Top Secrets from Professional Car Detailers

When it comes to ensuring your car looks great and retains its value, regular detailing is a must. Detailing ensures that both the interior and exterior of your car are kept in superb condition, which will make it far easier for you to sell the vehicle at some point in the future. Professional car detailing is not particularly cheap, however, and even if you want to keep your car in tip-top condition, you may not be able to afford to do it regularly. The good news is that the professionals have some great secrets that they are occasionally willing to share with consumers. Here are five of those secrets from our team at Sheehy Nissan of Mechanicsville.

Always use two buckets to wash. A bucket and cloth may seem like a very old-fashioned way to wash your car, but in most cases it is still the best way to get a great finish. Most commonly, however, people clean their cars with one bucket of water at a time. Use two buckets – one for the clean water and one for the clean suds. Before dipping your cloth or mitt into the clean suds, you can rinse it in the clean water and wring it dry. This prevents you from moving dirt off the car and simply wiping it back on again.

Detail the trim first. Car owners increasingly use a different range of products to get the best results. One popular product is a trim protector, which restores and protects the trim. Many drivers apply the trim protector then wax their car's paint work afterwards. This is because if not applied first, the trim protector can’t prevent wax and other cleaning products used on the paint work from staining the trim.

Invest in a clay bar. A clay bar is a simple, but very effective way to remove contaminants from your paint work without damaging the surface. Get a good spray lubricant, an 80-100 gram clay bar and a towel. Wash and dry the car, then rub the clay bar onto the surface to remove unwanted particles. The smoother the paint surface after being treated with the clay bar, the more effective any subsequent polish and or wax will be.

Check the paint work with a plastic bag. Before you apply any surface wax on your car's paint work, it is important to ensure that you have removed as many contaminants as possible. One way to do this is to use a thin plastic grocery bag. Place your hand inside the bag and then slowly run it over the surface of the car. The bag will exaggerate the feel of any bumps and imperfections, making it easier for you to prepare the surface further.

Dry the glass in two directions. When you clean and dry your car windows, you will probably detect streaks on the glass, and it can be difficult to work out whether they are on the inside or the outside. Dry your interior glass with horizontal wipes and your exterior glass with vertical wipes, and you will always know which side the streak is on.