How we CLEAN your vehicle.

Its always nice to post updates of vehicles we have worked on and got back to their best - But at the same time, I think it makes sense for me to explain our system of works, our processes if you will.

I’ll try and break it down as best I can, which for some may be a good tutorial, but for others it gives you a chance to fully appreciate the difference between a dash and go Car Wash, and your local mobile detailer.

Assessment

The first thing is always a quick assessment of the vehicle in question - mainly we’re looking for areas which need more attention, and trying to notice any defects (Dents/deep scratches) that we may need to mention to the customer - firstly to cover ourselves but mainly to explain that there may only be a limited number of steps we can take to reduce/remove these defects.

Wheels

Once the assessment is complete, we usually focus on the wheels first - they’re generally the areas that take the most abuse - the arches, tyres and wheels are rinsed and then the wheels receive an iron fallout remover along with wheel cleaner and a foam mix of car shampoo and tyre clean is applied to the tyres and arches.

Depending on the quality of the wheels and the finish, the wheels and arches are scrubbed with a number of brushes - a long barrel brush to clean the inside of the wheels, some smaller detailing brushes for the intricate areas and brake calipers, a cleaning mitt for the face of the wheel and lastly a dedicated tyre brush for… you guessed it, The tyres.

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Once the wheels are cleaned, you may notice some rust appears to the disc brakes - we’ve tried a number of recommended chemicals to help reduce this, however the best removal trick is a quick drive down the road - the rust is only surface and comes off almost straight away when driving.

Pre-Wash

A pre-wash sounds funny, like we’re washing the car, before we wash the car - rather than a pre-wash, we tend to think of it as ‘Contact preparation’ - in other words, we want to remove as much dirt as possible without actually making physical contact with the car by way of microfibre mitts, cloths or brushes.

A Traffic Film Remover (TFR) or Citrus Degreaser (CD) is generally applied to the lower half, or lower third of the vehicle as this retains the most amount of contamination from day to day driving. This application is allowed to ‘dwell’ for between 1-5 minutes depending on conditions.

Depending on the condition of the vehicle, and sometimes due to the weather, this may be rinsed off before applying a snow foam, but in some cases we may apply a snow-foam over the top of the TFR/CD to allow extra time for the chemical properties to work their magic. There are also a number of different Snow Foam treatments we use, depending on the condition of the vehicle and contamination that’s on the car.

Depending on the vehicle, we may use the snow-foam dwell time to hit some of the intricate aspects of the vehicle including the window and door seals with a detailing brush - again, this really depends on the vehicle and its current condition.

The Snow-Foam is thoroughly rinsed off, section by section. Doing so allows us time to assess the vehicle as we go, to make sure we haven’t missed any areas and also to see what lies behind the filth that’s now been removed. Hey we’re only human, sometimes an extra pass of snow-foam is required to further break down the contamination

Generally speaking, only one pass of TFR/CD and snow-foam is required to remove the majority of the dirt. In some cases, we may apply a dedicated insect/bug remover, usually to the front bumper to help break down the mass of insects.

Door shuts, boot and sometimes inside the bonnet are washed and cleaned usually at this stage, either during snow-foam dwelling time, or soon after. We’ll have to go over them later on in the job, but for now we want to remove any larger contamination and get them back to 80% before a second pass near the drying stage,

Contact Wash

Once the vehicle is assessed and we’re happy as much dirt, grime and filth has been removed from the vehicle, we begin a ‘2-Bucket Contact Wash’ - In some cases, this is completed TWICE! But generally its a one-and-done kind of ordeal.

Both buckets are filled with water, one also contains a car shampoo, and the second bucket is used to rinse our mitt regularly during the contact wash.

Choosing which Car Shampoo we uses really varies on the vehicle. We dont use ‘Wash & Wax’ type shampoos, we dont believe applying a liquid wax along with shampooing the vehicle at the same time is a good idea. Ever.

Some car shampoos are ph neutral and are very gentle on your vehicle, but there are also acidic and alkaline car shampoos that manage a number of different applications. Some may be used to further break down an outdated sealant or paint protection whilst others are purely used to lower the PH level of the water being used. You’d be surprised just how much of a science it can be deciding which car shampoo is best depending on the application.

Where I can, I use a ph neutral, gentle car shampoo - However there are times where I am required to ‘Reset’ the bodywork and as such, I require a different car shampoo to do the job.

We done use sponges!

