How to Wash & Wax your car?
Today we're going to help teach and guide DIYers on how to properly wash and wax your vehicles like a professional detailer so you can keep your vehicle free from possible scratches and swirls and bring back that showroom shine that made you fall in-love with your vehicle at first sight! Below we’ve created a list of steps to washing and waxing. When washing and/or detailing a vehicle the best practice to have is to do what’s known in the detailing industry as the “Three-bucket washing method”. It’s a method that requires one bucket dedicated to washing the wheels and tires, one bucket for the car soap, and one with just water alone. The reason for all three buckets is to minimize the amount of dirt, brake dust, and foreign contaminants in each bucket so you won't scratch the paint of your vehicle. The water bucket also known as the rinse bucket is to clean off your car wash mitt from the contaminants inside it after you dipped it inside the soap bucket and washed a panel on your vehicle. So onto the steps, you should take to properly wash your vehicle and minimize light scratches and swirls on your paint surface.
1. Wet and rinse the car off to rid of dirt, brake dust, and easily loose contaminants.
2. Wash and clean wheels and tires first with a dedicated wheel and tire bucket.
3. Follow up with washing the car on one half starting with the driver's side, first from rooftop to front window, to hood, the front of the car, and bumper. Then move on to the other half of the roof and work backward. Make sure to leave the bottom half panels towards the floor for last. The reason being is it’s the most contaminant building part of the car and we do not want to put all those contaminant build-ups inside the buckets. Rinse off the first half of the washed car and then move on to the other half of the vehicle.
4. After doing the driver’s side, move onto the passenger side and repeat step 3. DON'T FORGET TO DO THE BOTTOM HALF OF THE VEHICLE AFTER DOING THE PASSENGER SIDE!!!
5. After rinsing, use a clay bar dipped in the wash bucket with soap to decontaminate the surface paint, or you can also purchase whats known as a clay bar kit at your local auto part stores or shopping centers that have a car cleaning/detailing section.
6. After decontaminating the whole vehicle's paint surface, rinse off once more and dry.
7. Use your preferred type of wax, or sealant to protect the vehicle with an applicator pad. Remember a little goes a long way. Apply in either a circular motion or in a cross-hatch motion.
8. Let the wax/ sealant set while you apply to the next panel, then after you apply to the next panel go back to the previous panel and wipe off with a fresh new microfiber towel. Repeat this motion through the whole vehicle until complete.
Hope this helps teach anyone trying to learn, how to properly wash & wax their vehicles for an amazing showroom shine!!!
At the bottom of this post, I have listed links to the types of materials I talked about in this article for your purchasing convenience:
• Meguiars Complete Car Care Kit
• Adams Collapsible 5 Gallon Bucket
• Meguiars Ultimate Liquid Wax
Disclaimer: Due to factors beyond the control of Oh My Auto Detailing, Beginner Detailing, & Esau Cotto Jr, we cannot guarantee against improper use or unauthorized modifications of this information. Oh My Auto Detailing, Beginner Detailing, & Esau Cotto Jr. assumes no liability for property damage or injury.
