How To Wash a Car The best time to wash your vehicle is either early in the morning, or late in the afternoon. This avoids the chance of water drying on to the paint, causing waterspots that will damage the clearcoat. If you can wash the vehicle in the shade (under a canopy for example) then washing any time of the day is fine. Before beginning a wash, it is important to ensure you have the right tools and products. Because your paint is delicate, we must be as gentle as possible when cleaning it. This is known as “the least invasive method” - washing the vehicle with as least friction and pressure as possible. The ‘least invasive method’ focuses on reducing the potential to instill paint defects. To conduct a wash following the least invasive method, you must have the following: 1. Two (or three) buckets with grit guards. The grit guards help keep the grit and dirt particles at the bottom of the bucket so it does not go back into your wash mitt and scratch the paint. 2. Two premium sheepskin wool wash mitts 3. Car wash soap 4. Wheel brush 5. Wheel cleaner 6. Bug and tar remover 7. Hose with rubberized spray nozzle (so it does not scratch the paint) 8. Tire brush 9. Tire cleaner 10. One large Waffle Weave microfiber drying towel 11. Three regular microfiber towels (for door jambs, rims, touchup drying) So now that you have everything, you are ready to start washing! Start by filling all buckets with water. If you are using two buckets, fill up one with water, add your grit guard, then put the appropriate amount of soap in your second bucket and fill it up with the appropriate amount of water. After this is done, add your grit guards. If you are washing with 3 buckets, first fill up two buckets, add your grit guards, and then add the appropriate amount of car wash soap to the third bucket and add the correct amount of water. After this is done, add your grit guard, and put one of the wash mitts in your soapy water bucket. While it is soaking, move on to the next step. Ensure that the grit guards are firmly at the bottom of your buckets. It is very important to use a car wash soap, and not dishwashing soap. This is because a car wash soap is designed for your paint, and will not strip wax, or any protection that is on your paint. Furthermore, car wash soap is designed to add lubrication between the wash mitt and the paint surface. Because wax is made up of lipids, if you use a dishwashing soap, it’s degreasing properties will completely remove the wax and end up leaving your paint looking dull and unprotected. This can cause premature oxidation, and paint failure. Get your hose and begin rinsing the vehicle from the top to the bottom. What this does is releases all loose dirt from your paint and allow the dirt to flow down the vehicle rather than having parts of the vehicle saturated with dirt that will scratch your paint. Make sure to spray inside the wheel wells and the rims to get out as much dirt as possible. If you are using a pressure washer, DO NOT put the wand too close to the paint and DO NOT use the concentrated beam pattern. If you get too close or use the wrong pattern, paint will actually get stripped from your vehicle, and your well-intended car wash will have turned into a very pricey disaster. A good distance is 2 feet away. If you have any bugs or tar on your vehicle, spray the bug and tar remover and follow the instructions listed on the bottle. Now you are ready to start cleaning the rims and tires. It is important to choose a pH neutral rim cleaner so it does not damage the finish of your rims. Most rim cleaners will say on the label whether it is pH neutral or not. If it does not say, don’t buy it! It is not worth the risk. There are some products today that can clean your rims, and tires. If you happen to find one of these (example: EagleOne All Wheel and Tire cleaner), you are in luck. Start by spraying the product on the appropriate surface. Most cleaners recommend to let the product sit for a few seconds before agitating with the proper brush or rinsing. While the cleaner is working, go on to the next wheel and do the same thing. When that is done, go back to the first wheel you sprayed and agitate the cleaner with a soft wheel brush to break up any caked on dirt or debris. Then take your tire brush and scrub the tires. Rinse off the dirt and repeat for the other three wheels. Now you are ready to begin washing the vehicle with your wash mitt. It is always an excellent idea to wash panel by panel. This process enables proper coverage on all areas of your vehicle. Start on the roof. Take one rinse bucket and the soapy water bucket with the wash mitt. Take the wash mitt out of the bucket and put it on the roof. If the wash mitt has a hole for your hand, you can use it, or just hold the mitt from the outside so it is easier to flip over. Start by lightly sliding (notice I did not say ‘rubbing’) the wash mitt over the surface of the paint, ensuring little to no pressure is being applied, other than the weight of the wash mitt itself and enough pressure to keep the wash mitt on the vertical panels (i.e. doors). Little to no pressure is required when washing your vehicle. You can break the roof up into halves if you wish. Continue to slide the wash mitt over the paint until you have gone over the desired areas of the roof. After you are done, put your wash mitt into the rinse water bucket and agitate it lightly in the water. This will release any dirt particles into the water so they fall to the bottom of the bucket. The grit guard will keep the dirt particles from coming back up into the wash mitt so as to prevent any scratching. Leave the wash mitt in the bucket and rinse off the soap. Repeat the process for the rest of the car, being sure to break up the car into portions. You may want to do the hood, then rinse, then do the fender, then rinse, etc.. Remember to always work your way from the top to the bottom. When you reach the bottom half of the car below the door moldings, change your wash mitt to the second, unused one. The reason for this is that generally the bottom half the vehicle is always much more dirty than the upper half. By dedicating a wash mitt to the bottom half the car, you significantly reduce the potential of scratching the car by using a contaminated wash mitt to wash the upper portion. This is also the same reason why we use the top-down approach to washing a vehicle so as to keep the dirt at the bottom and not drag it to the top. Great! You’re done washing. Now what?