Car Care Advice

This particular entry applies to dressing for both exterior plastic and vinyl trim, and tyre dressings.

Even though I say elsewhere that I’m not over-struck by plastic dressings on the whole they do sometimes have their uses, (but I really would stick to water based dressings).

What I suggest you do is apply your dressings before waxing and polishing your car. This way, if you accidentally flick any onto the paintwork, they will get wiped off when you wax or polish the car. But even better than this, if you plastics are coated with dressing, if you accidentally get wax/polish on the plastics, they won’t stick and cause stains. Of course, of you polish right over the plastic it will polish right through the dressing, so always try and avoid getting polish on the plastic and vinyl.

So, you have applied your plastic dressing, and applied your wax/polish. Now is the best time to apply the tyre dressing before removing the wax/polish. This will have given your tyres time to dry so that they are no longer wet from washing, and if any tyre dressing goes astray as it often does, especially if you are using an aerosol, it will land on top of your wax/polish. So it will get removed when you remove the wax/polish. Otherwise, what often happens is that you get your car all nicely waxed and looking the way you like it, and the tyre dressing splatters all down the side of the car.

When we valet cars professionally, we are pretty well organized. We have a place for everything, and spares of most things. One thing that struck me about washing cars at home (which I don’t normally do) is that it can get very frustrating. trying to keep track of your kit and looking after it while you work.

The biggest problem is keeping it clean. If you drop your kit on the ground, it gets covered in grit, which if then applied to the car will cause really nasty and possibly permanent scratches. So it goes without saying that you should avoid dropping wash mitts, microfibres etc. But you will have a lot of kit, you can’t carry it around for the whole time you are washing your car…
The first couple of times I washed a car around the back of my house, I found myself dropping stuff because I was trying to carry it because I had nowhere to put it down.

The second time I washed a car at home, I tried to fix this by putting down some card and keeping my kit on there… but it was a windy day and all the dirt and grit blew onto the cardboard making it just as dirty as the ground.

There has to be hundreds of solutions to this problem, and I’ll leave you to figure something our based on what you have handy… my solution was to take a child’s plastic garden table from my lawn out to the street where the car was parked. Of course it got a good wash first, but it allowed my to put stuff down somewhere clean and dry. You might want to re-arrange your garden furniture, pull out a paste table or use some old beer crates. Use whatever you have, but it’s worth thinking about before you begin as it will save you so much trouble later.

However, you may still drop your kit on the floor, these things happen. If this happens, then with most of your kit, you can take it and run it under a tap and clean it thoroughly before putting it anywhere near your car. Don’t just give it a rinse in your bucket. Do it properly and examine it carefully — if you get this wrong, it could cost you hundreds of pounds! Great big scratches all over your bonnet will devalue the car by a large percentage and a respray costs a small fortune.

If you drop a claybar… no arguments. Just throw it in the bin.
If you drop a microfibre cloth, don’t use it. A microfibre grips as if it’s made of little hooks, it doesn’t let go of the dirt easily so don’t risk using again until it’s been through the washing machine.
The method of washing that Anna has written up involves using two large microfibre towels, so you have another to use as a spare anyway. We would recommend buying a few of these microfibre cloths — they are useful for just about every area of the car so you will use them, and it’s good to have spares.

Speaking of microfibre cloths. It’s nice to have a place to hang them to dry while cleaning your car. Just don’t hang them on a rough wooden fence or from a rusty nail on a brick wall. If you do they will pick up all sorts of crud that can scratch your car.

I have already touched on this subject in my previous post… when you are working it’s best to get organized before you start cleaning your car, making sure you have a clean dry place to put your kit down when you aren’t using it. This can save you lots of grief.

But what happens when you have finished washing your car?

I would recommend that you put your microfibre towels and any other cloths through the washing machine. You can do the same with a wash mitt if it is microfibre or synthetic (which I always recommend over lamb’s wool), but don’t do it too often as they tend to fall apart… you are unlikely to find one that is stitched together like a pair of combat fatigues, instead they tend to be made rather cheaply in the far east.

If you decide not to put them through the washing machine, then rinse them out in a clean bucket of water, then you should at least put these items on the washing line to dry. If you put them away damp they will almost certainly go mouldy.

