car cleanliness

 

It is unbelievable how much dirt gets inside and outside on cars. You can take a car to a car wash get out and towel off the exterior then drive for about half an hour and there will already be some small amount of road grime on the car. With ceramic wax it will be almost in discernible at first. But especially if you're driving out on the highway and parking outside, a layer of dust and dirt will be evident quickly. The build-up on the inside of the car may be slower depending on usage. If you have a bunch of kids eating fast food then get ready for a mess. But even if it's a single commuter car, it's surprising the amount of smudges and spills that build up. It's also surprising to me how much dust, dirt and sand build up on any flat surface in the car or around the gear shift or around brake levers. And the cracks between the seats seem to constantly have crumbs and sand.

 The two solutions I'm aware of are to ignore all of it and just let the car slowly get faded and stay dirty or spend time washing cleaning and waxing.

Of the three cleaning activities mentioned above waxing seems to take the most time. The simple solution is to go through an expensive car wash that applies wax. This only works if you go to a car wash where you have significant confidence that it's actually applying wax in the spray. I've given up on automatic car washes because they seem like a ripoff.

The simplest waxing technique that I've seen where you have 100% confidence in the result, and it is relatively easy is the spray waxes. You spray them on and wipe them off. After doing this for years I've learned that I was putting on entirely too much. I would use half a bottle on one waxing. This is a big waste, because the only wax that makes any difference is the wax that stays on the car, and there's no way you're going to get half a bottle of that liquid to stay on your car. So for relatively large areas put on two sprays and then rub them in completely until they're dry. For instance on a compact car hood it should only take about four sprays for the entire Hood. So when you're finished with the whole car you'll notice you have at least 90% of the bottle left. That's all the wax you're going to get on the car. If you want to splurge use ceramic spray wax. It seems to last about 2 months. The nice thing is it only takes about a half an hour to apply it and you don't have to rub with your arm till it's sore.

The method that produces the longest lasting and traditional result is using a paste wax that you apply with a hand applicator or with an electric buffer. I have found that either one of these ways requires more work. Even so, here are some important suggestions. Make sure the car is not in direct sunlight. Make sure that the exterior of the car is not hot. Put a small amount of the paste wax onto the applicator and dob it seven or eight times in different spots. It takes very little. Then quickly rub it in with the applicator covering the entire surface of that area. If it starts to dry out spray it with some spray wax to keep it creamy and rubbing in. Spread it out so that it's very thin and uniformly applied. It's important to have a very very thin so that it's easier to wipe off once it's dry. If you have a heavy white film once it's dried you put on too much in that spot. It should dry to a dull Haze not to a solid shade. Once it's completely dry use a towel to wipe it off. It should wipe off much easier if you applied it thin enough. Reposition the towel on every wipe and you will notice how much more quickly it wipes off. Do not leave the towel positioned in your hand, and try to wipe it continually with the same spot of the towel. When you look at the towel you'll notice that there's a wax buildup on the towel, so that makes it very difficult to get more wax off of the car. Once you've covered the whole car then inspect it for spots and cracks where the wax was not removed completely. A compact car could take an hour and a half or two. And if you don't have the stamina you're going to have to do it in sections a little bit each day. 

I like to start with the hood, the roof, and the trunk because these parts are exposed to the Sun. Then the front end of the car and the mirrors need extra special attention, because they get bombarded by bugs and road grime.