections. Each section will be cleaned and then rinsed before moving to the next section. This will ensure that you are not moving contaminants around and instilling swirls into your paint. For example you wouldn’t want to start washing your lower rocker panels and then pull all of the debris from them onto your door. There is no right way to choose your sections but to me one section would be half of your roof. Then you could move on to the upper portion of a door, then the same on the rear door etc. Basically you just want to work top to bottom, and leave the nasty rocker panels and lower body panels for last since usually they have the most contaminants. Some people even use a dedicated sponge for these areas so they are sure to not introduce those contaminates to the rest of their vehicle. This is good practice, but not 100% necessary in my opinion.
Now that you are ready to wash, you want to dip you sponge into the soapy water and start on your first panel, the roof. You want to apply light pressure and glide the sponge back and forth over the panel a few times. No need to go over the same area multiple times, or with heavy pressure. Once this panel is done the sponge goes right into the rinse water bucket with the grit guard. You will need to lightly rub the sponge against the grit guard, which will cause all of the contaminants that you picked up off the vehicle to fall into the water below the grit guard and prevent you from putting that dirt back onto your paint. Next ring the sponge out so all of the rinse water stays in the rinse bucket. Then be sure to completely rinse all of the soap residue from the panel after you have cleaned it. This will ensure that none of the soap dries, which can make it difficult to remove. After the roof continue to wash the vehicles horizontal panel sections. Remember to rinse your sponge against the grit guard after each section to make sure you get all of the contaminants out of the sponge. Continue this method until you have finished the entire vehicle, ending with the lower body panels and rockers. This method does not take much longer than normal and can save your vehicle from swirls.
Drying
Drying is the final step in the wash process, and one of the most important to get right to keep those swirls out of your paint. Believe it or not the best way to remove the majority of water from your vehicle is with….WATER! By running free flowing water over your vehicle from top to bottom you will “sheet” most of the water off and be left with much less water to deal with. Free flowing water can be from a hose with no nozzle on it or some people like to use a watering can since it puts out a nice stream of low pressure water. You will be amazed how much water has been removed after this process, especially on a vehicle that already has a coat of wax or sealant on it.
Now that you have gotten most of the water off of the vehicle there are a couple ways to get it completely dry. The most common way is to dry with a chamois or towel. For this method I recommend only using a high quality waffle weave microfiber towel and a blotting technique. This means you place the towel on the vehicle and blot the water up instead of wiping it away. This will allow you to remove the water without wiping the paint too much and running the risk of instilling swirls. This can take some time, but is a very good method to use.
Another method is using compressed air or a leaf blower to dry. This method really only works well if you already have a coat of wax or sealant on the vehicle. All you have to do is go top to bottom and use the air to blow the water off the vehicle and out of all the cracks and crevices. This will make sure that no swirls are introduced during the drying stage since nothing is touching the vehicle at all. Just be careful not to hit the vehicle with the nozzle of whatever tool you are using.
After you have the surface dry don’t forget to open the doors, hood, and trunk to get the remaining water so it doesn’t cause unsightly drips later.
Are we done yet?
Sometimes all your vehicle needs is a quick wash; however you may need to perform more steps to ensure your paint is getting taken care of. If you have bonded contaminants on your paints that you can see or feel you may need to use a clay bar to further cleanse your paint. This is not a difficult procedure and it will be discussed in depth in a future article. Also you may need some protection on your paint so you would want to apply a coat of sealant or wax, proper application will also be discussed in future articles.
How Often
Usually I recommend that people wash their vehicles once a week if they are driven on a regular basis. This will ensure that contaminants don’t bond to your paint and make sure water spots from rain don’t etch into your clear coat. For vehicles that are stored inside or driven only a few times a month, less frequent washes will usually suffice.
As long as you use proper washing and drying techniques you will ensure that the paint on your car continues to look great for months after you get it polished or corrected.
Quick Tips
* If you drop your sponge or mitt on the ground DON’T USE IT! Sometimes you may be able to clean it, but most of the time it will need to be either thrown away or used only to clean wheels.