Please note, that when washing synthetic chamois leathers, don’t put them in hot water. Many of them will behave like Shrinky-Dinks if you do. And if you wash your microfibre cloths in the washing machine, don’t use a fabric conditioner.

Most people will keep their wash kit in the garage or in the shed. If not stored properly it will collect dust and other stuff that you really don’t want on your car. Simply put your cloths, mitt and leather into a plastic carrier bag to help keep it clean rather than dropping onto a shelf. Whatever method you use for storing your kit, it’s probably best if it’s air tight, otherwise all sorts of critters can view it as a place to build a nest. But it is essential to make sure it’s dry before sealing in an air tight container.

About the best place to store all the gear is in a Grit-Guard Bucket, which now comes with a sealable lid.

The best car colour is almost certainly silver. Swirl marks hardly show, in fact, dirt and dust doesn’t show so much as it has nothing to contrast against.

The worst colour is probably black or anything that is really dark. Most of the dirt on your car is fairly light in colour and so contrasts against dark coloured cars. And any swirl marks catching the light are easily seen on a dark car.

If you have your heart set on a black or dark blue car, I’d recommend getting paint sealed straight away. Throw away any washing kit you have and buy new gear, and buy the right gear. Follow Anna’s article on how to wash your car, so you can keep it clean while getting the minimum of scratches, and also buy yourself something like AutoGlym Ultra Deep Shine to help hide any scratches you do get.
Stay away from automated car washed and don’t drive through any hedges.
Dark coloured cars may be murder to keep clean, but they don’t half look good when they are clean and polished!

These covers take a lot of punishment. As you dive along they are being hit by flies and dust, and by dirty water… the faster you drive, the faster and harder this stuff hits them. It has an abrasive effect that can cause light scratches over time.

These scratches can polish out — first try a normal polish, and if this doesn’t work, then use a proper plastic polish such as that made by Renovo. That should do the trick, but it doesn’t it may mean the plastic has perished, in which case it’s probably best to replace the covers which should be fairly inexpensive.
You often hear about these plastic covers going yellow, although I have never seen this in the UK. I put this down to us having less pollution than countries like America that suffer from smog. I believe that there are solutions to this problem but it’s probably just as well to replace the lenses as you would likely have to take them off anyway to properly clean them.

It’s worth keeping in mind what these plastic covers are for. Lights are usually sealed units these days and of they get broken they are expensive to replace. The clear plastic shield is there to take any punishment such as stone chips that might otherwise hit them. So don’t be tempted to remove them without replacing them. You might be surprised just how much a sealed lamp unit can cost!

Maintaining black paintwork can be a bit of a handful. Black cars show the dirt, so you have to wash them often. They also show swirl marks really badly, and unfortunately, washing results in swirl marks… it is inevitable I’m afraid.

As we always say, you cannot remove dirt without agitation… what this means is that you have to use a wash mitt, brush etc. to move the dirt and loosen it. You cannot simply point a hose pipe (or pressure washer) at it and expect it to fall off. The problem is that when you agitate the dirt on your paintwork it will scratch it. And it’s these tiny scratches that you see as swirl marks.

So if you have a black car, the first thing to do is be we aware that you are going to have to take your wash regime seriously if you want to avoid swirls. (In fairness, most people couldn’t give a monkey’s about avoiding them. After all, walk down any street looking at the cars and swirl marks are the norm.  It’s only those of us who want our car in show condition that would worry about it).

I personally wouldn’t have a black or dark coloured car without a paint sealant. A sealant makes the paintwork slightly harder, reducing swirls, and it also makes it smoother meaning that dirt has less to cling to… which means less washing, which means less swirl marks.
When washing, you want to move as much dirt as possible before going anywhere near it with your wash mitt. Start off my soaking the car with water using a hosepipe or similar.
There are soap products on the market (for trade) that will remove most dirt without agitation, but these are strong soaps and they streak. They can even cause damage to metal trim such as that found around windows. But you could find a fairly strong soap, just keep in mind that it will require more rinsing. You can get a pump up spray from the garden centre for about £10 that would allow you to apply your soap without having to sponge it on.

