AARP Smart Guide to Cleaning Your Car

15. Care for the trim

The plastic trim pieces inside your car need care and protection to prevent fading, cracking and decomposing. Tran recommends a water- or silicone-based solution  and says petroleum-based products “typically dry out trim, and they're really streaky and don't leave a nice finish.” To minimize ozone and UV light damage, choose the proper type of solution to clean plastic trim. 

16. Invest in vacuum attachments

Most professional detailers recommend using a shop vac to remove dirt and debris from the interior of your vehicle. Whatever type of vacuum — larger or handheld — that you use, Tran says it’s important to invest in the proper attachments. “Look for a crevice tip,” she says. “A crevice tip is going to help with detailing because you can get into the tight corners in between the seats, you can get underneath the seats, you can get into the cupholders. The tip of the vacuum is kind of what makes it a detailing specialty.”

17. The devil is in the detailing

“You definitely need detailing brushes. That is one thing I wouldn't skimp on,” Tran says. Natural bristle brushes, used dry, can be implemented throughout the interior to remove dirt from vents, seams, between buttons and in crevices around the steering wheel, cupholders and other equipment. “We’ll just take that brush and just go in there and dust,” she says. “That cleans it up big-time to the point where all I need to do now is just take a damp towel with my interior cleaner and wipe right up to get in between all those buttons and such.” Yisharry Li makes a good budget five-piece set. Chemical Guys’ three-piece set is professional grade. Proper Detailing lands right in the middle.

18. Be gentle with the headliner

The headliner is the material that covers the ceiling of your car’s interior. It is usually made of fabric but can be leather. “If you want to clean the headliner, spray onto the microfiber cloth first, then blot and dab and do very light scrubbing,” Tran says. This delicate treatment is rooted in the area’s general fragility. “You don’t want to put too much force when you’re scrubbing the headliner, because all these are glued on, so if you scrub too hard, you’re kind of starting to detach the headliner from the roof.” Spraying product directly onto the headliner can have a similar effect, according to Tran, saturating and delaminating the glue that holds it in place.

19. Glass cleaning calls for new gloves

The windows and windshields can be difficult areas to clean because they will display any imperfection. “The Achilles’ heel to detailing is glass, because you can’t make any mistake because you see through it, literally,” Kosilla says. To avoid contamination from oils or dirt or anything else you may have picked up while cleaning, he recommends donning a fresh pair of gloves before starting the glass.

20. For glass, water works best

“The best way for a streak-free finish is to use water,” Tran says, because glass heats up outside, and if it’s warm when you're using a window cleaner, the heat will evaporate the water out of it. “So it’s not giving the solvent time to do its job, and the solvents are leaving a chemical trail on there,” she says. A damp microfiber cloth, and another for drying, should do the trick most of the time.

21. Reaching the interior windshield

To get the best access to the front interior windshield, Kosilla recommends working  from the passenger side. This way, he says, “you don’t have the steering wheel in front of you to limit access to it.” If you’re right-handed, he recommends placing your left hand on the passenger side seat, providing pressure and the ability for your right hand to lie flat against the glass. Again, a damp microfiber towel will do the trick.

22. Remove stubborn pet hair 

Removing pet hair can be difficult, even with a vacuum or brush. Tran recommends a rubber squeegee blade or roller. “The rubber just attaches itself to the hair based on a molecular charge, and it's a little bit sticky,” she says. “So the rubber brushes help remove hair better.” Uproot makes a quality set. SM Arnold makes a budget version. Chemical Guys has a midrange option.

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CLEANING THE EXTERIOR

23. Start with a top-down rinse

Once you begin washing the rest of your car, remove as much dirt as possible with a top-down initial rinse. Use a power washing tool or your garden hose’s jet on its strongest setting. “This is when you want to knock off as much dirt and debris as you can so that when you go for the wash, you’re not dragging dirt all over the paint,” Tran says.

24. Check under the hood

The area under the hood of your car needs care and cleaning to stay free of debris buildup. Even small leaves or pine needles can hold moisture and cause corrosion, prevent the proper functioning of airflow into or inside your vehicle, and provide nesting areas for insects. In newer cars, Kosilla recommends using a power washer, though in older cars, he says to simply “take a damp towel and wipe down the engine real quick.” He adds, “This is also the point where I usually check the air filter and just make sure everything is functioning.”

25. Focus on lubrication

Don’t attempt to remove a stain or scratch by furiously wiping. Kosilla says that any scrubbing motion on your car’s exterior, in the absence of proper lubrication, can lead to further damage. Lubrication makes the process of cleaning easier and smoother. “Lubrication is the number one mistake that most people make. They don’t have enough lubrication,” Kosilla says. “It's like running an engine with no oil. Agitation just has to be lubricated.”

