Of course, we would all love to get our car professionally cleaned on a daily basis, but for most of us, this is simply not feasible. Getting your car detailed twice a year is plenty if they are applying a good wax and keeping up with routine cleaning. If you love your vehicle, it is essential to learn a little more about auto detailing at home so that you can keep your car in perfect condition in between pro detail services.
This will ensure that you get rid of any light debris and dirt and that builds up. The better you do with regular upkeep, the less you will spend at a detailer. With that in mind, continue reading to find some useful tips that will help you keep on top of your vehicle’s appearance.
Detailing The Exterior On Your Own
This comes down to a few simple things. A hand car wash, dressing your tires and a detailer spray.
Cleaning Your Car From Top to Bottom With the Two Bucket Method
If you need to give your car a full clean, as you are unable to get your car hand washed professionally for quite some time, you can take several different steps to make sure that your car looks beautiful from top to bottom.
Always begin by parking your car in a spot away from direct sunlight so that it can cool down. You should prepare two buckets of water. One should be clean water, and the other should include soap. Use a microfiber mitt to lightly wash the car in straight lines. Don’t use a scrub. Use the clean water bucket to rinse your mitt regularly. You can then wash the car clean again and dry it with a with microfiber towels (I like to use a clean waffle towel). This will eliminate scratches, water spots, and swirls.
I Don’t Clay Bar and Wax: Most people will think clay bar and wax next, but I don’t do that at home. If you get your vehicle detailed by a professional two times per year, I see no need to clay bar and wax it myself. A good wax from a pro detailer should protect your car for 8 months.
Cleaning the Glass
A standard glass cleaner is fine on car windows and mirrors. Just make sure you don’t leave streaks on the glass. To avoid steaks I spay cleaner onto a microfiber towel and then apply it to the windows and mirrors. Always use twp towels one to apply glass cleaner and one to wipe it dry. If you wipe dry the exterior glass in one direction and the interior glass in the opposite direction, you can see if there are streaks.
Dressing the Tires
You should then prepare a clean bucket of water and add soap into it for the wheels of your vehicle. scrub carefully and get in all of the corners. If you have disk brakes wash them as well. Use a wheel cleaner spray to spray the wheels and then wash them using a wheel mitt and a wheel brush. You can then power wash the wheels clean to get rid of all of the soapy residue. I like to apply a tire shine to the tires and a wheel shine on the rims as a finishing touch.
Touthpaste For Cloudy Headlights
If your headlights look cloudy it can impact the illumination of the lights. A quick trick is to clean the lights using soap and water or a glass cleaner. Then SCRUB them with a little bit of toothepaste (toothpaste with baking soda works best). Then apply a little bit of car wax to a towel and rub the headlight casing vigorously. Let the was sit for a little bit, then come back and buff them with a dry towel.
A Warning About Power Washing at Home
Many people also like to power wash their entire car, especially any dirty parts near the bottom. This is fine, but you do need to be mindful that you do not apply too much water pressure to your vehicle, as this can cause damage like you see at an auto car wash. I think it’s fine to power wash the tires, but I never power wash painted surfaces. If there is a paint chip it can really expand under the water pressure.
Waterless Cleaning Products
I live in a condo with no access to an outside hose. Therefore to wash my car I need waterless products. When you are cleaning your car in between professional details, you can carry out a light clean without water or use just a little bit of water. If you decide to go down the waterless root, you will use a super slick liquid which gets applied and wiped in sections. I use a spay bottle with water first on the whole car and wipe down any bigger dirt spots with a microfiber towel. Then I apply waterless car wash to a microfiber towel and work in sections. Then I wipe each section with a dry waffle towel.
Most people decide to go for a washing wax in this case. These sorts of products will encapsulate the dirt particles and ensure that they are kept away from your paint. They can be used to remove considerable amounts of dirt safely, but they should not be used on filthy vehicles.
When you carry out this sort of clean, again, parking your car in the shade is recommended. Remember that you shouldn’t scrub your vehicle, as this can cause the shine to fade. You can use a clean microfiber towel to buff off any of the residue once you have finished applying the wax.
