June 27th, 2023 by Shauna Hammond

The way you maintain your car can make or break its overall performance. A clean car is not only an attractive vehicle, but also one that will last longer and require fewer repairs. If you want to keep your vehicle looking good and running smoothly, then we recommend following these tips for giving your car the ultimate deep clean.

General Tips

Let’s start off with some general tips about the best practices to consider when cleaning your car before we go into more detail about cleaning the different areas of your car;

Always ensure you have the right products

Before beginning make sure you have all the necessary products, if you are serious about taking care of your car and want to do everything in your ability to maintain your vehicle then this will require a wide range of products – and not all of these will need to be used every wash, so it’s important to know what you are planning to do and to ensure you have all the suitable products. For example, if this is a standard clean make sure you have all your polishes, shampoos and tyre car products. Or if you are looking to deeper clean and protect your car for the changing seasons then ensure you have the necessary products such as tar remover for summer or iron fallout remover if you’re taking special care of your tyres.

Clean in the right weather

The weather can impact how effectively you can clean your car and how well products will work so be sure to plan carefully when you should be washing your car depending on the season. For the summer, clean your car early in the morning before the temperature rises too high or in the evening when the weather has cooled – always check the temperature of your vehicle, as you may know, the paintwork of your car can get extremely hot when left to bake in the sun. If you were to go and place snow foam, shampoo or wax while the paintwork is hot it will simply melt or will not rinse correctly leaving soap and streak marks which means you will need to re-clean the whole vehicle again making your job much harder than necessary. The same logic applies to winter, when the temperature is too low the products will not work correctly, and you also risk damaging windows and paintwork if you apply hot/warm water to the cold surface.

Make sure your cloths are clean  

This may be a given but be sure you are using a clean cloth for taking care of your vehicle, after all a dirty cloth can’t remove dirt! It is also good practice to have multiple cloths for different jobs so that the products are not interrupting one and another and to prevent using a dirty cloth on a freshly cleaned area.

Pay attention to the finer details

Pay attention to all the fine details, such as crevices and nooks in the interior that can be overlooked – there are a lot of them and dust and dirt can quickly build up in them especially if they are not regularly cleaned, this can lead to poor air quality or even bad odours forming in the interior of your vehicle. As for the exterior its important to take care to clean each area thoroughly, if you can only what you can see at an initial glance you risk overlooking some important areas of your vehicle that can lead to costly damage such as rust and corrosion developing.

Start with Interior

It is good practice to start with the interior of your vehicle first before then moving to the exterior. While working on the exterior you should also work for the top down to prevent dirty water from running down areas of your car you have just cleaned.

Cleaning the Interior

Let’s start with the interior first, there is a lot to do inside the car especially if you use it frequently or if you often have children who like snacking in the car or transporting pets around from muddy walks!

Clean the Dashboard and Hard Surfaces

The dashboard and hard surfaces in our cars can become a magnet for dust and dirt, so using a soft clean micro fibre cloth and a suitable surface polish cleans the area by ensuring to get into all the crevices, and buffing away and streaks that may affect the visibility of the dashboard display.

Clean Compartments and Air Vents

While cleaning the dashboard and other hard surfaces in your car, don’t forget to check all those easily overlooked compartments such as the door storage areas and the glove boxes that can fast get filled with rubbish or other bits and pieces. Get rid of anything that isn’t needed and vacuum and polish these surfaces. Don’t forget to also pay special attention to the air vents, dust and debris build up in the vents and if not cleaned correctly this can result in poorer air quality in your car this can exacerbate conditions such as asthma, hay fever or dust allergies too.  

Clean the Windows and Seals

Use two separate cloths to clean the window, one for applying a window or glass cleaning product – clean in circular motions to reduce the number of streaks and to remove any fingerprints or other marks before using a dry cloth to then buff away any remaining marks. Make sure to clean the seals – you can open your windows to make this easier. It’s easy to miss this area however dirt and water from condensation can gather in the seals which if not cleaned away can cause the seals to deteriorate quicker and may also lead to mould developing.

