Washing your car at home

Washing the cars at home yourself is an enthusiasts thing. Petrolheads or car lovers or those who know a bit about detailing prefer to wash their cars themselves instead of handing them over to service stations guys who wash cars with harsh detergent powders or cheap shampoos.

Guys at service stations do not know anything about paint protection and swirls, so your car may get dirt off its body, but it would get all those swirls and tiny scratches on its paint work in the process.

Gadget

For easy wash at home buy any pressure washer. I am loving Karcher K2 and within 10 minutes I wash two cars at home. Pressure washers are not so expensive these days. You can get one started from 10,000 PKR (100 US$) , but do get a foam lance bottle also to spray shampoo suds layer on your ride like this.




Two Buckets Method

If you do not have a pressure washer, no problem. All you needs is just two buckets, one with shampoo solution and one with clear plain water. First use the hose and splash water all over the car body to loosen up any dirt and wash away sand particles. Then dip the wash mitt or a microfiber towel into shampoo and work on a panel, preferably start from roof, hood, trunk lid, side windows and then doors and lower parts one by one.

When shampoo is used up, do not dip the wash mitt or microfiber towel in the the shampoo bucket, but dip it first in clean water several time so that all the dirt it has gathered is removed. Then dip it in shampoo. By this method you will avoid sanding the paint surface with residual sand and dirt on the mitt or towel and your car will remain swirl free for a long time. Use a grit guard in the clean water so that mitt or towel does not catch the dirt from bottom.


Shampoo

A very important thing for your car. Always use a good quality branded shampoo for your car for instance Meguiar's, Nanoskin, Chemical Guys, Car Pro etc.



Microfiber towels

Microfiber towels are must if you want to keep your car swirls free. They make cleaning easy also without leaving any streaks. Choose any branded one like Meguiar's, 3M available at leading convenience stores or auto accessories shops

.


I washed this babe after three weeks. No cleaning of any sorts in between. .

A good tire gel will enhance looks of your car after wash. I prefer Meguiar's Endurance tire gel. It keeps tire clean as well and water spots do not form or mud does not leave marks even if driven through a puddle.

Glass and windows 

This is more related to safety than looks. Add a good glass cleaner like RainX or chose from Nanoskin range. See how useful it is during rain. The water will turn into beads and fly away, reducing the use of wipers.




Wax

An essential item for car car is wax. Throw away your Cosmo or Formula 1 polishes and waxes and get some quality waxes from Meguiar's, Nanoskin or Chemical Guys. I use Collinite 476. It is a detergent proof wax and lasts for months, giving deep gloss and protects the paint. Here is the result of Collinite.