You have 0 items in your cart
The appearance of your car or you taking care of your vehicle is not vanity by any means. It is, in fact, smart ownership of your vehicle. A professional detailer can easily come to you and charge anywhere around 100-500 dollars for car detailing. Or you can choose to save some dough by doing it yourself, swiping their secrets.
Today, we are going to help you do just that. After all, the internet freely provides information, DIYs, and tips. We are going to share all of those tricks of the trade that were available with the professionals, all this while. This very moment, all of those tricks are going to be all yours. So here we go.
Detailing your own ride can call for a bit of money gathering but that is nothing close to what a detailer charges. Trust us when we say that you may have most of the ideal stuff lying in your garage already. However, you may have to shell out anything close to say 30 or 50 dollars, depending on how immense you want the detailing to be.
Our tips are satisfying and accessible to every skill level. These top secrets will not just deliver professional results but make detailing easier and more successful.
1. Use two buckets
Have you ever heard of the two-bucket washing system? We bet not! Well, that’s what we are here for. This method involves the use of two buckets to wash your car. It is done in such a manner that there are minimal scratches and swirls to the auto body.
1 BUCKET WILL WASH, 1 BUCKET WILL RINSE
Thus, one bucket will contain your shampoo solution and the other one simply contains plain water to rinse the wash mitt.
WASHING TOOLS YOU NEED:
Two buckets
Get hold of a plastering bucket. Extra points if you get two buckets of different stickers/colors. Different colored buckets will help you distinguish between the one that has the wash solution and the other where you will dunk the mitt.
Washing mitt
We are dead against a sponge, so use a thickly piled washing mitt that pulls away the dirt from your paintwork.
Car shampoo
For the cleaning needs of your vehicle, get a dedicated shampoo.
Pro tip: Permagard’s pH neutral shampoo is a gentle and rich gloss enhancing shampoo that leaves your car with a sparkling glow after a wash. It is free of silicone and phosphates and follows a non-abrasive method to remove grime and dirt stuck on a car surface.
Water
You need water for a thorough wash.
Grit Guards
Ensure you get grit guards that fit the buckets well.
Follow the diagram below to know the directions for a wash.
2. Rinse before washing
Before you begin the second phase of exterior car detailing, you have to wash off the grit and dirt. We recommend parking your car near a water source, or having a long hose that you can connect your pressure washer to the hi-pressure jet will blast the dirt off.
However, be careful as powerful washers damage seals and paintwork. Two very useful products that worked well for us – a traffic film remover and snow foam.
These two cover your vehicle in suds and work by loosening off the grime. You just have to leave them to do their work for a few minutes, then with a pressure washer, you can blast it all.
Pro tip: Work from your car’s roof downwards. Do not miss the bumpers, door sills, and undersides.
Follow the method below for efficient rinsing of your car:
3. Use a microfiber cloth
Do you use regular towels to clean grime during exterior car cleaning? We say, stop right away! That is because microfiber towels are the need of the hour. With a microfiber mitt, the grit will fall out whenever you rinse it. A sponge, on the other hand, makes the grit stay put. Grit embeds on a sponge and when you wash a sponge filled with grit, it functions as a sandpaper.
Thus, if you do not intend to harm the finish of your car, you must use a dry microfiber towel that collects leftover particles. To remove grit, all you need to do is rinse your towel.
Here is how microfiber towels help you do that.
Clean grime
Regular towels are cotton towels that spread dirt around whenever you wipe them across your car. The microfiber towels contain “micro” fibers that are tiny enough to lift up the grime. These cloths have four times more surface area compared to the same size cotton cloth.
Did you know? Regular mops remove only thirty percent of the dirt, whereas mops made of microfiber material remove up to ninety-nine percent of dirt and grime.
Not-Abrasive
Microfiber towels are not at all abrasive, thus, you can use them on your vehicle’s delicate parts. The tiny fibers in the towels are approximately 1/100th diameter of our hair. The blend of fabrics along with the super tiny size of fibers make them non-abrasive and extremely soft.
Things to know: Not only are the towels non-abrasive but they eliminate the chances of any kind of debris scratching your car surface whenever they are wiped across your vehicle.
Are ultra absorbent
Speaking of being extremely absorbent, we can bet that you won’t find anything other than a microfiber towel. The tiny fibers in the mop remove liquid from the surface of the car by sucking up moisture.
Did you know? Microfiber cloth are a boon for drying your vehicle as they do not leave any water marks. Also, they can absorb crazy amounts of liquid (eight times its weight in water). They also dry quickly, hence prohibiting any sort of bacterial growth that can make your cloth unsanitary.
Pro tip: Use Permagard’s edgeless microfiber cloth that is the most effective, and soft reusable tool available in the market. These cloths are super absorbent and do not leave any lint or streak behind.
Here is why you should use it:
4. Remove minor scratches before polishing
Does discovering a nasty scratch all of a sudden feel disheartening? Especially when the scar is on your sparkling new car paint? Of course, and we feel you. But then, unwanted scratches are a reality and are inevitable. However, we have good news for you because a scratch remover can restore the car’s finish like a dream.
Polishing may increase the shine but scratches? What do we do about them? We use a scratch remover that will give the finish a whole new look. With the right product and little effort, you can bid goodbye to blemishes, watermarks, scuffs, swirls, and scratches.
