How to Detail Your Own Car
When you have a new car--or even a used car that is new to you--it is always a good idea to keep it clean. Washing it regularly will help to prevent rust and keep the paint in good condition.
Cleaning the inside will also prevent the carpet and upholstery from becoming stained or dingy.
Although you could have the car professionally detailed on a regular basis to keep everything
shiny and new, the expense can be considerable and is often too much for the average person.
The good news is that it is easy to detail your own car if you have the time, the knowledge, and
the right tools.
Detailing Basics
What is detailing? Simply put, it is taking care of all of the little nooks and crannies and making
sure everything is truly spic and span. When you detail your car, you should clean both the
interior and the exterior. As you can imagine, this involves more than cleaning up old fast food
containers and running your car through an automatic carwash. You need to clean, vacuum, and
polish the interior and wash and wax the exterior. Detailing also provides the opportunity to spiff
up frequently overlooked areas, such as tires, windows, and mirrors.
When detailing, it is always best to start with the interior so that you won't mar the outside with dust and dirt after a wash and wax job. A good first step is to gather all the tools you'll need. A detail job requires more than just a few wet rags and a water hose. You need a vacuum cleaner with a selection of attachments that are small enough to fit into tiny cracks. You will also want to have a few clean towels and rags on hand. Try to choose towels of varying thickness so that you have some that are thick and course enough to get the worst gunk and others that are thin enough to fit in small cracks. Other handy tools include a toothbrush or Q-tips for tiny crevices, liquid cleaners approved for car use (Armor All, window cleaner, etc), and a can of compressed air.
Detailing the Interior
Remove any trash, including whatever is in the ashtrays, and then take out the floor mats. Make sure you check under the seats, and in any little compartments the car may have. Personal items should also be removed. When you are finished with this step, the car should look empty enough to be sold on a car lot.
Vacuuming
Make sure you slide the seats as far forward as they'll go in order to get any dirt, scraps of paper or loose change that may be under there. Vacuum the interior, including the seats and, using a brush attachment, the hard surfaces, such as the dashboard. Use the tiniest attachments you have to vacuum the cracks and crevices. Vacuuming will remove the built up dirt.
After making sure you've picked up everything you possibly could with the vacuum cleaner it's time to get down and dirty. Using Q-tips, a toothbrush, and the thin rags, clean out the tiny areas the vacuum couldn't reach. Covering a plastic knife blade or a flat screwdriver with a thin wet rag should help get into the smallest trenches. After loosening the dirt in the cracks, use compressed air to clear out any detritus. Running the vacuum again wouldn't hurt. You'd be surprised what you can pick up the second time around.
Polishing
Now it's time to make the interior shine. Removing stains in the carpet or on upholstery may take
a little time and effort. There are many stain removers on the market and asking workers at an
auto parts store will help you determine what would work best on serious stains. Some areas may
take a little more work than others, but remember doing it yourself is saving you a ton of money.
Your small, thin rags-- make sure you use clean ones--will be useful for the cracks and crevices
you just cleaned the dust and dirt out of. Don't forget the insides of the windows and the mirrors.
Make sure they're clean and streak free. If you've taken your time and applied yourself to the
details, you should have the interior looking like new.
Detailing the Exterior
In comparison to the inside of your car, cleaning the outside should be a breeze. Not that there's
any less work, it's just that the exterior doesn't have nearly as many miniscule cracks and seams
to worry about. Basically you're going to do a thorough wash job, followed by a careful waxing.
Tires and Rims
You should always start with the tires and rims because they're likely to have the most detailing
to do. Most rims have intricate designs so you'll be using the same tools you used to clean the
cracks and crevices on the inside. If the rims and tires are exceedingly dirty, you may want to
consider buying special cleaners from an auto parts store to help you do the job. After you finish,
wash the tires and rims down with a soap and water solution. Rinse the tires and rims well with
clean water.
Washing
When the tires and rims are clean, give the car body a good hosing to loosen any accumulated
dirt and grime, and then wash with soap and water or a commercial cleaner designed specifically
for this purpose. Rinse the car thoroughly and dry it with clean cloths.
Waxing
When the car is completely clean and dry, apply a coat of your favorite wax and buff it until it
shines like new. Be sure to follow the instruction on the wax container. At this point, your car
should be ready to show off--for your ego or for sale.
Guest post from Bailey Harris, who writes for Car Insurance Quotes.
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One Response to “How to Detail Your Own Car”
February 9th, 2011 at 11:57 pm
Could you give an estimate of how long this takes, roughly? It sounds very time-consuming!
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