Essential Tips for Washing Your Car at Home
Do you have no time to take your car to the service station and don’t know much how to wash the car without loosing its shine? Here are some important tips for washing your car at home. Washing the car periodically is one of the things that maintain the appearance and quality of your car. In addition, car washing becomes all the more essential if you have a plan to sell it in the future.
It is certain that keeping the car clean maintains its age because dirt that settles on the surface of the car, such as dust, bird droppings, rain residue, roadside mud deposits, cause damage to the car paint. It is better to wash your car yourself by hand, because this will make cleaning more efficient and give it the necessary care as compared to the automatic car wash (Drive Through Wash). This article provides the most important tips for hand washing the car.
Use appropriate tools and materials suitable for your car
You must choose the appropriate cleaning materials for the car, not all cleaning materials are of general use, and similarly reading the instructions for using manufactured products sold in the market is of prime importance. This is fundamental because using cleaning materials incorrectly or in an inappropriate amount can cause corrosion or damage the coating of the various surfaces in the car. Moreover, the dirtier car requires more materials to clean, it is suggested to carefully read the instructions provided on leaflets to save time, money and effort.
Use soft, non-abrasive towels and sponges
Ensure that more than one towel or sponge is available to clean the car. Soft sponges are used with soapy and foamy detergents to clean the car without leaving scratch marks. The sponge should be immersed in a bowl of water with soapy cleaning liquid. It is also preferable to have a soft brush to remove stubborn and hard-to-reach dirt. Large sponges intended for cleaning cars should be used. Please note that regular sponges especially with rough and hard surface should be avoided, as for the towels, they are made of microfiber, and are often used for effective drying. Towels should be soaked with water to avoid scratching the surfaces of car.
Use car wash liquid
You must use a soapy wash liquid specially designed for cars; this is because it is made of materials that are suitable for the car’s paint, and do not cause any damage to it. Ordinary soap detergents, such as hand-washing liquid or dishwashing liquids, shampoos and other household cleaners are not suitable for use on the various surfaces of the car, and therefore they should be avoided in the process of cleaning the car. The inappropriate use of such liquids not only removes the wax layer that protects the car's paint from scratches but also causes the car to loose its shine in the long run. Here we mention some best car wash liquid for you.
Eight of Malaysia's Best Car Wash Soaps:
1) TRIION Ultimate Nano Wash Car Shampoo
2) GENIX Car Shampoo
3) GENIX Blue Snow Car Shampoo
4) BOSSMAN Car Shampoo
5) Kilat Car Wash Soap and Wax
6) Let Protect Car Shampoo
7) Chemical Guys Citrus Wash & Gloss Foaming Car Wash
8) 3D Pink Car Soap
Use a suitable tire cleaner
Tires are exposed to more dirt and dust than other parts of the car, as they are the outermost external part of the car close to the ground during driving. Therefore, a lot of dust and dirt can accumulate on them to form stubborn stains that are difficult to clean. That is why, it is better to use a liquid made specially for cleaning tires, and the tires must be washed well with water after using the detergent. It is better to avoid using any polishing materials that give a shiny appearance to the tires; this is because it affects the grip of the tires on the road while driving.
Wash your car in the right place and on time
The car should be washed under the shade. In addition, proper care must be taken to monitor if the car temperature is not high. This is critical because when the car’s temperature is high either because of speed or over exposure of the sunlight it will accelerate the drying process of the soap thus immediately forming spots on the car surface. It is recommended to wait 20-30 minutes for the car’s body and engine to cool down and then start the cleaning process. Moreover, you should avoid washing the car in an area full of dust and dirt or under trees, so that dirt and dust do not accumulate on it during cleaning process. The best time to wash the car in summer is early morning or late evening. As for winter or during low temperature days, a time should be chosen when the temperature is moderate, such as when the weather is cloudy and the wind is calm.
Clean the inside of the car well and wipe it
How to clean the inside of the car depends on the nature of the driver’s use of the car and the number of its occupants. Cleaning the car’s windows is one of the most important priorities, so as not to cause a problem for the driver’s vision while driving. This can be done using glass cleaner and a dry microfiber towel. Any large dirt on the floor of the car, especially under the driver's seat, should be removed. The cleaning process for inside the car should go in a sequence whereby one should first remove the floor mats and clean the area with a vacuum cleaner, then use the wet cleaning papers to clean the dashboard and steering wheel, and lastly the rest of the car parts should be cleaned with a special cleaner such as Foam Cleaner and Carpet Cleaner, followed by using an air freshener for neutralizing the odour of the chemicals and a pleasant aroma.
