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In this day and age, practically every adult owns a car. When automobiles first came to the attention of the public, there were few varieties to choose from. Now that we have had several decades to improve upon the automotive market, endless models and manufacturing companies have made an appearance on the market and cars are becoming increasingly a part of what makes each of us unique. A person’s car is an extension of their personality, and we should like to treat our cars with pride by using the best car cleaning supplies to keep them looking eye-catching and new.
Many people believe the only way to clean their car is to take it through a car wash and get the outside scrubbed and protected using an automated system. While this is a convenient way to wash the outside of one’s car, carwashes can be costly for the few minutes it takes to get them cleaned. There are ways one can get the same quality of cleanliness by purchasing one’s own car cleaning supplies that will last them far longer and save them money. The other aspect of cleaning one’s car most people forget to consider is that the inside should be cleaned as well.
We would like to share with you a few of the must-have essential car cleaning supplies we believe everyone should have to keep their car looking new and smelling fresh. We also have to share a few items we believe will make the car owners’ lives better. Every car owner should familiarize themselves with the many helpful car cleaning supplies out there on the market; think about a beat-up, dirty car you have seen on the road versus a nice, clean-kept car you noticed. Taking pride in one’s car says a lot about them as a person and lets others know you treat your possessions with dignity!
Our cars take us to work each day, to the store, to countless appointments, and we rely on them for so much whether we know it or not. It is about time we thanked them for their service to us by purchasing and using the best car cleaning supplies we can find!
Why Car Cleaning Is Important?
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It is endlessly important to clean not only the outside of your car but the inside as well. The outside of your car is what everyone else on the road will see, and as you most likely know, it says a lot about what kind of person you are and how carefully you take care of your personal items. What most people forget, though, is the inside of the car is just as important to clean as the outside. It may even be more important to you personally because the interior of it is where you spend most of your time in your car.
Everything from the windows to the seats should be thoroughly cleaned on a regular basis, and nearly all the items in the interior of your car require different materials to clean them with. Do not worry, though; we are here to help you decide what car cleaning supplies will benefit you the most!
It’s important to remember what aspects of your car require cleaning. Ideally, you would want to clean everything inside. This includes the windows, the dashboard, the center console, the seats in the front and back, the control panel behind the steering wheel, the steering wheel itself, and especially the floor. We may not realize it, but we are constantly carrying dirt, mud, and debris from the bottoms of our shoes to the carpet or rubber pads we have on the floors of our cars. The gas and brake pedals could probably also use a quick wipe-down and do not forget the flooring and sides of your trunk if you have one! All of this makes you realize all the car cleaning supplies you will need.
Tips On How To Clean Your Car The Right Way
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Since proper care for one’s car is so important, we decided to give you a few tips on how to clean properly your own car and have it look just like the day you bought it! Using the right car cleaning supplies will help with this process exponentially.
First, it may be your first instinct to break out the sponge and the bucket for hand-washing the exterior of your car. We highly encourage you not to use a sponge for many reasons, the most important being that a sponge can harm your paint job because of its tendency to hold on to grit and dirt. If you are dead-set on using a sponge, consider using multiple sponges so you can use one to get the nasty stuff off and use a different, clean one to wipe it down.
A wash mitt is an odd but a good idea for cleaning the exterior of one’s car. They may seem silly when you put them on, and you may not be too thrilled with the price, but they will last ten times longer than a sponge if you treat them properly and they hold much more liquid, so your soapy water goes further. They are also much more effective at helping move debris away from the surface of your car to reduce the chance of grit causing a scratch. There are many types of wash mitts to choose from, and for these purposes, we recommend either lamb’s wool or microfiber.
Having two buckets is simple car cleaning supplies and is a good idea so you can fill one with soap and the other with plain water. This way, when you scrub an area using the soapy bucket and your handy mitt or sponge, you can dunk your now-dirty weapon of choice into the plain water bucket and get the dirt and grime off of it. Make us a promise, though, and try to resist the urge to dump either of the buckets onto your car once you’re done with cleaning. It will just undo all your hard work!
Obviously, purchasing an appropriate soap for your car’s paint job is a must. Using dish soap could be potentially harmful and damaging to your car, so paying a few extra dollars for car soap will allow the product to last you longer and provide better end results. Before washing with soap, it is a good idea to remove all the dirt off the surface of the car with a hose or power washer first. Sometimes it is beneficial to do the soap stage of washing your car twice to ensure you got everything. After the soap, comes the waxing stage, another item in your car cleaning supplies list, and it is very important to make sure all traces of soap are completely removed before starting to wax, lest you do more harm than good.
You do not have to do the waxing stage of washing your car, but it is essential if you are interested in keeping rain and other liquids from staying on your car’s paint job. Waxing adds a protective layer and helps add to that shine we so desire to see after a thorough exterior washing. We have a few recommendations for affordable waxes that give you the finish you want at an affordable price, such as Victoria Wax, Chemical Guys, Poorboys, Meguiars, Autoglym, and Dodo juice, but there are many more options out there that do an equally good job.
If you can spare the expense and really care about getting a professional-looking finish on your car, a polishing machine could be a convenient way to go. While polishing machines can be potentially dangerous and a bad idea in irresponsible hands, the right machine with thorough-enough instructions will save a person hours of effort and will leave one with a much shinier car as a result. Polishing machines are all different, some attach to a drill, and others need a plug socket. Some are expensive, and some are cheaper.
