Friday, July 9, 2010

Washing your Car

As summer is definitely here more of us turn from using a car wash to washing our own car. So I thought I would discuss some do's and don'ts of cleaning your car.

If you're like I was perhaps you would spray down your car with water then brush it with detergent and finish with a rinse. Bad news you've been doing something wrong. When we prespray our car with water before introducing detergent we create a water barrier which will not allow the detergent to work as it's suppose to. You may say that you want to remove any heavy soil and dirt as not to scratch the paint on your car and thats why we have been taught to prespray with water. Try this for a change I believe you will get better results. Fill a pail up with water and detergent (will discuss which soon), using a soft bristle or (new to the market) microfiber brush, wash your car starting at the bottom with out prespraying with water. Soak the bottom quarter of you car and work your way up doing this all the way around your vehicle. When completed using fresh water rinse from the top down. What this does is allows the dirt from the bottom to stay at the bottom and the detergent to emulsify completely the dirt giving you a better clean. As a finishing touch you can dry with a microfiber drying towel or shammie.

How to choose the right detergent. There are many on the market and each have their own good traits. I personal have found that a good neutral floor soap works best. Neutral floor soap is designed to clean vinyl and cork based floors. It is designed to clean a polyurethane finish without dulling or harming the coating. It has also been designed to remove heavy soiling from the floor. And most importantly it is neutral. I believe it's a perfect combination. On top of that as there is currently no criteria for green car wash chemical you can use a green floor detergent and have the best of both worlds.

So as summer comes and goes let's have fun and enjoy the beautiful weather while it lasts.

Phil-T
"Nothing is too filthy for Phil-T"

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