Wash the car with water from the outside to get rid of dust and bird droppings
Washing the car with water hose gets rid of the large dirt that sticks to the body of the car. In addition, it is preferable to use a hose that has the ability to adjust the water pressure so that the car is washed initially at high pressure if possible, in order to remove the sticky dirt. However, care must be taken not to increase the pressure in a way that affects the paint on the car surface or wax. Importantly, the hose water must be directed downwards during the cleaning process. This is to remove dirt from the car and then the cleaning should be done with the mixture of water and car wash liquid.
Wash the tires and then wash the car from top to bottom
The bottom of the car and the tire area are among the areas where dirt is normally present in the car. Therefore, you must start spraying the tire area using the hose first and then move to wash the car from top to bottom, where the roof of the car is sprayed, then the windows, all the way to the tire area again.
Scrub the car longitudinally, not in a circular motion
You should pay attention to the method in which the car is rubbed using the sponge, as the car is rubbed lengthwise from top to bottom. It is recommended to avoid doing the rubbing process in a circular way so that swirls do not form during the cleaning process. Moreover, it is necessary to perform the rubbing process using a sponge moistened with water and liquid soap slowly and then the process is repeated as needed if not all the dirt is removed.
Clean the inside of the car well and wipe it
How to clean the inside of the car depends on the nature of the driver’s use of the car and the number of its occupants. Cleaning the car’s windows is one of the most important priorities, so as not to cause a problem for the driver’s vision while driving. This can be done using glass cleaner and a dry microfiber towel. Any large dirt on the floor of the car, especially under the driver's seat, should be removed. The cleaning process for inside the car should go in a sequence whereby one should first remove the floor mats and clean the area with a vacuum cleaner, then use the wet cleaning papers to clean the dashboard and steering wheel, and lastly the rest of the car parts should be cleaned with a special cleaner such as Foam Cleaner and Carpet Cleaner, followed by using an air freshener for neutralizing the odour of the chemicals and a pleasant aroma.
Divide the scrubbing and washing tasks into parts
The dual processes of rubbing and washing the car take place simultaneously, as the body of the car is divided into parts, then each part is washed immediately after the rubbing process. While the main objective of this procedure is to prevent the foam of the washing liquid leaving any traces and stains on the car surface because of the water drying up, and thus the focus is on cleaning one part completely. So the procedure goes this way, first to rub, then wash, then moved to another part, and so on. In this way, you have obtained enough time to wipe the soap from the surface before it dries, forming blurry spots.
Clean the sponge in a separate bucket filled with clean water every now and then
Use three containers while cleaning the car, as this will help to achieve the goal of cleaning the car, which is to remove all dirt. While to ensure that this dirt does not return by repeating cleaning with the same water or dirty sponge. Therefore, a mixture of water and soapy liquid is placed in the first container, and used by dipping the sponge in it to complete the rubbing process. While the second container contains water only. It would be used to clean the sponge after each time the rubbing process is done to clean it of any dirt that may have stuck to it during the rubbing process. Thus, it is clean to be placed in the first bowl again so that the mixture does not get dirty in the first container, while the third container is used for the sponge for cleaning tires, as it is more exposed to dirt.
Dry the car with soft, paint-friendly towels
The car should be dried using towels with a soft texture, such as microfiber towels. To perform the drying process, the process is divided in steps in the same way as rubbing and washing. In order to avoid leaving any trace of water, the towel must be squeezed regularly whenever it becomes saturated with water. The goal is to towel dry the water as much as possible. The car should not be left to dry on its own or by driving it, because this will leave stains of soap remains that will later become difficult to remove upon drying. Additionally, a rubber squeegee can be used in the drying process before using the towel, taking special care not to cause it to scratch the paint.
Car washing is one of the periodic procedures that will preserve the life of the car and its distinctive appearance. Therefore, care must be taken to use appropriate tools and materials for this purpose, including washing liquid, towels and sponges, and to follow a correct method in the cleaning process, by dividing the task of rubbing, washing and drying into parts.
About the Author
Dr. Hafiz Abbas holds a PhD in Usuluddin from Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah (USAS), Malaysia. He is well versed with Islamic theology, Seerat-un-Nabi (SAW), and principles of Hadith. In addition, he is a teacher of Arabic.
Edited by: Saba Butt (ABD)
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