How To Wash Your Car

Properly washing your car is one of the keys to maintaining a flawless finish.

While washing a vehicle isn't exactly rocket science, there are tools and techniques that can greatly reduce car wash induced swirl marks and scratches. These microscopic scratches take away from the clarity and depth that makes your paint finish stand out.

There are many good methods of washing a vehicle, but the approach is the same. Your goal is to "gently lift" the dirt and grime rather than "scrubbing" it off the car. So often I hear about someone who meant well but really did more harm than good by using a scouring pad or even steel wool to remove bugs, road tar or tree sap from their vehicle's delicate paint finish. These may seem like tough cleaning jobs to tackle but with the proper products, tools and techniques, you will be able to clean your car safely, effectively and most importantly with the confidence that you're doing the job right.

In this section we will walk you through the "two bucket" wash technique that is a favorite among car care enthusiasts who's mission is to maintain a flawless finish on their car. Keep in mind that while there is no one right way to wash a car, there surely are a lot of wrong ways. For example, never use diswashing liquid on your car. These detergents are designed to strip oils and degrease dirty pots and pans, which is exactly what you want to avoid doing to your vehicle's finish.

Here's what you will need for the "two bucket" wash technique;

50-100' of garden hose with an adjustable spray nozzle or foam gun.

one or two soft wash mitts, wash pads, or boar's hair brush.

pH balanced car wash shampoo.

Two clean 5 gallon buckets with Grit Guards installed. (One for your Car Wash Soap and the other for plain rinse water)

Microfiber Drying Towels

Metro Air Force Dryer for drying cracks and crevices. (Optional)

Now that you have the right products and tools, here are the steps for the two bucket technique.

1. Make sure you have a shaded area to work and your paint surface is cool to the touch. Direct sunlight can cause you car wash soap to dry too fast or soften the painted surface allowing for scratches to occur.

2. Prepare your two 5 gallon buckets. Fill one half way with your car wash solution and the other three quarters full with plain rinse water. Go ahead and place your mitt or pad in the soapy bucket, this allows it to saturate and soften before you begin using.

3. Rinse the vehicle thoroughly. Using a garden hose with an adjustable spray nozzle, thoroughly rinse your car starting at the top and working your way down. Pre-rinsing is an important step and should not be skipped.

4. Dunk your wash mitt into the soapy car wash solution and gently glide the mitt over the vehicle. Be sure to start at the top and work your way down. This is important to prevent transferring dirt from the grimier lower areas up to the rest of the vehicle. DO NOT SCRUB. Allow the soap solution to do it's job.

5. Dunk your wash mitt vigorously into the clean water rinse bucket. This cleans the mitt and removes any dirt and contaminants that were removed from the vehicle's surface.

6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 around the entire vehicle and then rinse thoroughly.

Rinse your way to easier drying! Here's a little trick to use for faster, easier drying;

Once you have rinsed using your spray nozzle, remove it from your garden hose and do a final rinse using only the steady flow of water from the hose. Start at the top and you will notice the water sheet right off of your car. This floods the vehicle surface and by providing more water volume, you allow gravity to pull the water down and off your car!

DRYING Throw away your old T-shirts, leather chamois, cloth diapers and anything else that you have been using until now. High quality waffle weave microfiber is a superior fabric to use when drying your car. Waffle weave microfiber slides across your paint finish easily, without stripping wax like leather chamois can.

CRACKS AND CREVICES Nothing is more annoying than thinking you are finished drying only to have water streaking out of door handles, emblems, door jambs etc. People have used air compressors and leaf blowers to blow out these cracks, and although they are effective, they do not filter the air that they take in which could potentially thrust sand, oil or dirt onto you vehicle. We have found a blower from Metro called "The Air Force Commander" that solves this problem by filtering it's air. This blower has a powerful 4.0 horsepower motor to do the job quickly and safely.

STUBBORN BUGS, ROAD TAR & TREE SAP. Still have some bugs, road tar or tree sap after washing your vehicle? Please refer to our article on How-To Remove Bugs, Road Tar & Tree Sap.