Your car is made of a bunch of metals packaged in a body and then coated and beautified with paint. To keep your car in top condition, you must properly maintain every aspect of your car. Don’t pay attention to only the bunch of metals and leave the paintwork suffering.
If you observe a poor car paint job maintenance habit, you won’t just be opening your arms for an ugly car look, you’ll also be exposing your car to rust. Which is difficult to later take on.
Yes, washing your car often is a good car paint job maintenance habit. However, doing it the wrong way is like scoring an own goal.
In this article, we will show you top tips that will guide you to wash your car properly without an escalation.
Let’s get started!
Wash Your Car Regularly
Some elements will contribute to the speedy peeling of your car paint if left to lie on it for a long period. Some of these elements might already be in contact with your paintwork without your knowledge. You really don’t need to first see them in your car before washing them off.
You might not even see them if you search. That’s why proper washing of your car will give your car paint a long life. It will prevent these corrosive elements from lying on your paintwork for a long period.
The rule of thumb as to how often you should wash your vehicle is to wash it whenever it is dirty. But on the contrary, many cars today have a diminished paint finish because car owners wash their cars wrongly.
How Can I Properly Wash My Car Without Damaging the Paint?
What is the right way to wash your car? Is there a wrong way and a right way? Well, let’s show some things to you.
1. Use dedicated car-wash products
When washing your car, you should know that not all cleaning agents are friendly to your car paint. For example, if you run out of car soap, you can’t just use a household cleaning agent like hand soap, dishwashing detergent, or glass cleaner on your car’s paint.
These cleaning agents are dangerous to your car paint. They can cause severe cracks and peeling of the car paint and can strip off the protective wax. But soaps dedicated to car washing are milder and can’t react to the paint of your car. So, ensure to stick to dedicated car-wash products.
2. Use plenty of water
You should set out two buckets of water for rinsing. Make sure you don’t leave lather on any part of your paintwork. Just as you can see, visible streaks left by unrinsed lather on your windscreen. They also stick to your paintwork if not properly rinsed.
These streaks, when exposed to the sun, can become a dangerous element to your paintwork. If you are mindful of your paintwork, don’t minimize water when rinsing.
3. Don’t wash the car when the body is hot
If the bodywork of your car is hot, you are still likely to leave your car like you used a water gun level of water in rinsing. This is because, before you are done washing the car and preparing for rinsing, the entire soapy water and lather have dried up, leaving streaks behind. That’s why it is best to wash your car in the evening when the sun isn’t out or under a shade.
4. Avoid hard brush
When washing your car or taking your car to a professional car wash. Check out the hardness of the brush used. If the brush is too hard, chances are that you’ll weaken the paint as you innocently try to scrub off dirt from the paintwork. If you keep using a hard brush, you’ll end up seeing lots of peeling spots on your car paint. Make sure to use something smooth to scrub.
5. Use microfiber cloths
Microfiber cloths have so many fibers in the cloth. They are thick and can collect more water than regular clothes. Since microfibers cloth has extra fiber, you don’t need much work wiping. This means less tendency to potential paint damage. Also, due to their thick nature, theirs less work in drying the water off the body. It’s the best cloth to use for car washing.
6. Be careful with pressure washers
It’s advisable to use a pressure washer to wash off sand and mud from your car. Using a method otherwise might have you scrubbing the sand particle against your paintwork. This can damage your paintwork causing little scratches that can further expose your car to rust.
But when using a pressure washer, avoid taking the nozzle of the pressure washer close to the body of your car. Water leaves the pressure washer with so much force and objects close to the nozzle face the brute force of the water. Such a force can completely weaken your paintwork and damage it on prolonged use.
7. Take on the wheels last
Of every part of cars, the wheel has physical contact with the ground. It picks up the most sand, mud, and dust. These particles aren’t friendly to your paint finish and can cause further damage.
Starting with the wheels creates chances of spreading these particles around the body of the car with the cloth. These particles, during washing, end up scratching the paintwork. You can avoid all these hassles if you leave the tires for the last action.
Regular washing helps you notice scratches and dents as soon as they happen. They shouldn’t stay long on your car’s bodywork as they can affect your paint and cause further harm that will cost more to fix. When you see such dents, it’s cheaper and safer to get them fixed immediately.
Here at Dent Max, we are professionals in removing dents. We are top-rated in Florida, and we do it at an affordable price. After visiting us, no one will ever know you had a dent. Because we leave your car with zero scars. Reach out to us.