How to Wash A Car

How to Wash A Car

General Instructions

Found at How to wash your car - www.kolias.com

Work in the shade to keep soap suds from drying and spotting the finish.
Start by hosing the car thoroughly.
Spray inside wheel wells and beneath the car to remove salt and other debris.
Fill a five-gallon bucket with the warmest water you can find. Warm water removes insects and bird droppings better than cold.
Use a good-quality car-wash soap, never dishwashing liquid, which can damage the paint.
Do not use a sponge. It is too coarse and scrapes the dirt over the paint. Use a soft, absorbent sheepskin mitt instead.
Start at the top and work down. Do one panel at a time, then rinse that section with a hose so suds will not dry on the finish.
To prevent scratches when drying, use a soft, absorbent terry-cloth towel or a chamois.
Once the finish is clean, use a clearcoat-safe cleaner wax at least once a year to remove old wax residue.
Use a paste wax, since liquids tend to get on plastic and rubber trim.
Wax your car whenever water stops beading and starts sheeting.
When it is too cold to hand-wash your car, use a coin-operated wand so only the water touches the paint.
As the weather gets warmer, months of road salt built up under your car may begin to rust it.
You can help keep rust at bay and protect the body of your car by regularly rinsing it early in the spring with a hose that has a pressure nozzle.
Wash the underside of the car, and spray inside the fenders, around the trunk lid, and between fender wells and door jambs.
Do not forget to wash inside the bumper.
Clean moldings using water and a mild dish detergent.
Treat any nicks or scratches with the manufacturer's touch-up paint. Petroleum jelly applied to a scratch will protect it from rust until you can buy the right paint.
Parking a salt-ridden car in a warm garage can hasten rust, so make sure that next winter you wash your car regularly.

An Alternative View

There are three steps to a wash routine

1. UNDERPANEL AND WHEEL AREAS- This is the first part of your wash process. Why? Because 90% of all road grime, tar and excessive buildup of dirt is on these areas. Do not use any of this bucket's contents in the next step.

First, prepare a wash bucket with soap and water. Use a medium to heavy mix of soap with water. Use an old terry towel and wheel brush in this step. Next, apply water to the under panel and wheels, doing one side of the car at a time. NOTE: Do not get any water on the upper sides or the top of car for this step. After you have finished with all under areas, including the front bumper area and rear bumper area, you are ready for the next step.

2.TOP, HOOD, TRUNK, AND SIDE AREAS- Prepare your second bucket with a light soap mix, using clean mitt and fresh contents in this bucket. Start this process by squirting off the car from the top area down, getting as much surface dirt as possible to rinse off of the car before you use the mitt. Starting with the top surfaces (trunk, top and hood) you use this fresh mild soap solution. Before doing the sides, rinse off the top surfaces, starting with the highest point of the vehicle.

3. NOW IT IS TIME FOR THE DRYING STEP- Start with your clean wet chamois, all wrung out, drying all the top surfaces first. Then proceed to the sides. Do not use the chamois on the underpanels and wheel areas. After you dry with the chamois, proceed to dry off the wheels and under areas with the old terry towels. Drive the car around the block and again go over the top areas with the chamois, and then dry the bottom areas with the terry towels.

Still another take

Maintain the Blue Book Value of Your Car

Q: What is the best way to wash and dry a car?

A: First, begin with assembling your washing gear. You will need a soft terry cloth towel or washing mitt, a large bucket, a good car washing soap. Do not use dishwashing detergent as soap or you risk stripping off your wax layer. It is best not to wash your car in direct sunlight; try to wash it early in the morning or later in the evening when the sun is not overhead. Fill your bucket with warm to mildly hot water. Be sure to follow the directions on the soap bottle, generally you need only a capful or two per gallon of water. Too much soap in the mix will leave a residue film on the car's finish as the water evaporates. Spray the car down, be sure to get it good and wet. Begin by washing from the top down. Wash one section at a time and then rinse. This will prevent the soap from drying on the paint. Keep the car wet, occasionally spraying the areas you have already washed to keep them wet. Once you've washed the entire vehicle, remove the spray nozzle from the hose and allow the water to gently flood the surface. This method will cause the water to "sheet off" removing most of the water drops and greatly speeding your drying of the vehicle. When finished, use soft terry cloth towels to dry the vehicle. There's also a new type of cleaning fabric on the market that is great for drying a car's finish. It is called the micro-fiber, scratch-free cloth and is now available at most automotive retail stores. The wheels can be done last but take care not to spray water on the car itself. Make sure any wheel cleaner you purchase is appropriate for the wheel finish you have, and never spray a wheel cleaner on a hot wheel, or leave it on longer than the manufacturer's recommendation. Use a wheel brush or toothbrush to clean brake dust from wheels.

