The best car wash can happen with a hose, some soap, cleaning mitts and a few buckets of water.
It is important to keep your car clean for good maintenance and to enjoy your ride. Also If you’re selling your used car this will help gain potential buyers.
water.
Pick a good location. You don’t want to clean the car in direct sunlight or direct heat as the soap will dry onto the car before you can rinse it off if this is not an option you can use car wash saops that are ph balanced to give you more time and make sure to use extra soap. Don’t wash it near a dusty road or under a tree where buds, bugs and leaves can fall and stick to the car.
Make sure you have a pressure washer or a hose and nozzle with enough pressure to spray the car.
What you will need: - Hose and nozzle/pressure washer - Two buckets with grit gaurds - Wash Mitts - Wheel Brushes - Access to water and power - Car Wash Soap - Wheel Cleaner - Drying towels - Microfiber cloths
Preparation:
Make sure your work area is prepped and everything is ready and in place, from the chemicals and towels to the buckets and hose. You don’t want water to dry on the vehicle while your running around trying to find you tools or hose etc. Leaving water on the car to dry can cause water spots and can potentially etch the paint Have everything near by and close to maximize on efficiency and effectiveness,
Step 1: Pre-Rinse
Use a hose with a spray nozzle that provides good water pressure or even better a pressure washer to spray the car.
Start with the wheels they contain the most dirt and debris so you want to clean them first. Don't forget to spray around the wheel wells to get rid of brake dust, and dirt.
After spraying the wheels down start to rinse the rest of the vehicle starting from top to bottom spray down the roof, then start to make your way around to the windshield hood, spray the windows and door panels spray the whole side on both sides, clean the back of the car from the rear windshield down to around the trunk and bumper.
Step 2: Wheels
Have a bucket ready with soap and water for the wheels. Start by spaying down all the wheels with your favourite tire and rim cleaner let dwell for a few mins to help bread down dirt, grime and stuck on abrasive particles and containments. Once you have finished with each of your wheels it's time to start washing them with your wheels brushes, or dedicated wash mitt – if you use a wash mitt you don’t want to use this on the rest of the car or you’ll risk transferring all that tire dirt and debris to your car and scratching the paint.
Rinse of the wheels after you have cleaned then before moving onto the next steps you can wash away all the aggitated dirtiness of the wheels and tires you don't want to leave it on there to just dry and become dirty again or if you are using stinger wheel cleaners if you leave them on two long it can potentially damage the coating on your wheels.
Step 3: Foaming
Connect yout foam gun or cannon to your hose or pressure washer and thoroughly cover the the entire vehicle with a thick layer of soap don't be hesitant you can go around the Vehicle twice to make sure it has amplr amount of soap. This is important because it is going to help lift and remove surface containments on the car and it's going to add lubrication for when you are making contact with the car with your wash mtts so it will help prevent the chances of scratches and swirl marks.
Step 4: Hand Wash
Prepare two buckets of water with grit gaurds. Fill one with just water this is your rinse bucket and one bucket with your car wash soap for your soap bucket this is where you'll dip your wash mitt before making contact with the vehicle.
Make sure to follow the instructions for how much soap you should use for the application on each product solution you use.
Use the soapy bucket to lather up your wash mitt or chamios towels with soap for the car and the bucket of just water will be used to rinse dirt and debris from the mitt after you’re done cleaning each area. It’s important that the cleaning mitt is free of dirt or else it can scratch the paint as you clean.
You want to work your way down as you wash the car and clean it in sections. Start with the roof. Use the mitt to make one swipe or motions in one way you can follow the s pattern but don't go in circles repeatedly or you can cause swirl marks work in straight or side to side motions, flip over your mit wipe again and then rinse it.
Don’t try to push down or scrub to hard. You want to be gentle but also make sure there is enough contact the idea is to just lift and slide of all the containments that what all the soap and foam is helping us do.
If yout mitt falls on the ground, rinse it very thoroughly before even considering using it on the car rub it along your grit gaurds and rinse again Dirt and gravel could have gotten lodged into the mitt in the fall and you don’t want to be rubbing that into the car’s surface. It's better to just set aside to be be washed and use a clean mitt.
Step 5: Final Rinse and Dry.
Start with the top/roof and again, work your way down, making sure you don’t leave any soap behind. Make sure to focus on spraying in the seams of the doors, trunk, windshield, windows and around your side mirrors these are all spots where soap can get trapped and can cause stains and can lead to damaged paint and rust.
The final step is to use a dry chamois or a microfibre cloth to gently and thoroughly dry the vehicle. Avoid household towels as they are not designed for this kind of use instead use a dedicated detailing drying towel.
Drape the towel over the vehicle, with little rubbing or pressure and make sure to get around the handles. Squeeze water from the cloth as you continue to dry I'd needed until you’ve reached every spot and you’ve got a spot free and streak free finish.
Step 6: Windows
Use a streak free window cleaner and have a few microfiber cloths, you want to spray one window down at a time. Fold your microfiber towels so you have 8 sides and start to clean the sprayed windows you can also spay the towel as well.
Clean each window side to side top to bottom and flip each side when it gets dirty as necessary. Now follow over the window with a second microfiber towel also folding so you have 8 sides to wipe off any left over residues and get that streak-free result make sure to use a dry side each time.
Step 7: Touch ups
This is the perfect time to go around and inspect the vehicle make sure to touch up anything you may have missed.
Now your all done. Clean up your equipment supplies etc.. until your next Wash 😀
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