We know that removing scratches is not an easy job at all but it takes very little time. Plus, would you want to shell out 500 dollars for professional removal of scratches? Of course not! Some scratches may require professional exterior car detailing but you can get rid of most scratches.
And trust us when we say that YOU NEED NOT BE AN EXPERT!
5. Lubricate door seals
One of the most under-maintained and under-used parts of most vehicles have to be the doors. However, lubricating the door hinges and seals forms a part of your regular car care regimen. To maintain the car and for proper car detailing, you need to lubricate well. Perfect lubrication is critical to the effectiveness and longevity of the car.
Thing to know: A lock de-icer that you can find in gas stations or any automobile parts store works as the best lubricant. Do not use a spray grease like lithium or graphite powder because both of these can be extremely sticky and thick during the cold weather.
Here is what you can do:
6. Use a dual action polisher
The most user-friendly option for professionals and beginners that will help you deliver incredible results has to be the dual action polishers. For an ideal car detailing job, you need these polishers that help in improving the luster and texture of automotive paint with virtually no risks.
The polisher’s head motion removes swirls and improves the appearance of the scratches that your vehicle may have. But, make sure you are using the one that produces enough heat to cut intensely into the paint.
We recommend consulting a professional and not attempting to get rid of the deep scratches that could remove a lot of the clear coat.
7. Clean interiors
Caring for a vehicle’s interior is just as important as caring for the exterior. Remember, surface cleaning is not enough. Two to four times a year, you must indulge in interior car detailing as well just to keep your car looking best.
The interior car cleaning can include very simple tasks like vacuuming the carpets, floor mats, and consoles. Thus, this means you will clean a vehicle’s inner parts that include natural fibers, vinyl, plastics, leather, and carbon fiber plastics.
Here is the list of parts that need a holistic cleaning:
Front Panel: This area is the one we see most. Use a potent spray-on cleaner that gets rid of the stains and elbow grease and prevents mildew or mold growth.
Floor mats: Remove the floor mats and shake off dirt vigorously. Some mats can trap water, given their deep indentations. Thus, clean with a stiff brush by loosening the grime and wash the dirt using a strong water jet. Make sure you air-dry fully before placing them.
Door panels: Door panels have open compartments and cup holders. They can be a car’s filthiest areas, thus, use a chemical cleaner to remove the dirt and grime.
Air vents: The grills of air vents are challenging to clean. They can be very tedious, all thanks to the multiple parts. Using a long but soft bristle brush and compressed air can get rid of the grime stored in the dirty vents.
Console: The buttons and controls in your vehicle can be a complete nightmare. Cleaning every crevice and crack can irritate you. Thus, use the thinnest cloth and wrap it around a flat-head screwdriver’s head. This trick can clean many controls and buttons.
Dashboard: One of the most challenging parts to clean has to be the dashboard of your car. We recommend vacuuming all the dust before you spray any cleaning product.
Leather: For keeping leather clean and to make it keep looking new, you must use a great leather cleaning product that you can apply to a towel. Clean the material and dry it well to keep it supple.
Also Read : Importance Of Car Detailing
8. Use a clay bar
For a thorough car cleaning, there is nothing quite like a clay bar. This engineered mixture of resin helps to remove pollutants and contaminants from the car’s painted surface, metal, and fiberglass.
We recommend using the bar two times a year. You will be amazed at how this bar will get rid of things like industrial fallout, brake dust, and rail dust. Clay detailing is 100 percent non-abrasive and safe.
Things to know: Always spray a detailer spray or lubricant before you begin claying. That is because lubrication helps to stop the loose debris from tainting your car.
9. Bird droppings are the enemy
Did you know that bird poop destroys car paint? Yes! During the summertime when you keep your cars out in the sun, birds undoubtedly poop. No, we do not have a problem with the birds pooping but bird excrement has acid. This acid and the sun work like real culprits because the minute the sun hardens the poop, paint expands.
The result? Your beautifully painted car gets ruined by the uric acid present in the bird droppings. The car metal heats up during the day, causing the paint to expand and the molecules to open up just for the acid to get trapped inside the paint.
The best action is to take a mild soap and some water to remove the poop right away. Do not keep it as is, and wait for the poop to harden.
10. Avoid streaky glass
The most important part of car detailing has to be cleaning the car windows. But, have you ever noticed unsightly streaks right after you are done washing? That may be because the cleaning agents from the cleaning solution got dried on the surface.
We recommend using a microfiber towel for a streak-free cleaning. The tight weave that these towels have is excellent for the glass surfaces and have tremendous scrubbing ability.
Pro tip: Get hold of a microfiber cloth from Permagard, spray a window cleaning solution, and wipe the windows clean. That is because Permagard’s microfiber towel can be safely used on scratch-sensitive paints and reused multiple times. The best part? You may not even require any chemicals for cleaning. Thus, bid adieu to streaks, grime, and dirt.
Parting thoughts
All our tips and tricks for perfect car detailing are right before you. We hope they come handy and help you keep your car sparkling for the upcoming seasons. If there’s anything we missed or if there’s anything you would like to add, please feel free to share with us in the comments below.