Tips Washing Tips From The Experts
- Always wash your car in the shade to avoid the car wash shampoo solution from drying on the car before it is rinsed off. It is best to wash your car on a relatively calm day as even a slight breeze can put particles of dirt into the air, leading to streaks and water spots.
- Use two buckets with a Grit Guard Insert in each bucket. One for the shampoo solution and the other for clean water for your wash mitt.
- Fill a 5-gallon bucket 2/3 full of cool water. Add the proper amount of shampoo to the water as recommended on the label instructions. Using a strong jet of water, fill the bucket to fully activate suds. Fill the second bucket with clean water for rinsing your wash mitt.
- Thoroughly rinse the vehicle’s surface to remove loose dirt and grime before you begin making any contact onto the paint. If the paint is excessively dirty or you wish to use more caution, use a Speed Car Wash foam cannon to pre-soak the vehicle prior to rinsing.
- When washing your vehicle remember to always go from top to bottom, never the opposite. Generally, the dirtiest parts of your vehicle are those parts closest to the ground. Wheel wells, rocker panels and bumpers tend to have the largest accumulation of grime and you don’t want to bring that debris back onto the paint surface and risk scratching it.
- Load up your wash mitt with your car wash solution and wring it out over the wash surface. This acts like a pre-soak and helps loosen surface gunk. It also adds more water to the surface and more lubricity helps safely wash the grime away without scratching.
- Once the wash mitt has picked up dirt and grime, dip it into the clean water bucket and use the grit guard to remove the dirt and grime that has built up on the mitt. Then, dip the wash mitt into the shampoo bucket and repeat.
- Wash in straight, overlapping lines as opposed to circles and remember to be gentle with the wash mitt on the first pass. This first pass will pick up the majority of the dirt, and loosens the remaining dirt for pick up on the second pass.
- Rinse your vehicle completely with a low pressure hose and let the water run or sheet over the surface. This helps in two ways. First, generally when water has “sheeted” off a surface it tends to leave fewer residual droplets behind. This means less drying time. Second, since there is less water to pick up, there is less chance of leaving water behind to spot the vehicle.
- Lastly, if your wax or sealant is still in good shape, go over the vehicle with a quick green apple form or solitaire coating with Microfiber Towel to restore a radiance and slickness to the paint. This last step will give your vehicle that just-detailed look by enhancing gloss and will also remove any missed drips, water spots or streaks that showed up when you weren’t looking.
