This article will teach you how to maintain and hand wash your ceramic coated or non-ceramic coated cars exterior. We will teach you how to keep your car super shiny, scratch free, and in excellent condition for good, and for as cheaply as possible!
Why its important:
Your cars trims and paint are super delicate, and very very expensive. Did you know that repainting your car often times costs more than it does to replace your entire engine? Todays car manufactures know fully that car paint is the most expensive part of production. And unfortunately, modern cars (typically around 2015 and newer, depends on manufacturer) come out the worst.
Todays cars can be found in some cases, with 1/3 the paint cars from the early 2000's have. Modern car paint is razor thin! This is why we see 2017, 2018, and 2019 vehicles (in 2022) with clear coat failure on their roofs, hoods, and headlights. Often times this damage requires expensive, labor intensive repainting. This is of course why its important to install a sealant or Ceramic Coating to your paint and protect it from UV damage. These products sit on top of your clear coat and act as a durable, shiny shield.
If your Car or Truck has no Sealant or Ceramic Coating, it will continue to look duller and duller with every wash. Your paint and trims will also be prone to accumulate water spots, fallout, stains and etch marks from bird droppings. All of these defects cost much more to repair than it costs to install and maintain the protectants that prevent them. You can certainly install them at home or hire a professional. Be sure to ask which product is being used and how long it will protect your paint for, paint protection ranges from 3 weeks to multiple years, so knowing is important.
What not to do:
Making and keeping your car looking its best should not take you a lot of time or money, if it does your doing it wrong. Here's a list of what not to do to prevent fading, scratches, permanent damage, and expensive detailing repair services:
-Use "tunnel" washes
-Use use non car soap
-Use "self wash" brushes or soaps
-Use solvent based "armor all" type retail products
-Wash in the sun or heat
-Skip routine cleanings inside or out
-Skip washing your wheels
-Allow water spots or tar stains to settle
-Drive without a paint or trim protectant
At the end of the day, your car is one of the most expensive things you'll buy, it is important to take care of it using a company that is actually invested in getting you great results. Self wash and tunnel car washes are purely investment businesses. They don't care weather or not their services damage or do a good or bad job, like fast food, the market is so big there's no reason for them to care about returning customers. You will do a much a better job at home with basic tools and a little time than even most hand car wash businesses, because you care about your cars cleanliness and look. Similarly, a detail shop has a reputation to uphold, and car washes to "compete" with, so the motivation to provide good service and value is high!
How to Wash and Maintain your Car at Home: Cheap and Fast
There are 2 methods of cleaning your car the right way at home, the Traditional Hand Wash and Rinseless washing. Traditional Hand washing is familiar and fun to do. Although it is rather wasteful of water and time consuming. It is super important to wash out of the sun when its cool, and use the right tools and products. However this is a much better solution when the car gets really dirty.
Rinseless washing is much more versatile and eco friendly. You'll be able to wash in your garage, or anywhere for that matter, even an apartment parking lot. It requires much less tools and takes less time. The best part about washing rinseless is you don't need a hose and you'll be using less than 5 gallons of water!
You will be able to find all tools at Walmart or Amazon, since a lot of products are very similar, we'll leave the shop list to your preference. Buy the best products you can within your budget, remember that washing yourself at home will save you lots of money! For retail products, we recommend anything from 3D products and Maguaris, Chemical guys is also great, just be sure to do your research on which products work best for you. Here's a list of what to pick up:
-A good Car Soap without any waxes in it (For Traditional washing)
-Rinseless Wash Soap (if doing rinseless)
-A wash mitt
-A large microfiber drying towel
-2 Buckets (one for washing one for wheels)
-Wheel and Tire cleaner
-Exterior trim and tire dressing (Water based only)
-Glass cleaner
-Pack of microfiber towels to be re-used
-A quality Liquid Paint Sealant (Try to avoid pastes)
At this point I can list specifically how to do the washes for either method, but there are great videos that will be able to do a much better job than my article would. What's important is now you know what to do and more importantly what not to do. Be sure to install a quality paint sealant after washing and re-applying as needed based off of the products longevity. Maintain a wash routine as needed, weather it be bi-weekly, or monthly. Thank you for reading, enjoy your shiny car!
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