By ShowMeStepByStepPublished Updated
Based on a video by Clean That Up.
Most people wash a car in the wrong order with the wrong tools and grind a season of fine scratches into the paint doing it. Done properly it takes about thirty minutes, costs roughly $40 in supplies that last years, and leaves the finish better than any automatic wash.
Wheels carry brake dust, which is iron filings and road grit. Wash them after the paint and you drag that grit up the panels on the same mitt. Wheels first, with their own brushes that never touch the bodywork, is the single biggest thing separating a good wash from a damaging one.
Let wheel cleaner sit the time the bottle says before agitating. It needs to dissolve the bonded brake dust, and scrubbing early just means scrubbing grit.
One bucket holds soapy water. The other holds plain rinse water. The mitt goes soap, panel, rinse bucket, soap again. Every time it goes back to the rinse bucket, the dirt it just picked up drops out there instead of going back into your soap.
Grit guards in the bottom of both buckets trap what falls off so it does not get stirred back up. That is a $15 addition that does more for your paint than any wax.
Gravity moves dirt downward, so working roof to sills means you are always washing the cleanest remaining panel. Rocker panels and the lower bumper are filthiest and come last.
Wash in straight lines, front to back, not circles. Any fine scratch you do put in will run in the direction of airflow and be far less visible than a swirl. Circular motion is what produces the spiderweb pattern you see under petrol-station lights.
Soap that dries on the panel leaves a film that is harder to remove than the dirt was, and water drying on hot paint leaves mineral spots that etch in. Early morning, evening, or in shade. If the panel is hot to the touch, wait.
Air-drying is how you get water spots, especially with hard water. A large plush microfibre drying towel laid flat and drawn across the panel beats rubbing, and a leaf blower gets water out of mirror housings, grilles and badge recesses where it would otherwise dribble out an hour later.
Do not use an old bath towel. Cotton loops are abrasive enough to mar clear coat.
Every two weeks is plenty for most cars. Sooner if the car has been through road salt, sat under trees, or collected bird droppings, which are acidic enough to etch clear coat within days in warm weather.
Car care compounds. Checking your oil and tire pressure take five minutes between washes, rotating tires keeps the wear even, and changing a tire is the one you want to have practised before you need it.
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Start at the wheels, not the body. Grab the hose and rinse all four wheels to knock off the loose dirt, brake dust, and road grime. The wheels are the dirtiest part of the car, so getting them out of the way first means you don't redeposit that grit on the paint later.
Spray a dedicated wheel and tire cleaner over each wheel - rim, spokes, and tire. Be generous. Let it dwell for 30 to 60 seconds while it breaks down brake dust. You'll see it react and start running off as it grabs the grime.
Two brushes for two jobs. A soft-bristle brush for the rim - stiff bristles will scratch the finish. A stiff-bristle brush for the tires, which are filthy and need actual scrubbing power. Get into the spokes and lug nut wells where dirt hides. Rinse off when you're done.
Tip
Always rinse your brushes after every wash. Dirt left on the bristles dries hard and turns into sandpaper next time.
Before any soap touches the paint, hose down the entire car from top to bottom. This pulls off the surface layer of dust, pollen, and dirt. Skipping this is the easiest way to put scratches in your paint - the wash mitt will drag whatever's on the surface across the panel.
Fill one bucket with car-wash soap mixed at the ratio on the bottle - about 6 oz per 5 gallons of water for most concentrates. Fill the second bucket with plain fresh water. The fresh water bucket is for rinsing dirt off the mitt between dunks. This is the trick that prevents you from grinding grit into your paint.
Soak the wash mitt in the soap bucket - don't wring it out. Start at the top of the driver's side and work down. Always go in straight back-and-forth strokes, never circles. Circular motions are what create swirl marks under direct light.
Wash one section at a time, then rinse it before the soap dries.
Tip
Wash on a cloudy day or in the shade. Direct sun dries soap onto the paint in seconds and that's a pain to recover from.
Every time you finish a section and need more soap, dunk the mitt in the fresh-water bucket first to release the dirt. Then go back to the soap bucket. Work around the car in a 360 pattern: driver's side, back, passenger side, front.
For the lower portion of the car (where most road grime lives), flip the mitt to the dirty side. Don't drag that side back up onto the upper panels.
Once the whole car is washed, rinse it down completely. Then rinse it again. Pay extra attention to door handles, the gas cap, around mirrors, and the trim - soap pools in those nooks and dries into spots if you miss them.
Don't let the car air dry - water spots are a pain to get rid of. Lay a large microfiber drying towel flat on a panel and pull it slowly toward you. The weave grabs the water without dragging across the paint. A leaf blower works great as a first pass to push standing water off, then towel-dry the rest.
Keep your drying towel separate from your wash and wheel towels. Treat it like a precious thing - one hard scrub on a dirty wheel and it's contaminated.
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Question 1 of 5
Where should you start washing the car?
Quick reference
5 questions, answers, and one-line explanations. Tap to expand.
1.Where should you start washing the car?
Answer: The wheels
Wheels are filthiest; cleaning them first means no transferring grit onto the paint later.
2.Why pre-rinse the entire car BEFORE any soap touches it?
Answer: To pull off surface dirt so the mitt doesn't drag grit across the paint
Skipping the pre-rinse is the easiest way to put swirl scratches in your paint.
3.What is the 'two-bucket method' for?
Answer: One bucket of soap, one of clean water for rinsing the mitt between dunks
The fresh-water bucket rinses dirt off the mitt so you don't grind grit back into the paint.
4.What stroke pattern should the wash mitt use on the paint?
Answer: Straight back-and-forth strokes
Circles are what create swirl marks visible under direct sunlight.
5.Why dry the car right away instead of letting it air-dry?
Answer: Water spots are a pain to get rid of once they set
Spots form where water dries on its own; a microfiber towel pulled flat across the panel avoids them.
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