26. Use straight lines

If you wash the exterior of your car using circular movements, you risk creating swirls or rounded scratches in your paint, and these are much more noticeable, as well as difficult to remove or correct. “The old days of the Karate Kid ‘wax on/wax off’ is actually terrible for your paint. So don’t do that,” Tran says, referencing the round motions favored by sensei Mr. Miyagi in the 1984 film. This goes for removing water, too. “When it comes to drying the car,” Tran says, “grab a good microfiber drying towel and dry again in straight lines.”

27. Start with the wheels 

It is common practice to start at the top of the car and work your way down, so the dirt flows with gravity. But there is an exception to that rule. “Start with the wheels first,” Tran says. “That’s the dirtiest part of the car. And so if you wait [until you finish the exterior to wash them], a lot of that dirt is going to splash back on to the car in the wash process,” she says. “But if you do the wheels first, and then wash the car, even if all the dirty, soapy water from the car is going to get on the wheels, once they’re clean, all you have to do is rinse.”

28. Avoid acid 

Many wheel cleaners contain acids. These can be very effective for removing stubborn stains, but they pose great risks. According to Tran, they should be used only by professionals who are familiar with their capabilities. “My biggest advice is get an all-in-one wheel cleaner, a nonacid wheel and tire cleaner,” she says. “Acid-based wheel cleaners can work really, really well; however, you can mess up the wheel pretty quickly. ” 

29. Use a wheel cleaning mitt

Tran says many contemporary wheels are delicate and need extra care. “A lot of wheels these days are also clear coated, just like your paint, so they can swirl and scratch,” if you don’t clean carefully. This is especially true, she says, “if you have shiny gloss black wheels.” To protect your rims, she recommends purchasing a microfiber wheel cleaning mitt. Chemical Guys, Griot’s Garage and Autoglym, among other brands, all have quality products. “It sits over your hand like a little glove,” she says, making it easier to poke into all the little nooks and crannies.” As with cleaning other parts of your car, she reminds washers to clean in straight lines.

30. Consider tire gloss

After you finish the wheels, for a professional look, Tran recommends that you scrub down your tires as well. Then feel free to apply some tire gloss, of your choice. “If you don't have a properly clean tire, whatever tire shine you put on there, it's not going to look that great,” she says. She recommends a matte finish. “Nobody really likes the super glossy tires anymore,” she says. “But it’s still important to put on because these contain conditioners and inhibitors in them, like dust repellent. So it keeps your tires healthier for longer.” 

31. Bugs begone

If you have squished bugs in the grille or front bumper of your car, a special bug remover treatment will help get rid of them without excessive or potentially damaging scrubbing. “The way those work is, after you rinse the car off, I would say spray the bug treatment onto the grille and then save that panel for last when it comes to the washing part,” Tran says. “That way, you don't introduce too many bugs into your process.” McKee’s is the gold standard. 3D is a midrange choice. Meguiar’s is a budget option. 

32. Choose the proper soap

A car washing soap should be properly pH balanced — not too alkaline and not too basic. “It should be advertised on the label itself and say it’s neutral for the car,” Tran says. “And the reason is, if it’s a super alkaline soap, over time, it can build up a residue and it can oxidize on your car and it can damage the paint. And if you get a super acidic car soap, then it’s very harsh on your paint, and it could eat away at the clear coat.” Car and Driver, Motor1 and Autoblog all provide expert product guides to help you choose one.

33. Try the single-bucket method

A two-bucket method — one for soap and one for rinsing — has long been recommended for washing the exterior of a car. But Kosilla advocates for using only one bucket of soapy water for the exterior. “You get five or six clean microfiber towels,” Kosilla says, and “you put them in a bucket. You put in a very, very, very, very lubricated car cleaning product, not dish soap.” Remove a soapy towel from the bucket, but never rinse it out or return it to the bucket. “Once that towel comes out, that’s it. It is never going back in the bucket,” Kosilla says. Set it aside to start a pile you will put through the wash. “This way you are not reintroducing junk into the clean wash water bucket,” Kosilla says. “If you just eliminate contamination or the cross contamination potential, you just eliminate all your scratches. It’s a no-brainer.”

34. Fold as you go

Fold your towel in quarters, and as a quadrant of your towel gets dirty, turn it to a new, clean fold. “You’re going to go until that whole entire towel becomes soiled, which will happen,” Kosilla says. “You’ll probably go through three or four towels. Maybe six or seven if your car is very dirty.”

35. Lather, rinse and dry

If you have the stamina, and it’s not so hot outside that the soap is drying on the surface of the car, you should be able to continue drawing soapy microfiber towels out of your bucket, folding and unfolding as you use them, until the entire car is sudsed up. Then rinse the soap and wait until the water coming off the car runs clear. It’s time to remove the water in preparation for the next stage. “Wash the whole car. Then you can rinse the whole car. And then you can dry the whole car at once with a good microfiber,” Tran says. She suggests using large microfiber drying towels for this stage.

