How to wash a car
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Washing your car regularly has its benefits: things like dead bugs, bird's dropping, or limestone dripping can damage the paint leaving permanent stains if not washed off in time. When the car is clean, all the moisture dries up quickly, but when it's dirty, the moisture accumulates in dirty areas causing corrosion. The dirt and sand that left on the windshield get caught by the windshield wipers blades and scratch the windshield when you turn your wipers on.
Some experts recommend washing a car once a week. I think you should wash it when it's dirty. If it's a winter time with sand and salt on the roads, than it makes sense to wash your car more often, as the salt if left on the vehicle can cause corrosion and damage the chrome wheels and other chrome trim parts. If it's a clean dry season and the car stays clean longer, why waste water?
If you wash it once a month and your car stays clean, what's wrong with this? Plus, if you wax your car regularly, it stays clean longer.
Now, where to wash? Washing in the driveway is fun, but there is a downside. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the wash water
can flow into storm water drains and enter surface water sources untreated, and the wash water contains many of harmful contaminants. Read more here: Mid-America Regional Council's Wash Your Car the Right Way brochure. And if you wash your car on your driveway, you still have to buy a shampoo and pay for the water.
There are plenty of guides on the internet how to wash a car on your driveway, so here, I'm going to show you how to wash your car at a self-service car wash station instead. I prefer this way because it's more efficient, easier and faster.
If you never washed your car at a self-service car wash before, it's really easy. It usually takes me about seven minutes to wash a whole car plus another ten minutes to wipe it dry, and it's usually not very expensive. Prices are vary; at my local coin-operated self-service car wash I pay $3 for six minutes. Unless the car is very dirty six minutes is usually enough for me.
If you are planning to use the natural chamois towel to dry your car up, it's best to moisten in before going to car wash.
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Here is a typical selector at a self service car wash. You can choose between: |
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Spray hard to remove areas, like bird droppings or bugs with soapy water. Here I have a lot of dead bugs on the front of my car, so I soak them first. |
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As my car is never really dirty, I'm going to skip the pre-soak and start straight from the High Pressure Soap. The aim is to wash off any loose dirt and sand, so it won't get caught under the foam brush. |
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While passing the side where I hung my floor mats, I wash them too. |
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It's also important to wash away all the sand and dirt that could be caught under the windshield wiper blades, so it won't scratch the windshield. |
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Next step, switch to Foam Brush, starting to wash from the top down, going around the car. Try not to miss any spots. |
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Don't forget to wash hard-to-reach areas around the side moldings, around the bumpers, around the door handles, etc. |
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Wash the wheels the last so the brush won't pick up sand and dirt from the wheels. |
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The next step according to instruction is the High Pressure Rinse. I only use the high pressure rinse mode to rinse my floor mats. If you want, you can rinse the whole car too, I personally, prefer to rinse the car with the High Pressure Wax. |
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The high pressure wax rinses the car at the same time covering it with wax. |
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Don't forget to wash away the soap from hard to reach areas, like from around the bumpers and the license plates. |
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The next step, I take the car outside from the car wash bay to dry it up. The natural chamois works the best. I moistened it before driving to a car wash. If the chamois is dry, it takes some time to make it work right. Again, start drying up from the top. |
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Once again, wipe the working surface of the wiper blades to make sure no dirt left caught under the blades. |
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Wipe the wheel rims the last. Its best to use a separate towel to keep the chamois clean. I just use a paper towel. |
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Another half an hour to wax the car, plus 15 minutes to vacuum inside, and here it is, nice clean and shiny. |
Read more:
- How to take care of your car's body
- How to wax a car
- How to clean interior
Ask us at our new automotive forum. We will try to answer as soon as we can.
by Vlad Samarin
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