Best way to hand wash your car
Regular car washing is an important part of maintaining the appearance of your car. Protecting your paint job and the overall value of your car and it also the perfect opportunity for you to inspect your car regularly from issues like; A peeling clear coat or a leaking brake caliper but we’ll save those topics for a future article. Today we’ll focus on a proper car wash and common mistakes to avoid. First and foremost you’ll want to assemble your car care tools and product. What you’ll need;
Two wash buckets
Wash Mitt, Car wash sponge or Microfiber towel
Wheel Cleaner for your wheel type
Tire gel or shine
Short handle wheel scrubber or Microfiber towels
Long handle microfiber wheel brush
When to wash your
Now that you're all set up with the proper tools and product. You’ll want to ensure you wash your car at the right time. First and foremost when your car is cool. That means both the engine and the body. Do not wash when the car is hot from being driven or If your paint job is too hot to lay your hand on it. This is a good indicator that your car is too hot to wash. Spraying cool water on a hot paint job can create those spiderwebs or cracks. Lastly avoid washing your car in direct sunlight. Water dries faster in the sun and can lead to water spots leaving you with an unsatisfactory wash. We suggest washing early in the morning before the sun is high in the sky, under shade or after the sun is setting.
Wheels / Tires
When starting a car wash you always want to start with the dirtiest part of the car and this will always be your tires and wheels. The key is to clean one wheel at a time before moving on to the next. This is an important step because you never want your solution to self dry. If you apply product to all four wheels by the time you come back around to wash your wheels off they could be stained. Before you spray your wheels. Take a quick look at the cleanest portions of your wheel, including the barrel. Once you're ready to scrub. This will be where you’ll want to start agitating ending with the dirtiest section. Now you can begin by spraying your wheel and tire with a high pressure water hose. Followed by spraying your wheel cleaner liberally on the face of the wheel and deep to the inside of the wheel barrel to remove any caking brake dust. If your wheel cleaner is tire safe and an iron remover you can spray your calipers and the sides of your tires. Once applied, wait the instructed time for your formula to soak and begin to agitate the inside of the barrel working your way around with a long handle scrubber followed by the face of the wheel and tire with a short handle brush. Spray your wheels clean and repeat if necessary. Working your way to the next wheel until complete.
Body
Moving on to the body of the car. Get your wash mitt/sponge and two buckets ready. Fill one bucket with car wash soap, the other bucket will be filled with water and used to clean off your mitt/ sponge after every few wipes. Before you begin, do a quick spot check for any stubborn dirt spots like bird poop or bugs. If you find any you can soak a micro cloth and let it sit on the spot for about a minute to loosen. This is particularly true if it's been baked in from sun exposure.
Otherwise you can begin by spraying your car down with a high pressure water hose and begin your wash. Take your sponge/mitt and dip it into your soaped filled bucket with the intention of getting a good lather. A good lather is important to help push off dirt and debris without scratching your car. As you wash the body of your car you’ll have two objectives. One is the technique you’ll use when washing and two is the sequence you’ll wash.
The washing technique will consist of washing the cleanest portions of the body first. This helps keep your mitt stay clean as possible before moving on the sections of the car that come into contact with the most dirt. You can accomplish this by washing top to bottom. The second technique will be to scrub in the direction of the airflow or “dirt flow” with the intent of moving the dirt off the vehicle. Rather than swirling around.
The sequence for washing will consist of two sections. The first section will include the roof moving back towards the trunk and the side windows. This is consistent with our technique to wash top to bottom. As these areas tend to come in contact with the least dirt and will help keep your mitt/sponge clean. This is key to avoiding swirl marks. The second section will incorporate the hood of the car moving towards the side mirror and the side panels moving working your way down. The hood and side mirror tend to get lots of contact with bugs and debris from other vehicles on the road so be sure to rinse off your mitt/sponge when moving through the frontend and bottom sections of the car. That should give you a clean finish and you can go ahead and rinse your vehicle off.
Drying
You have a few options to dry correctly but air drying is not one of them. If you air dry you run the risk of leaving minerals from the water on your paint surface or water marks. Use a dedicated drying towel for best results. A nice absorbent option includes absorbent microfiber towels such as a twisted loop or waffle weave. We recommend having a few on hand and always using a clean set. Get started with long sweeping motions so you'll be able to absorb more of the water. Ring out your drying towel after a few passes. You want to ensure your towel can soak up as much water as possible. If your towel is picking up debris, switch it out for a new towel to avoid streaking or scratching.
Additional drying options include chamois commonly referred to as a shammy. Air drying with an electric dryer. If you find that the water is drying fast and not beading off this is an indicator you're in need of a wax. Topics we’ll discuss in the future
Tires
Lastly, no car wash is complete without a tire shine. How shiney you want your tires is a personal preference but we recommend a water based solution with UV protection. To protect the aging of your tires and because the solution adheres to tires well avoiding any flinging of product to your freshly cleaned car. The shine won't be as intense but you can always add more layers for the desired results. A gel formula with an applicator also gives the most control if you have white walls or racing tires with white letters.