36. Avoid friction when drying

Counterintuitively, even getting the water off your car should be accomplished in a way that avoids friction. “Any time you touch the car, you should have lubrication,” Kosilla says. He recommends something he calls a drying lubricant. “Get your microfiber towel wet, and then you wring it out. Then you spray drying lubricant on it.” Clean Garage has a list of products that can help.

37. Prevent water marks

Difficult-to-towel-out areas such as your side view mirror housings, your body-side moldings, your license plate holster and even the gaskets around your headlights can hold drops of water that, if you do not remove, can slosh out and create drip marks on your perfectly clean paint. If you want to avoid these, Kosilla recommends purchasing a small, portable, combination vacuum/blower to get the water out, then drying the areas with a lubricated towel. “Air blowers can blow the water out of the crevices,” he says. “I encourage that.”

38. Seal the deal

According to Tran, the days of traditional car wax — typically natural carnauba wax — are over. Instead, she recommends applying a car sealant or car paint sealant, which is a tougher, longer-lasting synthetic product, two to four times a year. Car and Driver offers a list of these products. “I would definitely recommend sealing your car every three to six months,” Tran says. “And if you get a spray sealant, it takes five minutes to apply, and it can last you six months, easily.” Read the instructions before selecting a sealant, and choose one that is relatively easy to apply and doesn’t require a separate buffing or polishing tool. Tran’s favorites are those that can just be sprayed on and wiped off. Once the car is clean, grab a good microfiber towel, and do a quick pass back and forth, misting the panel. “Then spray one mist onto your towel,” she says, “and then wipe in straight lines.”

39. Beware of brake dust

Your car’s brakes work by squeezing metal pads against a metal rotor. The friction between these surfaces causes the release of dust, which consists of fine shards of metal. These shards can, if they’re picked up on a towel or your gloves, scratch surfaces of your car. This is another reason to keep your wheel towels separate from other towels and to take care of your wheels first, to eliminate the chance of this dust entering the closed-loop system of your car cleaning. “If you go up and you wipe your clean car with a brake towel, you just cross-contaminated, and all your work is out the window,” Kosilla says.

40. Getting in at the ground level

If you live in a region where it rains or snows frequently, it’s more important to clean the underside of your car regularly. Caked-on dirt can trap water and clog drains and cause corrosion, as can salts used to help keep roads free of ice. If you don’t have an undercar power washing tool, Kosilla has an easy fix. “You can just take a garden hose, duct-tape it to a broomstick, and then lock on your garden sprayer and just hold it under there,” he says. “Take it up and down under the car, and you can make a little makeshift undercarriage wash.”

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MAINTENANCE BETWEEN CLEANINGS

41. Don’t delay, clean up right away

The car is a unique environment, a typically closed system that is subject to extremes of temperature, so stay on top of spills and other problems. “You don't want to let things linger,” Forté says. She recommends keeping an enzyme-based stain cleaner or remover on hand in the vehicle, in case spills happen, to help eliminate bacteria. (Pull over to a safe spot before using it.) “If you don’t get rid of that bacteria, over time, even if you feel like you cleaned it, it can keep coming back, especially when it’s hot and humid inside the car.”  

42. Click your heels together

Your shoes pick up all manner of detritus, so to avoid trailing excess dirt and mud into your car, Kosilla suggests a simple trick. “When I get into the car, but before my feet have entered the car yet, I tap my feet together to get any stuff off of them,” he says. “It takes probably less than a second for me to do that. And I just knocked off a chunk of stuff I don’t have to carry into the car.”

43. Control the clutter

Keep your car tidy and organized between major cleanings, Forté says. “Make sure you’ve got a trash container in the car. It helps contain some of the mess,” she says. “Keep things like a pet hair removal tool in the glove compartment, or even some cleaning wipes in the glove compartment to take care of sticky residues on your steering wheel or on the door handles or anything like that. And certainly, if groceries fall over, or kids drop a milkshake, that needs to be tackled right away.”

44. Stay organized

Forté recommends using bins and other containers to keep organized. “Put things like reusable shopping bags in a plastic bin in the back, so they’re neat and they’re not just thrown all over the floor.” She adds, “If you keep everything neat and organized, it’ll look cleaner, and you’ll be able to remove it more easily when it is time to clean it.”

45. Consider upgrading to a ceramic coating

Tran recommends professionally applied and highly durable ceramic coatings, which can last two to five years. “It's silica mixed in with some carrier resins,” she says. “It is essentially like adding another layer of clear coat to your car [the shiny, transparent layer of gloss over your paint job] as a sacrificial layer that’s going to take the brunt of the damage from the sun or swirling from car washes and such,” she says. These coatings can be costly. Her shop charges $1,200 to $2,000, depending on the durability of the coating and the size and paint of the vehicle.