A Really Different View

Car Care Tips

The dishwashing soap myth

Companies that have a vested interest in you buying their products have been spreading the word about all the damage that dishwashing soap will do to your car. Here is my take on all this.

The reason you wash a car is to remove dirt. To do that you need to do several things, most important is you need to make the water....wetter.

This may seem silly at first, what is more wet than water after all? Well, lots of things, but first and foremost, water has a thing called surface tension. This is what keeps water beading on shiny cars, and why you can fill a glass higher than the rim, up to a point. A good car wash soap will act to break down the surface tension. That is why soapy water doesn't bead.

Second, a wash soap must remove grease and dirt. It needs to be a detergent to do that, otherwise you are depending on the action of the wash cloth/mitt on the paint to scrape off the dirt. Not a pretty picture.

Third, a wash soap should make your paint feel slimy or slick, that means it is helping surround those bits of dirt/grease and let them rinse off your car.

I have tried lots of car wash products intended specifically for a car. Here is what I have found:

1. You CANNOT wash and wax your car at the same time. You can only do one or the other well. Any product claiming to do both is a compromise or worse.

2. Dishwashing soap does not "strip" wax off cars. I use Liquid Ivory exclusively on all my cars. Several national champions, 40 year old original paint, and daily drivers. The act of washing with ANY product will take a little bit of your wax off. That is what it's designed to do! Wax is supposed to slowly wear off to keep dirt from embedding in your paint. That is why Carnuba is such a great product. Every time you wipe, wash, rinse etc your car, you strip wax. It's going to happen no matter what you use.

Use a small squirt of Ivory Liquid in a bucket of water. You will get lots of suds. These are essential to helping get the dirt off your paint and away from your car without scratching. Any wash product that doesn't make lots of suds that last, is doing more harm than good. Most car wash specific products do not make good suds, and when you feel the wet paint it is not slick, but grabs at your hand. Ivory is slick and rinses clean.

Wash from the top down, and have two wash mitts/cloths. Use one from the beltline up and another from the beltline down. The Beltline is about the middle of the side of the vehicle. Below this a lot of scratchy silicone build-up and you don't want this in your wash mitt for the top/hood/trunk.

Wash one section at a time and use lots of water at low pressure to rinse. By using a thick stream of water gently played over your car, you can make that surface tension work for you, to help take more beads off the car making it easier to dry.

Myth: High pressure car washes are bad

If all you ever did was use a high pressure car wash, it would be worse for your car than always hand washing correctly. But most of us don't have the luxury or time to hand wash every week or two.

I use those wand type car washes all the time. In the winter, on non-freezing days, they are great to keep salt/crud off your car when you can't wash by hand. I even use the full service washes once in a while. It's better than leaving acid rain, dirt and worse on your car if the weather won't let you do it right. Search for the newer washes or those that are maintained well. Don't go by the number of expensive cars entering the wash, many times people with too much money don't care what happens to their cars, since they will have a new one next year. Look over the business yourself and see if it looks like it would be at least somewhat kind to your paint.

Super Tip: When washing your car at a wand type wash, use the rinse function and spray at crevices and cracks where dirt can accumulate. You want to get lots of water behind these and clean out the dirt. Remember it's not water alone that causes rust, it's water combined with dirt. If you never rinse these areas they will accumulate dirt and get wet anyway as it rains. Better to power wash them often.

I have a synthetic chamois that I have used for almost ten years. These things are great. I finally found the company that sells them in the next state! The Hydra-Wipe I offer is just $14.95 and will outlast a dozen expensive natural chamois. When it gets dirty, just wash in the sink. If you want a high gloss, then follow with soft white bath towels after using the chamois. This will get rid of the tiny beads left.

Which soap to use

at cartrackers.com

The sudsy soap we use on our prized roadster is made specifically for washing a car.

It's the Rich Suds Car Wash, by Meguiar, a company that specializes in car care products.

