Laying suds to sheet metal is a major opportunity to bond with your car and/or truck. Get to know those exterior panels,  check each gap and groove. Consider all the parts of your vehicle before you wet it down and soap it up. This process benefits from that close attention, because slopping on the soap and hosing it off ain’t enough to achieve a great shine.

Plan ahead for what specific cleaning you will be doing.  A quick wash begets a quick clean, and while car soap works on any vehicle, some specialized practices and cleaners may work even better: there are many steps to car washing to keep in mind when the bucket is at hand. You’re not just washing your car, you’re washing wheels, tires, trim, metal, glass and perhaps a convertible top or truck bed. In many cases (as we’ll specify in this guide), those parts benefit from specific consideration.

Before jumping in, take a few minutes to dig into a Mothers® Polish video that details a few car-washing processes that you might not know.

Specialized car washing info you should be aware of:

• Always start at the top, and wash to the bottom. There’s more dirt down low – no sense in spreading it up.
• There is an order to what gets cleaned, and specifics are included throughout this detailing guide. An example: specialized tire cleaning should be done before washing the rest of your vehicle, but the tires should be dressed after the vehicle has dried.
• Be sure to use the correct chemicals in every case – for instance, wheel cleaner has no place coming in contact with auto paint (and wheel cleaners are wheel-specific too).
• Keep the specialized process from affecting other surfaces. Convertible tops, for example, require brush agitation that you don’t want to touch the paint.

Suds & Soap

What kind of soap are you using? Suds are nice, but it’s not about the suds, it’s about how the soap cleans. Be sure to keep all non-automotive soaps far, far away from your car – dishwashing detergents and other kitchen cleaners are typically formulated to remove grease and wax (which are sometimes the basic ingredients in automotive waxes and lubricants). Automotive-only washing agents, such as Mothers® California Gold® Carnauba Wash & Wax, are formulated to penetrate and suspend dirt while leaving intrinsic automotive coatings alone. The right car wash can deal with dirt, bugs, tar and grime on your sled, but will not strip wax from the paint or grease from an exposed joint. Car soap is intentionally gentle, so more than one visit to a dirty spot may prove necessary (which highlights another wonderment of good car-wash soap – go ahead and mix it stronger if you have a serious bug graveyard to uproot).

Pre-Treating Caked On Funk and Dirt

A smart way to deal with caked-on or sticky dirt, sap, dead bugs, bird droppings, etc. is to pre-treat those extra-dirty sections of bodywork. Before you start washing the entire vehicle, coat the aforementioned unclean panels with car soap or a healthy spritzing of Mothers® Waterless Wash & Wax or Instant Detailer. Apply soap undiluted. Thick car wash soap like Mothers® Carnauba Wash & Wax will cling, and this allows time for it to penetrate before washing the entire car. Don’t worry about damaging the paint – even at full-strength, Mothers® Carnauba Wash & Wax will not affect the vehicle’s finish, just the funk stuck to it. If you want to skip the whole car wash scenario, step up to Speed® Foaming Bug & Tar Remover. Its no-drip aerosol foam is ideal for pre-soaking and cleaning. Just spray and wipe. Perfect for in the garage or on the road.

Preparation for the Washing Process

To do the work of transporting suds and applying them to your car, use a wash-mitt. Ideally, it should be clean, thick, non-marring; either synthetic microfiber or natural lamb’s wool.  Some experts recommend using an ultra-soft synthetic or animal-hair brush for working cracks and trim gaps. Whatever device you use, rinse it and re-soap it frequently as you clean. Work from the top of the vehicle down, because the lower portions of the car are usually the dirtiest – there’s no sense in dragging the filth from the bottom of the car to the top.

Washing and Rinsing Your Car

Hose down your vehicle with a firm stream of water that is not a narrow jet – the “Shower” settings on many multi-nozzles is ideal. The car-washing spray should be firm but not harsh, enough to flush an area with water but not a deluge, and easily controlled.  Concentrate on loosening dirt and unwanted buildup, but don’t blast a specific spot of stuck-on dirt – that’s what pre-treating and a sudsy wash-mitt are for. A narrow stream of pressurized water will not only distort wax that’s already on the paint, but it can also damage the paint and trim parts. Have that bucket of soaped up water ready before you wet the vehicle (you shouldn’t let any water dry on the paint while filling up the bucket). Get the wet portions of the washing process done quickly, because water that dries on the paint is one more spot to reclean.

Drying Successfully

Dry the vehicle as soon as you finish washing it, and be sure to use cotton or microfiber towels. We recommend one in each hand, or at least being prepared to use a second towel as the first gets too wet. We recommend a quality microfiber towel. Its tiny synthetic fibers won’t scratch your paint like regular poly-based synthetics. Pound for pound, microfiber holds more water.

A valuable step in the drying process involves further washing. As it’s difficult to thoroughly clean jamb areas on any vehicle without getting water in the interior, you can hit those spots after drying the rest of the vehicle. A clean, Instant Detailer or a Waterless Wash & Wax-damped towel or waffle-weave microfiber detailing towel can wipe away most of the offending dust. However, if there’s stuck-on dirt, you’ll want to go back and grab the wash-mitt and do some more washing.

If you want to crank up the glow of your paint beyond standard-issue shiny, apply spray wax to the wet finish as you dry the vehicle, post-wash.  Working around the vehicle one section at a time, a spray wax like Mothers® Speed® Spray Wax or California Gold® Spray Wax can be applied with a clean towel, or directly to the paint. Spread it around evenly, just as you would with a traditional wax. Let it dry to a dull haze and then buff it to a shine with a fresh towel. This process will also provide an additional layer of protection between regular washing. Speaking of detailer, Mothers® Instant Detailer can be applied in the same as-drying fashion – apply the detailer liberally to the wet paint, but instead of waiting for a haze, immediately dry it with a clean microfiber or cotton towel.

Drying Don’ts (Don’t Be Surprised)

• Don’t use the towel you’re drying with to remove stuck-on dirt you missed while washing – you’re inviting scratches. Keep the bucket of soap and mitt handy until you’re done drying because if you’ve got more dirt, you’ve got more washing to do.
• Stay away from squeegees unless you’re dealing with glass. A squeegee can pick up dirt and scratch it across your paint for as far as you swipe.