Getting your car washed and detailed is expensive, and while it can be a nice treat sometimes, doing it yourself is an easy way to save some money. Wondering how to make your car look shiny and new without taking it anywhere?
Here are 18 great tricks for cleaning your car like a pro.
Get Rid of Scratches First
Buffing your car won’t do a thing until the scratches are taken care of. Scratch repair kits are easy enough to come by.
Rinse Before You Wash
All you’re gonna do is rub dirt and foreign objects into your car if you don’t rinse first. Don’t waste your own time by making it worse before it’s even begun; give your car a quick rinse before you do anything else.
Steam Clean
A handheld steam cleaner will work wonders on your floors and mats.
Plastic Bags Are Your Friend
If you’re looking to wax your car, you might be wondering how to feel the exterior for bumps and dirt clods without leaving fingerprints behind. Simple: Just stick your hand in a plastic bag and run it along the car.
Dry With a Leaf Blower
This is a popular technique for drying a car without water spots. According to one Redditor, it really gets in all the nooks and crannies.
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Blow Out the Vents
Your air vents can cause all kinds of odors if not taken care of, so blast them with compressed air, or crank your fans to the max for a bit.
Wash Your Dang Tires
Tires get dirty too, so don’t sleep on them. Nothing worse than a shiny car with muddy tires, you know?
Don’t Skip Non-Silicone Matte Finish Dash and Vinyl Protectant
Silicone will actually end up attracting dust, so that’s not what you want here.
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Get Your Hands on a Dual-Action Polisher
Buffers can end up burning the paint off your car, so for that perfect polished look, you want one of these bad boys.
Use Microfiber
Much thinner than everything else out there, a microfiber rag will easily get rid of dirt and other sticky evil-doers when rinsed.
Double Down on Buckets
Don’t dip your dirty cloth into a bucket of clean water. Keep one full of the soapy clean stuff, and one for rinsing.
Vacuum As You Go
To avoid kicking dirt and dust around throughout the entire cleaning experience, consider a handheld vacuum. Clean a section, ‘cuum a section.
Wipe Down Often
One of the best ways to keep your car clean is to put in 10% effort on a regular basis. Keep a nice wipeable cloth in your car and hit the gear stick and dashboard every now and then.
Work Your Way Downward
Everything you clean will be falling towards the ground throughout this entire experience, so save yourself the double wipe-downs and start from the top.
Lube Up the Door Seals
If your door seals are in nice, slick condition, you won’t have to worry about the weather. These things can freeze up in winter or get too hot in summer, so lubricant helps a lot, not to mention keeps dust from falling all over your windows.
The Right Soap
If the point here is to make your car look protected and shiny, the right soap makes a huge difference. Make sure you know what you’re rubbing all over your vehicle.
Synthetic Wax Helps
Real wax doesn’t really shine in the same way the synthetic stuff does. Plus, when you’re buying paint sealant at a dealership, it’s basically just expensive synthetic wax. Save some money and do it yourself.
Do Glass Last
These are gonna get dirty throughout the process, especially if you’re spraying anything anywhere. Make the windows the final touch.
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