This liquid car soap when mixed with water develops a rich and foaming coat of long-lasting suds tinged with a pleasant herbal fragrance. The special formula of the soap adds sunscreen protection to the paint finish. It's designed to wash away quickly with water in a non-streaking manner, taking with it all of the grime and grit.

You'll find Meguiar's Rich Suds Car Wash Car in the automotive department of major discount chain stores like K-Mart and Target, priced below $8. Or visit the Meguiar website of www.meguiars.com.

Which car wax to use

car wax comparison test

FINAL RESULTS

First Place Zaino Z-2 Show Car Polish
Second Place Zymol Natural Liquid Auto Polish (maybe made by Turtle wax)
Third Place Zymol NSX Glaze
Fourth Place Meguiar's Gold Class, Liquid Clear Coat Car Wax

As you can see, the Zaino Z-2 Show Car Polish was the best, hands down. For the money and availability (Wal-Mart) the Zymol Natural Liquid Auto Polish does a nice job. I guess if it's really made by Turtle Wax and bottled with Zymol's name, you could buy a similar Turtle Wax product?

How to apply wax

Protecting your paint by Larry Reynolds

One of the keys to applying car wax is to apply it sparingly. Assuming that the finish has just been washed and dried and is free of grit and does not need glazing/polishing, then apply the wax with a small piece of 100% cotton cloth or a terry cloth covered sponge or a foam type applicator pad. An even better method of application for a paste wax is to use your fingers. Hold your fingers together to form an "applicator". Rub the wax thoroughly into the surface. Your fingers will give you the tactile feedback to let you know when the wax has been worked into the surface. The heat of your body will also melt the wax and help it flow onto the surface. This is NOT a situation where a little is good, so a lot must be better. Your paint will only accept X amount of wax.

At DIYNET

Q: How do I choose the right wax?

A: (from Trisha Hessinger, Ask DIY Automotive Expert) This can actually be pretty tricky since all you have to do is walk into an auto parts store and you'll see an entire aisle of products to choose from.

The important thing is to know what kind of finish is on your car; most vehicles today have a clear coat finish. If this is the case with your vehicle, you'll simply need to choose a non-abrasive wax to prevent scratching the clear coat.

If you've had your vehicle for a year or so and it's starting to look a little dull, you may need to opt for a cleaner wax to remove the dulling build-up.

And finally, if your car is fairly old and the paint has oxidized, you'll need to go a step further and use a polishing compound to remove the upper oxidized layer and reveal the fresh color beneath.

Q: Do I need to do anything other than wash my car before waxing?

A: In many cases, even after washing your car, you may feel a slight layer of grit on the finish as you run your hand over it.

To gently and effectively remove the grit, purchase a clay bar product from your auto supply store. This product involves two steps: first, you'll spray a light application of the cleaning solution (sold with the clay bar) on the surface.

Then, working only in the sprayed area (using the clay on a dry surface can damage it), gently drag the clay bar across the area (figure A) to remove the grit residue.

Q: Is an all-in-one wax and polish better than a separate wax and polish?

A: Although a number of car owners still prefer to do these steps independent of one another, there are a number of new products on the market that produce great results with just a single step.

To apply this type of product, rub on a light layer (figure B) using an applicator or soft cloth and a circular motion.

Once the layer has dried, go back over the area with a clean towel, again using a circular motion (figure C) to reveal a beautiful shine beneath.

Q: How do I remove baked-on wax?

A: First, a couple of preventive meausures: 1) Never apply wax in a heavy layer, and 2) Never wax a car in the hot sun. If you do find yourself with excessive or baked-on wax, dilute a little laundry detergent in warm water. Then simply apply the solution with a clean cloth, using a circular motion to remove the build-up

Another problem that can be a little more difficult to remedy is an accidental smudge or streak of wax on a car's black trim (side mirrors and window seals). To effectively remove wax from these areas (figure D), try a tar and wax remover, available in automotive supply stores.

Q: How often should I wax?

A: This depends primarily on the car's environment. If the vehicle is garage-kept, it won't need to be waxed as often, maybe just once a year. For those who live in hot climates (Arizona, California, Florida, etc.), waxing about every six months will help the finish stand up to the abuse from constant sun exposure.

Final tip: If you're still unsure whether or not your car is due for a wax, check to see if water still beads on the finish. If it doesn't, start waxing!

b r a y d e n . o r g / Random