Purchase a Quick Detailer Spray
Investing in a quick detailer spray will help you clean very light dust. If you have a black car, then this is something that you will definitely need to add to your collection!
A detailer is a very thin type of liquid that you can apply to your car to protect the plastic and paint while you wipe your vehicle down. A lot of the products on the market today will also provide some protection and a gloss finish.
To apply the detailer spray, we would always recommend parking your car in the shade so that the paint is as cool as possible. You can then use the detailer spray and wipe it onto your vehicle with a high-quality microfiber towel.
You only need to mist the product very gently and wipe it in straight lines without a lot of pressure so that you do not scratch your vehicle. You can then use the clean side of the towel for every wipe to preserve the existing shine. You will need plenty of towels to give your car a perfect finish. Simply wash them after use.
You can use this spray on the plastic and glass parts of your vehicle as well. We must stress how important it is to use a microfiber towel. This will keep the dust away from the paint, whereas other towels will simply push the dirt around and cause little scratches to your vehicle.
Preserving The Exterior Shine
The best way to preserve you exterior is keeping the car in the garage. UV rays, bird droppings, and acidic contaminants in the rain reek havoc on your paint. Not everyone has the luxury of course of a garage. Your next best options are a car cover or car port. These can help minimize the wear and tear on your paint and make the wash job you completed last longer.
You can also consider applying ceramic coating, which creates a layer of protection on the paint that is better then wax, Ceramic coating lasts 2 to 3 years and is easier to clean because it repels water really well. The downside is that it is pretty expensive to have done. Cars with ceramic coating shine a little brighter, protect a little better, and need less attention between pro detailing jobs.
Detailing The Interior On Your Own
If you get your vehicle detailed occasionally then the interior should only need minor upkeep. For the interior it comes down to: vacuuming, wipe down, and deodorizing
Vacuuming With a Powerful Shop Vac
Your standard portable car dust buster isn’t going to cut it. You need a shop vac or stop at gas station with car vacuums. If you have an air compressor consider blowing out under you seats and hard to reach places first before you vacuum.
Take all the mats out of the car. You want to brush them or bang them out first and then vacuum. Next vacuum the car without the mats in. Really get in there and vacuum in all the corners. Even vacuum the cup holders and storage areas. Don’t forget to vacuum your trunk or rear cargo.
The Wipe Down and Shine
I prefer to use soft cleaning wipes instead of cleaning sprays. I find there is less spotty residue left behind when you wipe. Using a cleaning wipe, hit every hard surface in the car including the dash, the doors, gauges, center console, and the command center. Even try and get in the vents and move the vents.
If you want to go to the next level take off all removable knobs. Clean them separate and then clean the area around where the knob was. Lots of dirt and grime can build up around the stereo knobs particularly.
For the seats you will need to work them according to the material. You can use a leather or suede cleaner for those materials. I often don’t polish my leather in between details, I just gently wipe it clean. If you have excessive pet hair on cloth seats you can, read this article here.
Cleaning The Glass And Leaving No Streaks
For the glass you can use a standard glass cleaner. A standard class cleaner is safe for tinted windows as well. It is better to spray the cleaner on a microfiber towel and then apply it. You will get less streaks. Always use a different towel t dry the glass.
Deodorizing For a Fresh Smell
You can apply a spray or an air freshener. Sometimes a vehicle may need something extra. There are fumigating products that spray a chemical into your vehicle to neutralize the bad smell. If you use one of these, you will want to do that before you detail the interior. These products tend to leave a haze on the windows and a chemical residue on everything else. If your car has a smoke smell, read this.
DIY Detailing at Home In Between Pro Detailing
You don’t need to be a professional auto detailer to keep you vehicle looking sharp. There are a lot of basic detailing you can do on your own for up keep. I recommend getting your vehicle detailed twice per year and then just keeping up with basic cleaning every 5 or 6 weeks. It doesn’t really take much. I wipe down the interior and vacuum once per month. I wash the exterior about once per month. It really depends on how much time you spend in your vehicle and if you have it in a garage or outside.
If you own a classic car and you are getting it show ready, then perhaps you detail before the show. Same would apply if you were selling a vehicle or taking it to auction. Having a fully detailed car will help increase the sales offers and bring out the best in the vehicle.