As you can imagine, it is a situation of getting what you are willing to pay for, and since cars are so expensive these days, it is easy to justify spending more money for ample equipment that will last one a long time. Perhaps an aspect of cleaning one’s car on their own that most people tend to forget is investing in a good drying towel to wipe away as much of the water left on your car as you can before moving on to the waxing phase. It is helpful to think of it as treating your car like your hair. You would not want to leave the house with wet hair, would you?
Even though it seems an ideal thing to do, washing your car on a sunny or hot day is mostly a bad idea. The heat of the sun when it’s at its strongest will dry water quickly before you dry it with your towel and leave unsightly watermarks on the surface. Additionally, car wax and become harder to remove when the sun is beating mercilessly down on your car. Waiting until the end of the day or starting early will lessen these chances as well as finding someplace with ample shade while you go through the washing routine.
Another helpful piece of car cleaning supplies most people overlook is an alloy wheel cleaner. While car soap can remove a lot of dirt from your alloy wheels, stubborn grime from the roads may need extra effort. We recommend Autoglym Clean Wheels for this purpose as this product can make even the most neglected and dirty alloys look almost brand new. Always use these types of alloy cleaners with caution by testing them on small areas of your alloy to see if there are any alarming chemical reactions; we have found stronger cleaners to undo repair work done on alloys, and we don’t want that!
Tire dressing spray is another car cleaning supplies item you can use to fix up your tires and make them look brand new again (unless they are flat and bald in which case mere cleaners won’t help you!) Try to avoid getting it on your alloy wheels if you use tire dressing spray because these are different products and can do more harm than good if used incorrectly.
It is obviously important to purchase quality interior cleaners, and while a vacuum is an all-purpose weapon to get rid of all the pet hairs, debris, and dirt on the seats and floor of your car, there are countless other interior car cleaning supplies out there to make your life easier. We recommend simple disposable interior wipes such as Armor All. They come in containers similar to disposable disinfectant wipes and are highly affordable. They can be used for the doors, the seats (if they are leather), the center console, the rearview mirror, and especially the dashboard.
Armor All helps protect the interior of your car from sun damage and dust accumulation, but be warned: Armor All leaves a greasy residue that is not to be used for the steering wheel or the gas and brake pedals. Besides Armor All, there are countless other interior cleaning products out there. You should avoid silicon-based sprays because these can leave a slippery finish as well.
Overall, it is important to wash your car from top to bottom. When you start at the top of the car the water and soap will drip down onto other areas and save you much effort. We also recommend you start by cleaning your alloys first. When you wax, it should be on a panel by panel basis. This will ensure a systematic waxing so you will not end up doing some areas twice and leaving others abandoned.
The Car Cleaning Supplies You Need To Invest In
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There are so many categories of car cleaning supplies, and endless products you can buy to help make your life easier. There are shampoos, polishes, and waxes, sponges, buckets, and brushes, pressure washes and hoses, clay bars and detailing products, wheel, and tire cleaning products, car cleaning kits, interior cleaning products, and vacuums, and polishers and steam cleaners.
Some products we find essential to washing a car are wash mitts to protect the paintwork and still provide a thorough clean, wash buckets, microfiber cloths although you will need several of them, and wax such as Victoria Wax for a shiny finish that also protects the exterior of your car.
You will also need an excellent and reliable drying towel such as the Dodo Juice brand, a hose for thoroughly rinsing after the soap stage, leather treatment products such as the Chemical Guys brand for those who have leather interiors, and vacuums such as the G-Tech Multi car vacuum that is a small but powerful suction tool for getting rid of all crumbs inside your car.
A few car cleaning supplies that are not necessarily essential but will still make your life much easier are items such as Autoglym Clean Wheels (our recommended alloy wheel cleaner). It requires little effort as you only have to spray it on your alloy and wait a minute before wiping it off and reaping the benefits of all your brake dust and grime getting wiped away! A little product goes a long way with our recommended (although rather pricey) Victoria Wax Deep Cleanse that makes one’s finish shiny and eye-catching no matter the paint color.
The Karcher K5 is our recommended power washer because it has an excellent mix of features, such as being able to control easily the pressure of the water, that will make your life easier. Waterless shampoo is another potentially useful item for those who have no access to much water. Smart Polish Pro Waterless Wash and Wax is our product of choice under this category, and it provides a shiny finish and helps protect your paintwork after the wash. It is on the pricey side but a little goes a long way with this product, and we promise you will not be disappointed with the results you see every time.
As we mentioned earlier, polishing machines can be useful and save a lot of time removing the wax from their car by hand if one can spare the expense. Our product of choice is the DAS-6 Pro. This user-friendly product will take the stress out of learning how to use a polishing machine and will make you feel like a pro at one of the lowest costs out there! For those of you who have black cars, PoorBoys Black Hole is an excellent product to use. All one has to do is apply it using a soft foam applicator, wait for a time, then polish it out using a microfiber or polisher set to a low speed. This product really brings the shine out of sleek black vehicles!
Conclusion
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Cleaning and taking pride in your car is important, and we hope we have given you a few ideas to think about the next time you have to make the choice between overpaying for an automatic car wash and putting the effort into cleaning your car yourself. Not only can cleaning your car be a sense of accomplishment you can pride yourself in every time you look at the shine and eye-catching sparkle of your car, but seeking out the many products that can help you keep your car clean will prove to be a cost-effective task that will save you lots of money in the long-run!
We hope our guide on some of the best car cleaning supplies has given you some insight on the importance of keeping your car clean on the inside and out, and we also hope our advice on what products to use as well as the proper way to clean your car helps the process seem much less daunting or expensive. Thank you for reading our advice, and check out a few of the items we mentioned above to start cleaning your car today!