Top 6 Car Cleaning Tips From The Pros

If you want your car to retain its value, you have to take care of it. You’re in a losing battle; the moment the wheels on your new car leave the dealership, it drops in value. The best bet is to buy used, and upgrade. That said, you can keep a new car near market value through a few careful cleaning techniques. Following we’ll briefly cover six that the pros recommend.

1. Get It Detailed Once A Year

At least once a year you should pay $100 or so to get your car detailed. The more regularly you do it, the less the detailing cost is likely to be; though this depends on the size of your vehicle, and the detailer. At any rate, value is retained this way; as is that “new car” look. Detailing also helps you keep your vehicular premises clean.

2. Regularity In Cleaning

Beyond detailing, be sure you clean your vehicle regularly. Make a habit of it. On Monday or Friday when the work week starts or stops, just clean out all the garbage and throw it away. Cups, wrappers, cigarette butts, clothes—whatever gets into your vehicle every week, reset it before the next one starts.

3. Steam Car Washing

You should wash your car at least twice a month. Doing so once a week is even better. Still, a person doesn’t always have time for that kind of thing. A better option may be getting it steam cleaned at intervals.

Granted, you’ll always have to re-wash your vehicle; but steam cleaning will produce better results than traditional washes. If you don’t know where to turn, one quality purveyor of steam car washing is Fortador USA.

4. A Ceramic Application

Ceramic polymers can be applied which will make your vehicle more resistant to dust and debris. These don’t make your vehicle unilaterally impervious, but they will keep it having that new “shine” longer, and for less effort on your part. That said, it’s integral you apply the ceramic coat correctly—here’s some information on how to do that.

5. Windshield/Seat Covers, Leather Care, Vacuuming, Scents

The heat of the sun is exacerbated by your windshield. If you don’t have a windshield cover, it’s going to shine through and heat your vehicle. This heat will wrinkle and crack leather seats. To protect them, do two things. One, get seat covers. Two, get windshield covers that block out the light. Three, use leather treatment on leather surfaces whenever you clean.

Beyond that, be sure to vacuum your car at intervals. Bits of sand are what tear up the carpet. Gravel has a “sand” element—that’s the dust that’s kicked up; pulverized chunks of rock that are now almost microscopic. When you vacuum, you remove those bits of rock and save the carpet.

Lastly, use scents like “new car smell” or “wintergreen”. These make the vehicle more pleasant, and subconsciously impel you to keep things clean. When the good smell goes, then the odor of the car at “base” value returns, and you realize you need to clean again.

6. Car Wash Options Are Good; But Wash At Home, Too

If you’re going to put on a layer of protective ceramic, you’ll want to hand-wash your car using the two-bucket method. This is best done at home; especially because you can leave the cleaned vehicle “indoors” via garage until after your new ceramic coat has dried. So while drive-thru car washes are great, carve out some time to wash the car at home, too.

A New Car Shine That Sticks Around

If you want your new car’s shine to stick around, wash it with regularity, clean it inside and out, consider ceramics and steam washes, be regular in how you clean it, and get the vehicle detailed at least once a year. Such tactics will maximize vehicular value and look.