A little trade secret here is not to be fooled into thinking that more bubbles means a better soap. It doesn’t! Try and find a low foaming soap, they usually work better on cars and have the added advantage of letting you see what you are doing. Unfortunately, most retail products produce loads of bubbles — they make them that way because that’s what the public expects.
A pressure washer is very useful at this stage. Although the kind you get in B&Q are not much good as they are all pressure and no water volume. A commercial pressure washer like the kind you find at a service station will put out about 5 times more water which is what you really need to  knock all that grit off. So it might be worth going to the garage for your initial wash. Go around the car paying special attention to the lower half. The aim here is to knock as much of the dirt and grit off as you possibly can.

The nest thing you may want to do is go around the car with a traffic brush…
“A brush?” I hear you say, “Are you mad?”.
The kind of brushes that you can get from Vikan or Arnold are really soft like a baby’s hair brush. Trust me, you would have no problem taking one of these into the shower with you… which is the test to go by. If you don’t want swirl marks, don’t use anything on your car that you wouldn’t use on yourself.
I suggest using the brush because it can get into the areas where a wash mitt won’t go. And if you use it gently… just a tickle, the bristles will push past grit rather than pushing down onto it. And of course, it won’t trap dirt, especially if you do this under running water.

Once you have done this, pressure wash the car again taking care to get the dirt our of all those corners and hard to see places (or else you will pay for it later), and then you can go over it with your wash mitt working from the top down.
We always tell people to use plenty of water, but it’s all the more important with black cars — you want to wash the dirt away from the car, NOT scrub it off.

The afore mentioned sealant is going to help keep the swirl marks at bay, but an extra coat of wax will add to this. It’s good to keep the car well waxed because the glossier the car is, the less often it will need cleaning and the easier the dirt will come off. Little and often is the key here.

…and yet, chances are that you will still get swirl marks. I know that this question was about removing swirls, but I’m not going to cover that yet, because once you have a few, the best thing to do is to hide them. As I said, they are inevitable, so it’s best to learn how to live with them or otherwise you’ll be trying to remove them every time you have washed your car. The best way to hide them is to use a wax product that contains diffusers and fillers. To some degree, most retail products have them, but some like AutoGlym’s Ultra Deep Shine contain a lot, and this product is fantastic on dark coloured cars. It doesn’t usually make them invisible, but it does reduce them and make them far less noticeable.

As for removing swirl marks? Don’t try!
If you can’t live with your swirl marks, then get a professional to remove them. Don’t think its going to be something you can do yourself. A hand polish won’t do it, to remove them you will need to buff the car or machine polish it — that’s all fine and dandy, there are plenty of enthusiasts doing this with their Porter-Cables, and I’m sure they manage fine. Removing the swirl marks is the easy part. The problem is that you are then left with buffer marks, also called holograms. These are really fine scratches, even finer than swirl marks.

I was talking to a fella not so long ago, he said he machine polished a black car and got it ready for the customer to pick up next morning and it looked wonderful. But the next morning the car looked dreadful and was covered in these smudge-like marks. This is a typical story that I hear often. Two things happened overnight. Firstly the light changed revealing holograms he couldn’t see the night before. Secondly, the product he used evaporated or at least settled. The polishes and compounds he had used (which were of the finest quality) contain siloxane as a lubricant. But it also filled the buffer marks effectively hiding them. Less than 12 hours later the buffer marks re-appeared.
Of course, you can just hide them using the kind of product I mentioned earlier, but it seems that the kind of people who want to buff their own cars want perfection, and if the light is harsh, you will be able to see the holograms. You will end up chasing perfection forever… that way lay insanity.
You are unlikely to ever be able to see buffer marks on a silver car, but black and dark coloured cars are another story. The only way to completely remove them is to use progressively finer polishes and pads. This takes a lot of equipment, a lot of money, lots of time and lots of skill. It’s a road only the very most dedicated enthusiast should start down… some things are just best left to professionals.

A body brush is a very soft brush designed especially for car bodywork. The bristles are usually made of a nylon type plastic which is then ‘distressed’ so that the ends of the bristles have frayed apart. This makes them very soft by the standard of most brushes… in fact, soft enough that you could wash your own body with it.

If you are sensible, and use the brush very gently, it will knock loose dirt and grit without scratching the paintwork. However, if you press hard, the brush will press the grit against the paintwork and cause scratches, but this is the case with any implement you might use.

