It’s finally that time of year everyone! Time for the covers to come off and the cars and trucks to be taken out of the garage! It’s springtime, so we wanted to remind everyone that this cleaning is one of the most important ones of the year. Not only is it potentially removing months of dust, salt, or watermarks off the car, but it’s giving your car a coat of protection that can last you the entire spring and summer.
As mentioned in one of our previous posts, wax offers your car so many advantages other than just providing a clean shine. It prevents damage to the paint from sun, dirt, and the every day harshness that the open road brings. Some of you kept up with cleaning and waxing your car throughout the winter, and some lucky ones of you lived in parts of the country where winter isn’t a factor (I wish that were true for New Jersey), so this is just another routine wash for you. But for those, who haven’t been able to keep on top of our cars, this is the time to get it back to that Show Finish level of clean.
You’re going to want to start off with a nice wash. You can reference our other post that provides step by step instructions on how to properly wash and wax your car, but for those short on time, we’ll recap here what your best course of action would be.
To start your wash, you are going to want to start by covering your car in a snow foam. After covering your entire car, let the foam sit for a few minutes to allow it some time to cascade off, and you can rinse off any remaining on the car. The point of this foam is to safely remove any dirt or grit that is sitting on the surface of the car. You may be asking why you can’t just spray the car down with the hose, and the answer is because most of the time, that won’t remove everything. And when you start to sponge your baby down, you don’t want to swirl that dirt and grime all over the paint. Over time, repeating that action will lead to scratches in your paint, where the dirt and grit eat away at your paint. Imagine putting very fine sandpaper to the car, which, depending on how much dirt is left on the car is essentially what would be happening. So to prevent this, we always recommend starting your wash off with a good foaming!
Once the foam is off of the car, and there is no more dirt or grit to pose a hazard, you’re going to want to start soaping that bad boy, bad girl (we don’t judge) up. We recommend the two bucket method (and grit guards). Using a nice car soap or shampoo (don’t use dish or hand soap) you’ll want to add that to your bucket of water. Using your choice of Show Finish microfiber towels, you can start cleaning the car. For initial soaping, we recommend either the Double-Sided Chenille Microfiber Wash Mitt or the Plush Microfiber Detailing Towels (600 GSM). Once the area is soaped and clean, give it a rinse with the hose and move on to the next section.
Slowly but surely, move along the entire body of the car until you the entire thing is clean. We recommend keeping separate towels and mitts for the top and lower parts of your vehicle. This helps to prevent spreading any leftover debris from the dirtier lower half of your car to the cleaner and more visible upper half. From there, you can move to the wheels. Here we recommend using a nice tire shine and rim cleaner, and the best towel for this job would be our 12-inch Microfiber Detailing Towel (300 GSM). These will allow you to get to every inch of the rim, and allow you to apply an even coat of shine and cleaner to the tires.
The next step in the process would be to dry the car off. Using our Waffle Weave is going to be your best bet, with the Plush Microfiber Towel being second. In reality, all of the Show Finish microfibers will do the job, but the Waffle Weave is specifically designed to wick away water and soak up anything that it comes in contact with. It is also designed to leave any surface streak-free, so its great on both glass and paint. Starting with the windows and going around the rest of the car, you’ll want to make sure the car is good and dry before moving on to the next step of the ever important first spring cleaning. The wax!
As we have mentioned before, waxing your car is one of the most important things you can do in taking care of it. Once the car is dry, you’ll want to get out a detailing towel and start working on waxing the car. Also, make sure to not have the area you’re waxing be in direct sunlight. As the old adage goes, wax on, wax off. Apply some wax and allow it to sit for a short time, and then remove it by buffing with a Plush Microfiber Towel. Repeat this process all over the car until there is a protective barrier that will help prevent damage to your car’s coat.
At this point, your car will be Show Finish ready and will be turning heads whether in your driveway or on the road. As always, we want everyone to be safe out there, and if there are any specific detailing or car care questions you have, feel free to drop us a line! Our experts can help you with any issues and get your car looking its finest! Happy Spring!