Car cleaning tips from a neat freak ;0)!
Written: Nov 21 '00 (Updated Nov 27 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: great looking shiny car!
Cons: Takes awhile!
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| IamTinaMarie's Full Review: Archived Autos & Motorsports Reviews |
First, clean the inside of your car, this way you don't track in water and mud from cleaning the outside. Use basic items such a Windex on windows and Armor All on your dashboard and vinyl. Start cleaning from top to bottom. If you have leather seating I recommend using Meguiar’s Gold Class Leather cleaner and Conditioner in one. It’s very simple to use, you just apply it on a soft 100% cotton towel and rub on your leather surfaces, then wipe off with a clean 100% cotton towel. This leaves your leather feeling much softer and less squeaky ;0)! If you have fabric seats, I recommend using Prestone’s Interior Cleaner it does really well with getting out stains (especially baby bottle drippings ;0P). The last that you want to do is vacuum this way all the dust and dirt that was on the dash all went onto the floor. You may want to re-wipe the dash after vacuuming if you see excess dust.
When cleaning the outside of the car, I use the Meguiar’s deep crystal system. This consists of 4 steps, and solutions. You should do a rinse on your car first just with plain water (using a hose), this will get off the loose dirt and dust so it won’t scratch the paint when you scrub.
You want to start off by using Meguiar’s Car wash and conditioner (clear coat safe). This will suck up the dirt in the foam that will form, and it doesn’t harm your wax protection or clear coat that is on your cars paint. What you will do is fill up a bucket of water and add in the correct solution amount to the amount of water. You will apply with a sponge and will remove with a hose (don’t spray just let the hose flow go over the surface) You will then wipe the surface off with a dry terry cloth.
When you car is completely dry, you want to get more clean 100% cotton cloths, and apply the Meguiar’s Clear Coat Body Scrub (paint cleaner). This will bring out the color and remove those bug guts and tar stains. You apply this like you would car wax. You want to do this in sections at a time. You would apply with a cotton towel and then remove with a clean cotton towel and so on, until you have done this to your whole car.
Now for the polish (again I recommend the Meguiar’s Polish), this is what makes cars shinny and glossy or creates that wet look. Make sure your car is parked in the shade before doing this. This is needed so the sun won’t bake the polish into your paint before you had a chance to wipe it off. You will apply this exactly like you did the Body Scrub, You wipe on using a cotton towel and wipe off using a cotton towel. Make sure you do this in small sections for best results ;0)!
Now for the last step of cleaning the body of the car, you want to use a wax (again I recommend Meguiar’s carnauba wax). Wax will protect the paint from the sun ect., so it’s also another important step. You will apply this like you did the previous 2 steps. Wipe on with cotton towel or pad, and wipe off. Again make sure you are parked in the shade for this step.
Now that your cars body looks great how about wheels tires ;0)! I use Armor all’s Quick Silver II Wheel Cleaner. The directions say to spray on and hose off, but I found that it works best if you spray and scrub with a soft cloth, then hose off. This does a fantastic job getting off break dust and road tar! After you are finished rinsing make sure you wipe off with a dry towel so you don’t have water spots!
This is a really long process, but if you take your time and do everything properly you will LOVE the results! You will receive so many complements on your shiny car as well as tons of people asking were you got it detailed at ;0)! Just do it on a nice sunny comfortable day and cross your fingers it won’t rain in the next couple of days ;0P!
Recommended:
Yes
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IamTinaMarie
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Member: Tina Marie
Location: Indiana
Reviews written: 15
Trusted by: 37 members
About Me:
Stay at Home mom to 3, attending college for a B.A. in Computer Sciences.
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