Easy Car Washing

如何像專業人士一樣在家洗車：一系列技巧

There’s nothing better than a sparkling, clean car. Unfortunately, keeping your set of wheels clean can sometimes be easier said than done.

To protect your vehicle and keep it looking its best, you need to wash it regularly. This prevents minor wear and tear from becoming noticeable, thereby maintaining your car’s value, and keeping your car looking better for longer. Provided you use the right technique and the right tools, washing your car is easy to do at home.

Here are some do’s and don’ts for how to wash your car at home.

To keep your car looking its best, it’s important to have the right cleaning tools. These include a hose with a variable nozzle, a soft sponge and/or car wash mitt, some car washing liquid, a wheel brush, several microfibre cloths, and at least one large microfiber towel for drying. In addition, a vacuum cleaner for the interior, rubber gloves, wheel cleaner, paper towels, and window cleaner are all useful tools to have on hand.

On the other hand, don’t use hand soap, dishwashing liquid, or anything other than proper car wash detergent to clean your car’s exterior. Car wash products are specifically designed to provide ample lubrication to prevent dislodged grit from scratching your car’s paint, and they’re gentle enough so they don’t remove existing wax.

Finally, you will need two buckets. This is extremely important. One of the biggest car washing blunders is rinsing out a dirty sponge in the clean suds bucket. When you do this, you’re not removing the dirt – you’re just putting the same grit and filth right back on the car and spreading it around. So use one bucket for your clean, sudsy water, and a second one (full of clean water) for thoroughly rinsing out that grimy sponge. Once the sponge is thoroughly rinsed, dip it back in the soapy water and continue.

While it seems tempting to wash your car on a warm, sunny day, this is actually a common mistake. Rather, if you clean your car when it’s warm and sunny outside, it tends to dry too quickly, meaning you’re more likely to end up with spots on your paintwork and windows. As such, it is better to wash your car on an overcast day to ensure it doesn’t dry too quickly.

Additionally, it is best to park your car somewhere flat and shady, where you have plenty of room to fully open your doors.

You’ve gathered all of your cleaning equipment and found the perfect location to wash your car. Now, it’s time to get down to business. We recommend beginning by washing your wheels. This is because wheel wells, hubcaps and rubber tyres collect all sorts of abrasive gunk that you don’t want anywhere near your car paint.

While most wheels will only require soapy water and a good scrubbing, if it has been a while since you cleaned your wheels, it might be a good idea to invest in a dedicated wheel/tyre cleaning product. Water-based, non-corrosive wheel cleaners that are suitable for all types of wheels are the safest choice. Further, don’t forget to wash around the wheel nuts, as well as scrubbing the outside tires.

Your wheels are shiny and clean, now it’s time to make the rest of your car match. But before you start scrubbing, make sure you hose off the entire vehicle to remove any loose dirt or debris that might otherwise scratch the car’s surface. It’s especially important to clean off bird droppings, dead insects, and tree sap, as these can be very harmful to your vehicle’s paint.

Once the car has been thoroughly rinsed with the hose, wash it by sections, moving systematically from top to bottom in the following order: roof, then window supports and windows, then the top of the bonnet and upper panels, followed by the middle of the doors and the boot, the front bumper, lower panels, lower part of the doors, and finally the back bumper. Remember to use separate buckets as you do this, while also rising your microfibre cloth regularly (or replacing it if it gets too dirty).