Auto Detailing Mistakes You Should Avoid

Detailing your vehicle is a great way to give it some love and affection. Not only does detailing clean up the interior and exterior, it’s also an opportunity to focus on the little things that might be overlooked in a more general cleaning. It’s the equivalent to giving your car your undivided attention to make sure all of its cosmetic needs are met.

There’s a lot more to auto detailing in Walnut, CA than just a wash, wax and vacuum, however. With a more granular level of care comes more opportunities for you to bring harm to your vehicle. While you might think you’re delivering a better level of care, you might actually be making things worse!

Let’s run through a few of the most important mistakes to avoid when detailing your car and why these problems usually tend to occur:

• Never wash or wax in direct sunlight: This is a major mistake that many DIY detailers make. It’s a nice, bright, sunny day, so you decide to pull the car in the driveway for a wash and wax. The problem is that the sun will bake water spots onto your car and causes the wax to exemplify them. It’s a bad look that’s not great for your clear coat.
• Don’t pour and polish: Polish should be applied to the buffer or towel you’re using to apply it, never poured directly onto the surface of your vehicle. This will result in a streaky, uneven finish as the polish begins to set on the surface while you’re busy trying to rub it out.
• Stay away from ammonia: Some glass cleaners and other interior cleaning products have ammonia in them. Use cleaners without this abrasive! Ammonia can cause discoloring and damage to upholstery and other dash materials, and leaves behind a distinct smell that’s rather unpleasant.
• Rely on microfiber towels: Microfiber towels are the smart way to pamper your car because the fibers are too small to cause any damage to the clear coat or dash. Chamois cloths may be the favorite cleaning tools of detailers, but they can actually grind dirt and other particles into your freshly waxed car. The nap of microfiber cloths will absorb leftovers instead of grinding them in.
• Never use dish soap: Dish soap may seem gentle enough to use on your car’s exterior, but it’s actually designed to strip away grease and wax, which can leave your façade vulnerable. Instead, use specially formulated automotive soaps that clean without stripping.
• Stay away from petrochemicals when cleaning wheels: Shiny tires are a staple of a freshly detailed vehicle. But, before you spray on any old tire protectant, stop and check the label. If it’s solvent-based or contains petrochemicals, skip it and move to something gentler. These products can actually affect the integrity of your tires.

Keep these tips in mind and you’ll be well on your way to giving your car the TLC it needs to look great through auto detailing in Walnut, CA. It’s better to do the job right and increase the longevity of your vehicle than to do the job quickly just to make it look great temporarily.

Categorised in: Auto Detailing

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