Welcome to Consumer Report's Auto Test Center.
And we are here for the first ever American Suds Warrior
contest.
We've got three very dirty cars, three very willing contestants.
And we're going to find out who we crown as the American Suds
Warrior.
First off we have--
Jess.
Hey, Jess.
So, Jess, you wash cars all the time, right?
Only when I go through a car wash.
Ah, Jess.
This is not going to be good.
And here we have--
Miles.
And Miles, your car wash experience?
Once.
Oh no.
And finally we have the infamous Jack [? Rico. ?] Jack--
car wash experience?
Barely any.
But I could become a car wash guy.
So the truth is there's a lot more to it than you might
think.
You need to protect the car from corrosion and rust.
You need to make sure sensors are clean for your own safety.
So we're going to let you guys at it.
And we'll see who we're going to crown the American Suds
Warrior.
You each got a dirty car.
You got your hose.
You got a bucket of supplies.
These buckets have different types of supplies,
some better than others.
That's part of the challenge.
You got five minutes.
Ready, set suds.
Go, go, go.
They're all rinsing.
That's a good thing.
You want that grime off there first.
Nobody put the car soap in the bucket and kind of mixed it up
with the hose.
That's probably the best idea.
Come on, Jess.
Faster, Faster.
How do you think Miles is doing?
I'm a little worried.
There's a lot of dirt on his car.
Three minutes in, and nobody's even touched a tire.
Tires have a lot of dirt, brake dust.
Don't use the same cloth to clean your tires and wheels
that you're using on the paint and the body.
Come on, Jess.
Go, go, go.
Good job.
Yo, Jack's trying to kind of do too much,
maybe do one section at a time so it doesn't dry so much
in this hot sun.
Suds off, Miles.
Use a sponge.
Five, four, three, two, one, hoses down.
Nice, nice.
All right, we're going to start with Miles' car.
Miles rinsed first.
These cars were really dirty.
And you always want to rinse from the top down.
Make sure the bulk of the gunk gets on the ground first.
Miles-- one thing he did.
He chose a squeegee.
He kept it in his hand the whole time.
You don't want to set it down on the ground, pick it back up,
and then start washing again.
It probably has sand, grit, something else in it.
Now we're moving to Jack's car.
You can already see where the soap on Jack's car is drying
in the sun.
To help prevent that, wash in little sections at a time.
Many times, I saw this sponge go up and down off the ground.
If you drop your sponge, rinse it thoroughly.
Make sure you don't have that grit in your sponge.
OK, moving on to Jess' car.
She cleaned in swirls.
You don't actually want to go circles on your car.
It can create swirl marks.
Try to go with, kind of, the line, the body lines.
One thing Jess missed is there's a sensor here that she should
have cleaned up that's part of her parking and safety.
Always want to get those.
And then finally, you don't want to let the car air dry.
You get a lot of water spots.
Pick a shammy, a soft towel.
And get those water spots off.
So it looks beautiful, protected, and you're safe.
But now, the moment of truth.
Who would take home the heralded golden squeegee?
So, Jen, who won?
Looking at these cars, I have to say nobody.
But hopefully we've given you all the knowledge to do it
right the next time.
Come back for our next episode of American Suds Warriors.
American Suds Warriors is not an actual show.
Please do not contact your cable company for air dates
and times.
No cars were harmed in the making of this [? ad. ?]