The easiest way to clean your car is to take it to a drive-thru car wash, but a lot of people don’t like to do that because they can damage the paintwork if you’re not careful. It’s also a bit of a waste of money if you want to do it regularly and keep your car nice and clean. If you’re worried about damaging the vehicle or you want to save money, it’s best to clean it yourself at home. The problem is, people often make mistakes that can damage the paintwork on their car because they use the wrong cleaning chemicals or don’t take enough care with it. Most people don’t think that washing your car is too difficult, but you’d be surprised. If you’re going to wash your car at home, make sure that you follow these important rules.
Don’t Park In The Sun
When you’re washing the car, it’s essential that you have time to rinse off any soap before the car dries properly. If it dries too quickly, then you’ll get water marks and soap spots all over it, and you won’t have the beautiful finish that you want. Letting the soap dry on could damage the paintwork as well so you’ve got to be very careful. The problem is, you’re most likely to be washing your car when the weather is outside, and the sun will dry the car off very quickly. If possible, you should park somewhere in the shade, so the sun doesn’t dry the car out too quickly. If you can’t find anywhere shaded to park, you will have to work fast and keep hosing the car down, so you don’t have any dried soap spots on there.
Turn The Hose Down
Before you start wiping the car down, you’ll want to hose it down to get rid of any loose pieces of dirt. But you’ve got to be careful with the power on the hose because you could damage your paintwork. If you blast the car at full strength, pieces of dirt and grit can scratch the car. It’s best to go for a weaker jet that will dislodge the dirt without scratching the paintwork and be very careful if you’re using a pressure washer. Always aim downwards as well so you can make sure that you’re washing the dirt off the car and not just moving it around. If there are any large pieces of dirt and grit on the vehicle when you start wiping it down, you’re just going to scratch the paint.
Start With The Wheels
The wheels are usually the dirtiest part of the car, so it’s best to start there. If you wash the rest of the car and do the wheels afterward, all of that dirt from the wheels will splash onto your nice clean car when you rinse them off. Just make sure that you wash the sponge out thoroughly after doing the wheels, so you don’t rub grease and grime over the rest of the car.
Use Soft Sponges when Washing Your Car at Home
If you want to prevent any damage to the paintwork, you need to use the right sponges. You can’t use anything that has a rough surface because you will get scratches, so make sure that you have a soft sponge. You can also get specific car wipes for cleaning, and you won’t even need water.
Don’t Neglect The Interior
You already know that you need to wash your paintwork to stop it from degrading, but the same can be said of the interior. If you don’t look after your upholstery properly, it will suffer from general wear and tear, so it’s equally as important to look after your interior. Make sure that you’re wiping down seats and dashboards, putting some custom air fresheners in the car, and vacuuming the floors properly. There’s no use spending time cleaning the outside of the car and making it look great if the inside of the car is messy and dirty.
Don’t Wait Too Long To Clean It Again
Once you’ve finished cleaning your car, make sure that you don’t wait too long before you do it again. If you’re leaving it months between every clean, it will be a big job that you dread doing. There’s also the chance that damage to the paintwork will occur in that time, so you need to start cleaning your car on a more regular basis. If you’re doing it once every two weeks, it will be a quick job, and you won’t risk damaging the paintwork.
As long as you follow these rules when you clean your car at home, you’ll be able to keep it in top condition.
