I live too far from town to bother with wasting gas on driving to the local carwash. I prefer to wash my car at home and have provided 7 car washing tips that I find useful. See what you think and feel free to add your own to this list!
Once the wheels are clean, begin washing from the top of the car and working your way down. You want to wash the wheels first, since these are often the dirtiest portion of the car. If you wait to wash these very last you will end up splashing a lot of mud and debris on the rest of the clean car. I like to give the wheels a second wipe down after I wash the rest of the car, just to make sure I got all the chunks off of them.
Change the soapy water after you’ve washed the wheels. It’s a good idea to change the water at least a couple of times. Even if you have lots of suds still in the bucket, this doesn’t mean that the water is clean. The suds tend to hide the dirty water below and give you a false sense of clean water.
No matter how dirty your vehicle is, there’s no need to break out a scouring pad to get your car extra clean. You’ll end up scratching the car’s surface or taking off paint by scrubbing too hard. If you can’t get the dirt or debris off with the cloth or sponge, then the spot might just need to soak a bit. Try going over stubborn areas after you’ve completely washed the car. This waiting period will allow enough time for the stuck-on substance to soften up a bit and it should come off much easier.
Have you ever noticed how fast a warm item dries? The intense heat of the sunlight can cause the body of your car to become so hot that the sudsy water dries almost instantly. This makes it difficult to get a spotless wash. If you have a nice shady spot to wash your car in, then this is going to make the washing process be more successful.
If you’ve ever washed and dried dishes with cold water, then you can probably recall how dirty these items still look. Warm water will remove more dirt and enable you to have a spot-free finish after rinsing. Only cold water comes from the garden hose at my house, which is often the case for most people. I do have an attachment that screws onto the kitchen faucet to which I can hook up a garden hose to. This nifty gadget allows me to have warm water for both washing and rinsing my car. It’s pretty cool!
I live off of a dirt road, which causes my car to become caked in a thick layer of dirt. If I start slopping sudsy water on my car without rinsing it first, then I end up with a bucket full of mud in only a couple of swipes of the sponge. Even if your vehicle doesn’t look that dirty at first glance, it’s still better to rinse the entire car before washing it. This will also prevent you from grinding any bits of grit into the paint that happen to be stuck to the surface of the car.
Allowing the water to freely wash over the car eliminates a lot of the splatter marks that are created by a high-pressure hose. Remember to start from the top and work your way down when rinsing, just as you did when you washed the vehicle.
With summer on its way, these 7 car washing tips will prove useful to those of you who enjoy cleaning your vehicle in the comfort of your own yard. Do you have any car washing tricks that you’d like to share?
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