Use nice microfibre cloth or something with similar softness for cleaning. Never use paper towel, Old T-shirt, Sponge and bathing towel on paint. Use nice microfibre cloth that absorbs water well. Even for cleaning of tire rims, use microfibre cloth with lubricant or wheel cleaner. Always snap out microfibre towel, to get any loose dirt, dust rocks out that may scratch paint. Never use dropped towel directly for cleaning. When you drop towel, it picks up small rock, dirt and debris that can scratch car paint.
Always Use two buckets for car cleaning. Make sure you use clean bucket. One bucket for soap water. It’s a clean bucket and another bucket is a rinse bucket. Fill rinse bucket with water all the way to top and rinse microfibre cloth in rinse bucket after cleaning that allows all unwanted dirt, dust, rocks to settle down in rinse bucket. Soap water bucket won’t get contaminated.
Cleaning in swirling motion: Pick a direction right to left and clean in that direction. If you clean car surface in swirling motion, you are more likely to scratch car surface at different angle.
Clean from top of the car to bottom of the car: Always start cleaning your car at the top and then finish cleaning at bottom. Use different microfibre towel for cleaning rims and car body, In order to prevent all dirt getting on the towel and scratching the whole car. All car’s bottom is lot more dirty than top. Quite obvious! All road grime, dirt and mud stick up bottom of the car.
Use Shampoo made car detailing: Always use automotive soap as these products are exclusively made for car cleaning. Automotive soap foams really well and provides lubrication while using microfibre cloth against car surface. These products are pH balanced hence they won’t strip out the wax coating. Kitchen soaps/hair shampoo are not pH balanced so they may damage clearcoat of car and also can strip out wax coating.
Car surface gets hot in direct sunlight. The water you are using to clean your car will get evaporate and leave water marks on car surface that looks ugly. Shampoo and other chemical being used for car cleaning and polishing are not made for hot surfaces. Because of these are two major reasons you should never clean your car in direct sunlight.
Use lubrication while cleaning car: Never use towel against dry surface of car. Make sure the towel you are using is completely covered in soap and water, so it provides proper lubrication and won’t scratch your car. If you notice bird dung spots on your car, never just wipe this off with a towel. Bird dung has acid in it which can break down paint and clearcoat. Always spray some lubricant and then wipe out.
Black car shows scratches very easily hence it is very difficult to clean a black car. Never use power washer while cleaning. Always check water pressure before using. If you put your hand in front of car washer if it hurts your hand then it’s is too much pressure for your car.
Never use any chemical on brake pedal, accelerator, gear knob and steering wheel that makes it slippery. This could make driving dangerous and potentially cause an accident.