* Dry your glass first. Water spots tend to show up on glass first, for this reason it may be a good idea to get your windows dry and then move onto the paint.
* If you have access to an air compressor you can use an air gun to make sure you get all the water out of every crack and crevice on the vehicle.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
ost people think that all they need to keep their vehicle looking good is some Dawn, an old sponge, and a bath towel. Unfortunately this could not be further from the truth. No need to worry though, after reading this article you will learn the proper techniques for keeping your vehicle looking its best between polishing.
When to wash your car
It’s a hot, sunny, summer afternoon, great time to wash your car, right? WRONG. The best time to wash your car is when the sun is at its weakest, like in the early morning or late afternoon and evening. The reason for this is very simple. The intense sun makes almost any cleaning chemicals nearly impossible to use correctly on your vehicle. By using chemicals on a hot vehicle it intensifies the strength of the chemical to dangerous levels sometimes. Hot panels can also cause a chemical to start to evaporate on your vehicle which will usually lead to some sort of staining or streaking if you don’t remove it quickly enough. Also direct sunlight cuts down on the time you have to get your vehicle dry and avoid nasty water spots. By working in the shade, with a cool vehicle, you will ensure that your chemicals works at the strength they were designed to and you will not have any water spots to worry about.
What to wash your vehicle with
It is a very common misconception that all you need to wash your vehicle is some Dawn and an old towel. Well unfortunately it takes a bit more than that to get your vehicle clean and have it remain swirl free in the process. When picking a car wash shampoo there are a limitless number of choices for products out there. The rule of thumb when picking a shampoo is to find one that is as close to pH neutral as possible. This way you won’t risk striping any of the wax or sealant that may be currently protecting the paint. The problem is that most of the inexpensive shampoos at your local auto parts store have a low pH that will wreak havoc on your vehicles finish and strip any protection that you may have on the paint. One of my favorite shampoos is 1z Perls, it has a 6.8pH level and is very slick which allows your mitt or sponge to glide over the paint surface taking all the contaminants with it. The intent is to use as little pressure as possible so you pull the contaminants away from the surface instead of grinding them into the paint which creates swirls and marring. Soap with a good cleaning ability should allow you to use light pressure and still remove all the dirt from the surface.
Before you start washing
Before you hit the ground running you need to step back and take a minute to assess the condition of your vehicle’s paint. Are their bugs covering the front bumper? Is there tar stuck on the rocker panels? Either way this needs to be taken care of, to an extent, before you start washing the rest of the vehicle. What I like to do is take a bug and tar remover, I use Tarminator, and pre-treat the areas with bugs or tar. After this product sits for a short time they bugs and most of the tar will wipe right off with a damp towel. This will prevent you from rubbing the bugs or tar into the paint while you are washing and inducing more defects.
The wash stage
Before you put sponge to paint you want to make sure you have removed as many contaminates as you can to reduce the risk of instilling swirls. Generally a good spray from your hose is plenty. However there are some nifty products on the market called foam guns (or canons if you have a pressure washer). To me these are not a necessity, but will be addressed in a future article since they are really gaining popularity.
Now you are ready to wash your vehicle. The technique I use is a very common technique that you might have heard of called the “two bucket method”. It involves two buckets, a grit guard, and your sponge or mitt. You fill one bucket with your shampoo and the correct amount of water, and the grit guard goes into the other bucket that is filled with clean water. The point of using two buckets is to allow you to deposit the dirt and debris that comes off your paint into a separate bucket so it doesn’t go back onto the next panel you clean.
Before you start you want to mentally break up your vehicle into several sections. Each section will be cleaned and then rinsed before moving to the next section. This will ensure that you are not moving contaminants around and instilling swirls into your paint. For example you wouldn’t want to start washing your lower rocker panels and then pull all of the debris from them onto your door. There is no right way to choose your sections but to me one section would be half of your roof. Then you could move on to the upper portion of a door, then the same on the rear door etc. Basically you just want to work top to bottom, and leave the nasty rocker panels and lower body panels for last since usually they have the most contaminants. Some people even use a dedicated sponge for these areas so they are sure to not introduce those contaminates to the rest of their vehicle. This is good practice, but not 100% necessary in my opinion.