Clean Upholstery

The upholstery is most likely the dirtiest part of your vehicle’s interior so you should pay special attention to cleaning it to void stains, damage or bad odour. Use a vacuum to remove dust and dirt using the nozzle to get into every crease of the fabric. Once you have vacuumed use an upholstery cleaner and a soft-bristled brush to clean the carpets, seats and car mats. This will remove any ground in dirt that the vacuum was not able to remove as well as remove odours and leave your interiors looking like new and smelling fresh and fragrant. If you have leather seats in your car then be sure to you a leather cleaner to remove any dirt and protect it from wear and tear.

Cleaning the Exterior

Once you have the interior looking like new, it’s time to move on to the exterior of your vehicle. The cleaning needs of your exterior can change throughout the season and there are a few additional steps that should be included every now and then which is why it is important to plan what you want to do before starting so you can ensure you have all the right products.

Clean the paintwork

Perhaps the main part of your car care routine will be taking care of the paintwork this is where the most noticeable dirt will be, especially if you have a light-coloured vehicle. The products you use to clean your vehicles paintwork largely fall down to preference however here at Cleenly for a deep clean we recommend starting your wash using a snow foam pre-wash, this will help to remove stubborn dirt and will reduce the risk of damage from your follow up contact wash. Once the snow foam has been removed then follow up with your regular contact wash using a soft micro fibre cloth to remove any remaining dirt and to buff your vehicle’s paintwork to a high shine finish.

During certain seasons your cars are more susceptible to certain kinds of dirt and contaminants so you may need to include additional steps to your paintwork care during this period. For example, during the summer when the roads heat up you may notice that your car has dark spots of tar. This is incredibly difficult to remove once cooled and forcing it away from the surface will only serve to tire you out and damage your paintwork – this is why it is recommended to include a tar remover in your cleaning routine during the summer months. Likewise, during winter when the roads are regularly gritted this can cause a build-up of salt on the body of your vehicle, if left to dwell for too long this can lead to rusting and corrosion – so it is recommended to deep clean your car more frequently during the colder months.

5L Cleenly Cherry Snow Foam

Price: £17.95

Buy Now

Clean the Undercarriage

The undercarriage is easy to overlook, it’s out of sight and unless you plan on crawling under your car getting to it in order to clean it can be quite tricky in the first place so it’s understandable how this can be tempting to just not clean this area. However, it is highly recommended to invest in a chassis cleaner attachment for your pressure washer these low-profile wheeled attachments make it easy to slide under the vehicle while the powerful jets will break down and remove dirt with ease. While not cleaning your undercarriage will not have any immediate effects, over time the dirt, mud and salt will build up leading to corrosion and rust – which can in turn lead to a breakdown in your vehicle and some very costly repairs – so why take the risk?

Clean the Tyres and Rims

Your tyre also requires special attention, there are a lot of places for dirt to hide and while rinsing with the pressure washer can remove a large quantity of the dirt, you can count on some being left behind. This is why you should be sure your car cleaning kit includes products specifically designed for taking care of your tyres. Once you have applied your alloy cleaner you should use a soft bristle brush to agitate and stubborn areas of dirt before then rinsing away the product. You should also be including an iron fallout remover in your tyre care routine too – this should be used at a minimum twice a year and is key to maintaining the appearance and longevity of your alloys. Iron fallout is caused by iron shrapnel from the brake pads, these small particles become very hot and attach themselves to your alloys, once cooled they essentially weld to the material making them incredibly difficult to remove, they can cause discolouration and in worst-case scenarios rusting and corrosion if left untreated. Normal cleaners will not remove these pieces of shrapnel which is why an iron fallout remover is required as it will dissolve the bond making it possible to then wipe them away and return your alloys to their former glory.

5L Cleenly Extreme Iron Fallout Remover

Price: £25.19

Buy Now

Add Finish Touches

Once everything has been cleaned up and you have your car looking like new, it’s time to add those finishing touches. A nice new air freshener for the interior to keep it smelling fresh and a coat of wax for the exterior will protect against dust, scratching and watermarks keeping your car looking its best for longer between washes!

We hope that this article has helped you understand the importance of car detailing and how to go about it. If you want your car to keep looking its best and performing its best for years to come. After all, cars are a big investment and you don’t want to spend large amounts of money on cosmetic repairs when they can be easily prevented!