Car detailing is meticulously cleaning, restoring, and finishing a vehicle to produce a high-quality and polished appearance. It goes beyond a simple vehicle wash and involves intricate cleaning techniques to remove dirt, grime, and imperfections from the interior and exterior of the vehicle. Vehicle detailing is crucial for maintaining your vehicle’s aesthetics and plays a significant role in preserving its value and longevity.
According to one study, 1 in 5 people say they haven’t cleaned their car in a few months. This might be a sign that you need to do some vehicle detailing. But what goes into detailing a vehicle? There is a lot of different work that you can do to clean your car.
To master the art of car detailing, you must have the right tools and techniques. Here are some essential tools and techniques every aspiring car detailer should know:
- Wash Mitts and Microfiber Towels: These soft and gentle tools are essential for cleaning the exterior of your car without causing any scratches or swirl marks. Use a microfiber towel for drying to avoid leaving behind lint or streaks.
- Clay Bars: Clay bars remove contaminants like stubborn dirt, tree sap, and industrial fallout from the paint surface. They work by gently pulling out these impurities, leaving behind a smooth and clean surface.
- Polishing Machines: Polishing machines, such as dual-action or rotary polishers, remove scratches, swirl marks, and other imperfections from the paint. They help in achieving a glossy and smooth finish.
- Interior Cleaning Tools: Various tools and products are available for cleaning and restoring your vehicle’s interior, from brushes and vacuums to upholstery cleaners and leather conditioners. These tools help remove stains, dust, and grime from surfaces like seats, carpets, and dashboards.
In this beginner’s guide, we will explore vehicle detailing and why every vehicle owner must understand and master this skill.
Start Car Interior Detailing
You can start by cleaning out your car. You might need a vacuum to start, and you can check out some of the top vacuums to get one. These will clean up all the junk and trash inside your car. When you do this, you’ll have a good start to cleaning the rest of your vehicle.
You should also take out all of the floor mats and vacuum them. Get into the nooks and seams of the vehicle’s fabric to get rid of as many crumbs as possible. If you have fabric seats, you might want to use shampoo to clean the seats. You can use shampoo to clean the floor mats and carpets as well. Wait for these to dry before you start cleaning the rest of your vehicle.
You should also use detailing brushes to get into places that are harder to reach. You may even want to use an air compressor to remove dirt from tight spots. You may even want to dust and wipe your vehicle’s dashboard and other plastic surfaces.
Prepare the Exterior of the Car
Next, you can start washing the car. You’ll want to start with a pre-cleaner that removes a lot of dirt that is difficult to remove. You should find one that is safe but will lessen the grime so you can wash it more easily.
After you’ve primed it, you can then use snow foam. This is a foam that you will spray onto the car. It will help break down other dirt and grime as well. When you use this strategy before washing the vehicle, you’ll be able to optimize the amount of dirt you remove from your car by sitting there to scrub it.
Wash the Car
Now, you can start washing the car, and you should use the two-bucket method. First, you should fill one bucket with the wash solution. Then, the other bucket should have plain water. You should put the solution onto the car and then wash it from the top down in smaller sections. Then, you should rinse the brush in the water bucket before you put the brush in the clean solution. This way, you ensure you don’t ruin your wash solution and always use clean water to wash your car.
Clean Wheels
Next, you should try and clean the wheels. Often, these can be the dirtiest part of the car as they go over dust, mud, road salt, brake dust, and asphalt. Start by cleaning the corners of the tire. You should try cleaning your tires more often than the rest of your car because cleaning them will take a while if you wait until the last minute.
First, apply a spray on the tire that will help clean it. You should let it sit for the recommended period to help remove any grime. Next, hose it off and scrub your tires in a circular motion to remove whatever grime is left over. You might want to get a wheel brush or sponge that will access areas that are hard to reach. Then, you can make a solution for a wheel wash bucket. Because of the dirty tires, you should use the two-bucket method again.
Dry
Once the car and tires are washed, dry the entire vehicle. Even if you buy the best shampoo out there, there will still be streaks and watermarks that will materialize if you just let the car air dry. Some people will use compressed air to dry the car, but if you do this, ensure you still wipe the vehicle down with a microfiber cloth. You might need a few towels to dry the car thoroughly.
When you’re done wiping it down, you should see if there are any leftover water spots or places where the water has pooled and dried. You can then focus on that area with polishing.
Polish
After the vehicle is all dried, you’ll need to polish the car and remove stains, swirls, oxidation, and scratches. Professional detailers will use a different car polishing compound that can help protect and heal the vehicle.
When you buy the polishing, follow all the directions on how to use it properly. When you’re polishing, focus on a tiny section at a time. You may even want to focus on areas more likely to be scratched or bumped when driving or parked. That way, your vehicle is a little bit more resistant to scratches.