Now that you are ready to wash, you want to dip you sponge into the soapy water and start on your first panel, the roof. You want to apply light pressure and glide the sponge back and forth over the panel a few times. No need to go over the same area multiple times, or with heavy pressure. Once this panel is done the sponge goes right into the rinse water bucket with the grit guard. You will need to lightly rub the sponge against the grit guard, which will cause all of the contaminants that you picked up off the vehicle to fall into the water below the grit guard and prevent you from putting that dirt back onto your paint. Next ring the sponge out so all of the rinse water stays in the rinse bucket. Then be sure to completely rinse all of the soap residue from the panel after you have cleaned it. This will ensure that none of the soap dries, which can make it difficult to remove. After the roof continue to wash the vehicles horizontal panel sections. Remember to rinse your sponge against the grit guard after each section to make sure you get all of the contaminants out of the sponge. Continue this method until you have finished the entire vehicle, ending with the lower body panels and rockers. This method does not take much longer than normal and can save your vehicle from swirls.
Drying
Drying is the final step in the wash process, and one of the most important to get right to keep those swirls out of your paint. Believe it or not the best way to remove the majority of water from your vehicle is with….WATER! By running free flowing water over your vehicle from top to bottom you will “sheet” most of the water off and be left with much less water to deal with. Free flowing water can be from a hose with no nozzle on it or some people like to use a watering can since it puts out a nice stream of low pressure water. You will be amazed how much water has been removed after this process, especially on a vehicle that already has a coat of wax or sealant on it.
Now that you have gotten most of the water off of the vehicle there are a couple ways to get it completely dry. The most common way is to dry with a chamois or towel. For this method I recommend only using a high quality waffle weave microfiber towel and a blotting technique. This means you place the towel on the vehicle and blot the water up instead of wiping it away. This will allow you to remove the water without wiping the paint too much and running the risk of instilling swirls. This can take some time, but is a very good method to use.
Another method is using compressed air or a leaf blower to dry. This method really only works well if you already have a coat of wax or sealant on the vehicle. All you have to do is go top to bottom and use the air to blow the water off the vehicle and out of all the cracks and crevices. This will make sure that no swirls are introduced during the drying stage since nothing is touching the vehicle at all. Just be careful not to hit the vehicle with the nozzle of whatever tool you are using.
After you have the surface dry don’t forget to open the doors, hood, and trunk to get the remaining water so it doesn’t cause unsightly drips later.
Are we done yet?
Sometimes all your vehicle needs is a quick wash; however you may need to perform more steps to ensure your paint is getting taken care of. If you have bonded contaminants on your paints that you can see or feel you may need to use a clay bar to further cleanse your paint. This is not a difficult procedure and it will be discussed in depth in a future article. Also you may need some protection on your paint so you would want to apply a coat of sealant or wax, proper application will also be discussed in future articles.
How Often
Usually I recommend that people wash their vehicles once a week if they are driven on a regular basis. This will ensure that contaminants don’t bond to your paint and make sure water spots from rain don’t etch into your clear coat. For vehicles that are stored inside or driven only a few times a month, less frequent washes will usually suffice.
As long as you use proper washing and drying techniques you will ensure that the paint on your car continues to look great for months after you get it polished or corrected.
Quick Tips
* If you drop your sponge or mitt on the ground DON’T USE IT! Sometimes you may be able to clean it, but most of the time it will need to be either thrown away or used only to clean wheels.
* Dry your glass first. Water spots tend to show up on glass first, for this reason it may be a good idea to get your windows dry and then move onto the paint.
* If you have access to an air compressor you can use an air gun to make sure you get all the water out of every crack and crevice on the vehicle.
