I am frequently asked, "how should I wash my car to avoid scratches and to prolong the protectorant you applied". Car washing can span a broad spectrum of effort from a $3 dollar car wash at your local gas station to a first class hand car wash. First and emphatically we warn against automated car washes that use hanging clothes or rotating polymer brushes. Both scratch cars excessively! Unfortunately, brush less (pressure sprayer) car washes do not effectively remove the road grime. Hand washing a car is the only way to minimize scratches and effectively remove the road grime. That having been said. What is the best way to wash your car and /or what should you look for in a good commercial hand car wash.

As a first step, we wet the vehicle using a high pressure water to remove the large surface particles from the car paying special attention to the top, wheel wells, wheels and those areas below the mid line of the vehicles body. All car washing should be accomplished in the shade and performed when the vehicle is cool.

We then mix a quality car shampoo such as Meguiar’s Gold with water in conformance with the instructions (too much soap is just as bad as not enough). While we rarely use the commercial wheel cleaning liquids you may choose to do so. Beware that all of these wheel cleaners contain caustic agents that can damage wheels if applied incorrectly or to the wrong type of wheel. I would select a cleaner that is safe for all wheels (the least caustic) and follow the directions.

We use a soft wheel brush (polymer) and a sponge to apply the shampoo to the wheels and to remove the dirt and brake dust. The wheels are usually the most challenging area of the vehicle to clean as they are dirty, hard to reach and require a lot of effort to clean. We maintain different brushes, sponges and bucket exclusively for cleaning wheels. We also change the water after cleaning each vehicle. After we clean the wheels we rinse them with high-pressure water to flush all the soap and dirt residue.

Stage two is too mix a high quality shampoo with water in a clean bucket (we use a separate bucket exclusively used for the purpose of washing the vehicle body). We prefer using two boars’ hair brushes to apply the soapy water to the vehicle and to brush away the dirt. We follow this up with a real lamb’s wool mitt. One brush is used exclusively for the top, hood, trunk and sides down to the midline of the vehicle sides. The second brush is used below the mid line of the vehicle, the grill area and the back of the vehicle. These are the dirtiest part of the car. We never interchange these brushes. We use liberal amounts of water and brushing to remove bugs. The only area a bug sponge should be used on a vehicle is on the windshield. These sponges will create small scratches on the paint surfaces.

You should wash the vehicle from the roof down. Clean the hood and trunk before doing the sides of the vehicle to the mid line. Wash with the brushes as well as the lamb’s wool mitt in a straight direction from front to back. Never brush or wool mitt in circular fashion. This technique will help in preventing swirls in the paint. Wash the upper grill and trunk areas next. Finally use you’re "below the belt line " brush and rinse frequently as opposed to waiting until you have cleaned the whole car. Keep all of the areas wet until the final rinse to avoid water spots. For drying we prefer artificial chamois (the absorber) as they can be machined washed. Artificial chamois should be washed in liquid detergent and wrung out damp and stored damp. We wash our artificial chamois each day and use a different chamois for each car.

When drying the vehicle lay the chamois cloth like a tablecloth across the roof of the vehicle and pull it toward you repeat this working from the top down on all of the large flat surfaces to remove the large quantity of water remaining. Follow this up by drying the windows then the sides of the vehicle and finally below the belt line, grill and trunk. Touch up drying after the initial table cloth pulls should be in straight lines along the length of the vehicle. Never dry the painted surface in a circular direction. This technique will help in preventing swirls in the paint. After drying the vehicle be sure to wash and rinse your brushes, sponges, mitt and buckets thoroughly.