We prefer to use wash mitts, usually of a microfibre type but sometimes a lambswool variant. Again it really depends on the vehicle.

Following a full contact wash to all areas of the exterior, we rinse down the vehicle again. Rinsing the vehicle down removes any leftover traces of dirt and contamination and leaves us with a fairly glossy looking motor. But with all that agro removing dirt, its about time to start the finishing stages. Starting with drying.

However, an additional step we sometimes take it to try and remove further contamination. Now this may be due to the amount of dirt on the vehicle, or sometimes is due to the fact we may be carrying out further paint preparation and protection by means of polishing and sealants (Ceramic/SI02 etc)

These further steps may be applying a fallout remover to the bodywork, or a tar remover. And we may also carry out a Clay-Bar treatment to the vehicle as preparation for polishing/paint correction.

But for this blog, lets just stick to drying and leave those advanced steps for another blog.

Drying

I really like this bit! I have 2 methods - Number 1 is just a straight up dry with a large microfibre towel, sometimes two to dry the entire vehicle. I focus on any areas in direct sunlight first and I don’t worry too much about the glass just yet, as the windows will be getting further treatment a little later on.

The bodywork is dried, and following that I use an air-blower for all the intricate areas - we’ve all seen that sneaky water mark that originated from the wing-mirror right. They are my enemy and I refuse to let them beat me. An Air-blower is your best defence.

My second method looks cooler, but does add an additional product to the number of products used. Whilst the vehicle is still wet, we apply whats called a ‘Wet Sealant’ to the car - This provides a limited, but quite satisfying hydrophobic coating to the motor. The vehicle is then rinsed down thoroughly and the water runs off the vehicle in quite a beautiful fashion. The ‘Wet Sealant’ isn’t very long-lasting, generally speaking it lasts 4-6 weeks at best but it makes drying much easier as alot of the water runs off the vehucle by itself when rinsing. So its great to speeding up the drying process, but it is still an additional step in drying.

Finishing

The vehicle is dry, looking pretty good at this point. For your local car wash - this is perhaps when they hand the keys back. But for most detailers there are some additional steps we like to take. Why? Well we wouldn’t be taking care of your pride and joy if we didn’t get them to their best.

We could slap some sticky stuff on the tyres for that ultra wet look, but as cool as it looks, the majority of detailers apply a correct tyre protection. In most cases this is silicon-based and for sure makes the look of the tyres much better, much more like they did when they were first put on your wheels. But the product isn’t sticky, wont flick off your tyres and onto your wheels and paintwork but give your that fresh, clean look.

A similar product may also be applied to bumpers and trim. We’ve all seen that faded black bumper and trims. For sure there are proper bumper restoration kits and we’ve tried a few - But for the majority of applications, our Bumper silicon treatment does just as good of a job and is very durable. Particularly good after its 2nd application.

Usually at this point, I’ve forgotten to take another look at the door shuts, engine bay and boot. Sounds unprofessional and I’m sure its not great to say stuff like this, but again I’m only human and when spending so much time ensuring the vehicle is dried properly, it easy to miss this step until now. I need an alarm or something!

With the car now REALLY dry, wheels and tyres treated and any applicable bumpers looking fresh. I could say ALL DONE. However.

There may be further plans with regards to the bodywork, like mentioned before, we may be carrying out clay-bar treatment, a polish and even applying a sealant or Ceramic Coating. But again, for this blog we’ll just mention one last step we sometimes take (Depending on the plan)

A Quick Detailer product is a wonderful extra step. Its not a mind-blowing addition, but its certainly worth considering.

Using one microfibre cloth to apply the quick detailer to the paintwork, and then a second one to buff it off - you’re left with a deeper, richer shine to the vehicle. Its also handy particularly on sunny days where the unfortunate water spot appears, it gives us an extra chance to remove any signs of watermarks or marring.

What you’re left with at this stage, is a clean, shiny vehicle ready to hit the roads. The wheels, tyres and arches are free from mud and brake dust. The bodywork is shining in the sun and when that annoying wet stuff called rain finally makes its way to your vehicle, your car will shed it like never before. Seeing rain glide off your windscreen when driving down the motorway is such a satisfying thing to see and we really want as many people as possible to experience it.

If a treatment like this sounds good to you, please get in touch or try it for yourself on your own vehicle!

Enjoy the sunshine this week and I’ll be back in a couple of days with a ‘Mini’ Challenge I tested recently.