The Step by Step Process of Cleaning Your Car.

How Should You Maintain Your Vehicle?

Wheels

When cleaning your car it is vital to start with the wheels. This is because your wheels tend to be the dirtiest part of the car, so we do not want to pass any of this dirt onto your paintwork at a later stage.

Tips to clean your wheels:

- Use a dedicated non-acidic wheel cleaner to break down any dirt and brake dust
- Use a dedicated bucket with some wheel shampoo to help protect your alloys
- Don't forget to use a tyre brush to remove any dirt from your tyres
- Use a barrel brush to clean the barrels of your alloys
- Use a wheel mitt to clean the face and behind any spokes
- Use a high quality detailign brush to get into those hard to reach areas

Once cleaned, lock your hard work in with a protective sealant for your wheels, this will help protect your wheels and also make future maintenance much easier.

Pre Wash

One of the most important parts of washing your car, is to pre wash the vehicle, before making contact. By doing this it softens and removes dirt as much as possible, this will help reduce the chances of you causing any swirls or scratches to your paintwork.

- Spray a citrus pre wash all over the vehicle, this helps remove the majority of dirt
- Let the cirtus pre wash dwell for 5 minutes
- Then apply a snow foam over the top of, this will help breakdown the dirt further

Top tip - depending on what protection your vehicle already has, it may be useful to use a PH neutral snow foam and a cirtus pre wash that won't remove any existing coatings. Be sure to follow manufactuer dilution ratios carefully.

Contact Wash

A contact wash helps remove any final bits of dirt and leave a flawless clean finish. Always use a high quality wash mitt and shampoo, this will reduce the chances of causing any scratches or swirls to your paintwork.

- Use the two bucket method, one bucket with shampoo for your car and the other to rinse your wash mitt
- You can also apply shampoo to the vehicle via a foam lance, this helps create extra lubrication between your wash mitt and your car
- Always work in straight lines
- Start from top to bottom, leaving areas like the bottom of your doors till last
- Rinse thoroughly to avoid a streaky finish

Top tip - this is a great stage to grab a detailing brush and some all purpose cleaner. Spray the all purpose cleaner on hard to reach areas such as badges, fuel cap, grills and window trims. Rinse thoroughly.

Drying Your Vehicle

When drying your vehicle it is important to use a high quality drying towel as this will help prevent scratches and swirls to your paintwork. You can use a rinse aid before this stage to help speed up the drying process.

We recommend using a dedicated car dryer to dry your car, this means no contact is required when drying your car and areas such as wing mirrors or blown dry thoroughly.

Don't forget to dry your wheels, we recommend using a separate dedicated drying towel for your wheels.

Top tip - if you are using a drying towel to dry your car, spray a mist of quick detailer on the area your are drying and also on your drying towel, this will help prevent scratches and swirls, but also leave a high gloss finish.

Protection Your Paintwork

Now you car is clean and dry, it is important to protect your paintwork with a wax or sealant. By protecting you paintwork, not only will it make your car look even better, it will also make future maitenance much easier.

Both waxes and sealants provide excellent paint protection, some will provide better protection than others. It is important to research what product you need to achieve the finish and length of protection you are after. Always apply the product as per manufactuer instructions.

Finishing Touches

Tyre Shine - apply a tyre shine to make your wheels stand out. Typically there is a satin finish or a high gloss wet finish. Find a product that suits your desired finish.

Quick Detailer - at this stage you can use some quick detailer on the vehicle to add extra gloss to your vehicle and go over any areas, such as the side of doors where water has dripped from the wing mirrors.

Glass - use a dedicated glass cleaner and cloth to leave a streak free finish to your glass.