With professional auto detailing costs running in the hundreds of dollars, keeping your car showroom-ready can be costly. But you don’t need to spend tons of money to make your ride look new.
Here are 6 of the best DIY auto detailing tips for that showroom shine. There’s nothing like the satisfaction of a clean car inside and out, and knowing you did it.
Top 6 DIY Auto Detailing Tips
Here are 6 tips that you can follow to do your own car detailing job without going to one of those professional auto detailers and paying them at least a couple hundred dollars for a decent job.
#1. Clean the Interior First.
If you’re going to be spending the entire day cleaning every nook and cranny of your car or truck, you’ll want to start in the inside of the car first so the inside can dry as your cleaning the outside.
You probably have some spots on your carpet or carpeted floor mats that need a nice shampoo and water to come out new again or rubber floor mats that could use a good scrubbing and rinsing off outside.
Oh yeah… don’t forget the steering wheel! No one likes a sticky, dingy wheel to have to hold on to when driving.
And besides, when you remove the floor mats and wash them outside, you don’t have to worry about dirt or water getting on the clean outside of your car. The last thing you want to do is have to do twice.
Not only that… a clean interior just looks really good, plus it keeps the critters, such as ants that like to have somewhere to go from having a purpose to get inside.
#2. Chamois or Microfiber.
The best way to dry our car is to use a Chamois or microfiber towel to get the droplets off our cars paint rather than a regular cotton towel or by letting it dry naturally. Chamois or Microfiber towels simply take in the water better than a standard towel and will positively help eliminate swirl and streaking upon wiping.
This is great not just for drying your paint, but the glass of your windows. Be careful not to rub too hard on interior windows that have window tint. Otherwise, you may catch the edge of the film with the towel and later find yourself needing to remove the window tint, which has started to peel off.
#3. Avoid Automatic Car Washes.
Automatic car washes may seem like an easy way to wash dirt and debris off the finish of your car, but it could have the opposite effect. Have you ever noticed those flappy rubber or vinyl strips that fucking smack down on the finish of your car? They also tend to have a bit of their own built-up dirt on them.
So, when that flap rubs against the surface of your car, it may actually cause minor scratches to the surface, especially at lower-quality car washes like the sort you might find at some gas stations.
Even worse are do-it-yourself car washes that use high-pressure water through a long wand. Most of them still carry that nice brush that consistent people use to clean the vehicle’s exterior, and so, of course, they use them and scrub the mud off their truck’s exterior after a day of off-roading.
What do you think happens to that dirt or grease that’s still in the brush head when you’re using the brush on your car’s paint? You’re going to scratch your paint!
#4. Clean the Engine Bay.
Probably the most neglected part of a car (apart from those who go to car shows), the engine bay can be one of the dirtiest places on the car. It’s a sad possibility that some car owners who never service or maintain their car have even looked at what’s under the hood of their car.
While you can use some clean rags and a spray cleaner, it’s smarter to just get yourself a tub of wipes for your car and not deal with the complication. These 12″ x 6″ wet wipes are dual-textured, durable, and a very good way to quickly clean your engine bay, wheels, tools, and even your hands when you’re finished.
You’ll want the ones for cars, but the company sells other versions (found here) for around the house as well.
#5. Wheel Well Cleaning.
Other than cleaning wheels and tire sidewalls, you should clean the wheel wells as well. All you need to do is use a hose to spray the interior of the wells and then use a brush to scrub this area.
Just be sure to use a clean brush that was not used to clean any other area of your ride. This spot is easy to neglect, and dirt will gradually build up over the years, and it harder to take off the longer you wait.
#6. Wax Last.
Once you have taken all the dirt off the finish of your ride, you can help protect it for a bit with a layer of wax.
Use an easy, quick car wax in a spray bottle that you just spray on and wipe off, or use a traditional Carnuba wax and wipe on, let sit, and rub off. Or even better, use a quality car buffer for more even coverage and faster results.
Solid Carnuba wax provides more paint protection than spray-on, but both will help make your ride shine and guard against water spots.
You might also like to polish your vehicle or even use a clay bar just before waxing to remove any tough, stubborn residue or imperfections in the paint. It takes more work, but the results are worth it.
Conclusion
Keep in mind that car detailing is not just for the outside of the vehicle, but the inside and even the engine as well.
It is designed to make an old ride look new, and make a newer model look and feel like the day it was pulled from the dealer lot. You could also think of it as a worthwhile investment of your time, as you will likely sell your vehicle at some point.
If you are in an area with severe weather (hail, snow, heavy rain), we recommend buying a good car cover if parking in a garage will not always be available. No amount of detailing is going to help if hail damage or a falling tree limb scratches up your hood.
Nothing says more about the condition of a vehicle than how it looks. The chances are that the owner also takes good care of the vehicle mechanically.