No matter the season, cars are often in need of some care and attention to keep them looking their best. If you’re not sure where to start, below we have some top tips and suggestions that will help you to restore your car’s shine in a matter of hours and without breaking the bank in the process.
Wash Your Car’s Exterior
First you should wash your car but before you do, read this blog post to make sure that you don’t make any of the five most common car cleaning mistakes. Washing and cleaning your car might seem straightforward and simple – and in most cases it is – but if you avoid a number of common and costly mistakes you can almost guarantee the best results for your efforts.
Clean Your Wheels First
As wheels tend to be the dirtiest part of the car, washing them first avoids the risk of splashing dirt and grit back onto the clean body work. This is especially true if using a pressure washer.
Wheels can be complicated because they have narrow spaces that make them hard to clean, especially when the dirt and grease has found its way into the inner section of the wheel. There are range of different methods and products to help, but wheel cleaners specifically allow you to easily remove dirt and grime with a few sprays and a bit of elbow grease.
Use a Clay Bar
After cleaning, rinsing and drying your car you can now focus on the dirt and grime that isn’t visible to the naked eye. To identify this dirt just take your hand and run it along the paintwork. You should never be able to hear your paint, but if you can it means that some potentially harmful contaminates are stuck on it like dust or gravel off the road.
One great way to remove this dirt is with a clay bar which you just rub smoothly back and forth to gather the substances without scratching them against the paintwork. For more in-depth information, read our article on how to use a clay bar.
Clean The Glass
The old-school trick is to use a newspaper and apply window cleaner and use it to polish the glass. However, you risk leaving soggy newspaper behind. A more advanced solution is rain repellent, which turns your glass to a sealed and hydrophobic environment where the water just runs straight off.
Clean The Chrome And Trim
Chrome is often used on car body parts to add an extra touch of style to the vehicle, but it needs to be kept in the best possible condition to have the desired effect.
It’s easily scratched and because it sits away from the bodywork it can pick up a great deal of the dirt and grease off the road. The shiny nature of the material means that this becomes increasingly evident, but it does clean very well with a good glass cleaner or chrome trim polish that has been specifically designed to restore your chrome bodywork.
Clean Your Leather Interior
Cleaning your leather interior can breathe new life to your seats. We recommend a leather cleaner that you simply massage into the seats, leave for a couple of hours to dry and come back to a more luxurious interior.
Daily Car Detailing And Maintenance
To maintain your car or keep it clean from day to day you will need a car duster to get into all of those hard to reach areas where dust and dirt can accumulate.
A good quality glass cleaner or set of interior wipes are also be useful to keep in the glove box or boot so that you can remove dust and dirt whenever required.
Hopefully this blog has given you insights on car detailing and cleaning. For more useful information on cleaning methods, consumer advice, buyer guides and much more to improve, clean, repair and maintain your car visit Euro Car Parts soon.