If you are gentle, (just a tickle!) the bristles should push past the grit rather than pushing down on it. The great thing about using a brush is that it can get into places that you can’t get to with a wash mitt, for example, around badges.

Although a body brush is generally safe to use, we recommend that you limit it’s use to the lower areas of the car and around hard to reach places. In other words, don’t go cleaning the middle of your bonnet with it because it will get gritty while cleaning other areas — it’s best to rinse it out regularly as you go around the car. It’s really at it’s best on the front valance, and around the grill and lights… it also allows you to clean these really dirty areas without using your wash mitt that you will want to keep clean.

I always try to answer questions people are actually asking when I’m doing an FAQ. I have to admit that nobody ever asks about application sponges… in fact, nobody ever thinks about them, and that’s the point! Everybody rushes out and buys lots of bottles of polish, lotions and potions, and then when they come to actually do their car, find they have nothing to put it on with! They then find themselves ripping up bits of muslin cloth which is a waste of the cloth, and not a great way to apply your products.

Furthermore, it’s the application of the products which is the most important bit. For example, putting on your wax with precision can save you huge amounts of work later.

So, to me, application sponges are a star buy! You don’t even have to buy real purpose made ones… cellulose sponges from the supermarket used for general kitchen cleaning. BUT they really need to be cellulose sponges because these are really soft and won’t damage your paintwork.

The good thing about our purpose made application sponges is that they fit nicely in the hand which is amazingly important when you think about it. If they are a good handful with plenty to hold onto, then you are far less likely to drop it on the floor. If you drop it, you really need to put it through a washing machine before you use it again.

In addition to getting one sponge per bottle of product, we also recommend that you get some sandwich bags and elastic bands. Once you have used the sponge to apply a wax, polish or dressing, pop it in the sandwich bag and attach it to the appropriate bottle with the elastic band. This will help ensure that you don’t later use a sponge that you used for applying tyre dressing to apply a wax (ouch!) and will also help keep the sponges clean and dust free.

When using them to apply wax or polish, run the sponge under the tap and then wring it out so that it’s damp, then just apply some polish to the sponge (it’s best never to apply products directly to the car) and work it into the sponge.
The next time you go to use the sponge, you will probably find it has gone dry and hard, just run it under the tap again. After a while, sponges used to apply waxes will become very greasy but they can be washed out with hot soapy water.

Microfibre cloths are nothing short of amazing.

If you don’t know what they are, Marc Brady wrote a good article on them over at the Clean Image website, with diagrams by me!

In short, they are better for drying than a chamois leather, and better for cleaning than any other sort of cloth –by miles! The microfibres really do work, and for what extra money they might cost you over normal cloths, they are well worth it for the results and the fact that they make your life easier.

There are all sorts of microfibre products about now… unfortunately they aren’t all made equal. You can buy a packet of three down at Tescos for a couple of pounds, but they really aren’t very good. It’s far better to have a few good ones. At Clean Image, we have worked out that having two large towels is enough for the whole car (But having a couple of extra small ones wouldn’t hurt).

Basically, once you have washed the car, you dry it with one of your towels, which becomes wet in the process. This then becomes your wet towel - although it’s probably best if we describe it as ‘damp’. As you work around the car, there are some jobs that are best done with a damp towel, such as washing the insides of the windows and dashboard, and some best done with a dry towel, such as the final finishing and any job that involves drying.

Once you get good at detailing your car, you can find you can time things so that your wet towel is only slightly damp by the time it comes to taking off the polish/wax.

The other advantage is that should you drop one of your towels on the floor, you won’t be so tempted to carry on using it if you have another.

A paintbrush is an excellent tool for detailing your car. Even cheap ones that aren’t much good for painting are good.

They work really well for dusting around all the switches and vents on your dashboard, and all those other hard to reach places. Just hold the vacuum cleaner nozzle near the brush and everything you loosen will get sucked up. They are also great for getting polish out from around door handles and car badges.
A 1″ and 2″ brushes are adequate,  but there is nothing like a big thick long haired brush!
So why the tape?
The only problem with a paint brush is that it has a metal ferrule, which can have sharp edges that can scratch paintwork and trim. The answer is to get some electrical insulation tape and wrap it thickly around the ferrule.