Top tips for a clean machine

Plenty of elbow grease will soon have your car looking great. Photo / Dannevirke News

Winter is the time car cleaning comes into its own as the rain, road dirt, grime and in some cases salt grit can play havoc with paintwork. Keeping your car clean will not only keep your vehicle in tip-top condition but also help its resale value.

We all know what it's like to wander around a new car showroom and see how good the cars on display look. It is possible to recreate that look, or very close to it, at home with a bit of elbow grease and care and attention.

Be aware though, that over-zealous cleaning, cutting and polishing can actually wear away the protective coating all cars come with these days, and in some cases cause the paintwork to deteriorate prematurely. The finishes on cars today do require a bit more care and attention than the paints of bygone years. If you give the finish the right type of care you'll be able to retain that new car look for many years.

Colours eventually fade over time. Road chemicals, dirt sunlight, impacted insect, and especially bird excrement, will all accelerate the ageing process.

The easiest way to halt the fading process is to keep the car clean. Wash it regularly with car-specific detergents, not household detergents that strip all the protective polishes from the paintwork. Try and avoid using a carwash too much as over time the brushes can scratch the surface of the paint.

After washing the car, give it a polish. Not only will the car look better, but also the wax in the polish leaves a protective wax behind on the paint surface.

Make sure you wash the car in the shade, as sunshine, especially in summer, will dry the detergents out, quickly forming a residue that can reduce the gloss of the paint. Hose off any dirt or large lumps of mud etc before you take to the paintwork with a brush or cloth. If you start rubbing down the car with dirt and dust on it, the particles act like sandpaper and create hundreds of minute scratches, which again will dull the shine.

Rinsing the car first will also reduce the temperature of the body panels thus extending the time that the water or car wash remains pliable. Always make sure you pay particular attention to areas of bird excrement and insect strike as the various acids in these spots will etch into the car bodywork.

If there are tar or oil marks on the car, get a specific product from an automotive outlet to remove it rather than scrubbing away with car shampoo. On that note, only use a shampoo that is designed to clean cars - do not use kitchen or bathroom products as they normally contain abrasives or chemicals designed to remove baked-on grease, grime or body fats. They will easily strip away the paint's protective coating.

Have two buckets of water with you. There is no point in rinsing the sponge or cleaning mitt out in the same bucket you're trying to clean the car with. All that will be happening is the dirt and grime from the dirty paintwork is being mixed with the shampoo. Rinse the sponge out in the clean water before dipping it back into the shampoo bucket. This means every time you apply the wash to the paintwork it's clean and fresh.

Clean the car in sections starting with the highest parts first working down to the lowest parts. This means as you rinse each section the runoff flows over the un-cleaned parts and leaves no residue on the cleaned areas. When you're finished, dry the vehicle with a chamois.

Do not forget to clean the wheel wells with a steam cleaner if you have one, or at least a high-pressured hose. Don't forget to have a go at the windscreen with a special glass cleaner to ensure all road residue is removed. This reduces the chance of smearing when it rains.

Always remember when driving off after a clean that the brakes might still be wet, or at the very least damp, and will take a bit of time to dry out and return to maximum performance.