Professional Car Washing Tips: Part 1 - Your vehicle’s exterior

Having a clean car can bring great satisfaction in your life. It not only gives a feeling of pride and accomplishment, but often boosts your self-esteem and even makes your car feel like it drives better.

Several years ago I owned a full-service car wash that specialized in interior, exterior, and car detailing. It was a great experience that taught me many lessons, and in the process of building this business I learned a great deal of information about car cleaning/washing.

After cleaning, washing, waxing, scrubbing and detailing thousands of cars, here are my car cleaning tips. This is a several article section on getting your car to feel as clean and new as you possibly can. We’ll start with the exterior.

Photo Credit: SqueakyMarmot

The pre-rinse

1. The first step in cleaning your car is to spray it down first with water. You will want to thoroughly soak the car so the water has time to penetrate caked-on dirt, mud and grime. Start from bottom to top and be sure to spray the wheels, tires, wheel wells and mirrors. Note: It’s especially important to start from the bottom up on hot, sunny days.

What you will need:

• A pressure-sprayer or hose to spray down your vehicle.

The wash

Photo Credit: sylvar

The key to a successful car washing is to keep your vehicle as wet as you can the entire time you are washing it. Here are the steps to ensuring the best wash possible:

1. The next thing that you will want to do is actually wash your vehicle. This removes all of the major dirt, mud, bugs, and other things that have accumulated on your car. Pay special attention to the lower half of your vehicle (running boards, bottom half of your doors and bumper) as the bottom half accumulates much more dirt and grime than the top half. You will also want to pay special attention to the roof as it is an often overlooked section of your car.
2. You will now want to rinse down the entire vehicle again to wash away the excess dirt and gunk.
3. After this second rinse you should spray your tires with some type of cleaning solution (Simple Green works great) so it has several minutes to soak in and thoroughly clean your tires.
4. Now that the vehicle has had the major dirt removed (and is still wet), you will want to focus on cleaning off the bugs from your side mirrors, windshield and hood of your vehicle. (If you want extra protection against bugs, chips, and road wear & tear I suggest 3M’s Paint Protection Film)
5. Rinse the whole vehicle again.
6. Here is the where you will want to focus on cleaning your wheels and tires. You will want to keep your tire/wheel cleaning products separate from the items you used to wash the rest of your car. A soft sponge for your wheels works best as you don’t want any scratches on your wheels. For your tires, I recommend using a wire brush as it cleans white lettering and whitewalls the best and can really scrub your tires clean.
7. Rinse the whole vehicle again.

What you will need

• 2 buckets (one for soap for the car, the other for the tires and wheels)
• Car wash soap
• Wire brush
• Car wash mitts or sponge
• Tire cleaner (Simple Green or something similar)

Drying your car

Photo Credit: Clearly Ambiguous

You will now want to dry your car. The key to getting a spot-free, smooth finish is to dry your vehicle quickly. A great product that allows you to quickly dry your car is the California Water Blade. After using a water blade, you will be hooked. This product allows you to quickly remove about 95% of the water on your car in just a few minutes.

1. Start drying your car from top to bottom.
2. 100% cotton cloths seem to work best at drying. You will also want to find cloths that are lint-free so you don’t end up with little white fuzzballs all over your car.
3. While you are drying your car here you should also open your car’s doors and wipe down the door jams (this makes a world of difference).

What you will need:

• California water blade (optional but highly recommended)
• 6 100% cotton towels

Wheels & Tires

Photo Credit: exfordy

Now that you car is dry and clean, it’s time to focus on your wheels and tires:

1. You now want to give your tires a shine. I recommend using one of Meguiar’s tire shine products. The easiest way to apply these products is with a sponge. NOTE: If you are using a spray tire shine be sure to be very careful and avoid wind, you can easily overspray and ruin your brand-new car wash.
2. After the tires are done, the easiest way to clean your wheels is to grab a damp cotton towel and proceed to clean the wheels.

What you will need:

• Sponge to apply to tire shine
• Tire shine product
• Several damp towels that you can throw away

Windows

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We’re almost done! It’s time to work on your windows:

1. Your wash will more than likely have left some water spots on your windows. The easiest way to clean your exterior windows is to clean them with a fresh damp cloth. If you cloth is too damp you may want to follow up with a dry towel. Keep in mind you will want to use lint-free towels for the windows too, otherwise you will end up with those little white fuzzy things all over your car.
2. You will want to apply Rain-X to your windows, this doesn’t make your glass noticeably cleaner, but it does make a significant difference when you are driving in the rain.

What you will need:

• 1 damp towel
• 1 dry towel
• Rain-X

You’re finished!

Photo Credit: Tyler Howarth

You should now have a car that looks like a million bucks! Your car will now look better, feel better, and be the envy of your fellow drivers. It shouldn’t take you more than an hour to do everything above, and you will feel much better that freshly-washed car!