With all the pollen out there,
a lot of us are heading
out to car washes often.
Some people opt to do it at home.
The important thing to know is that
we can all wash our cars like a pro
to give you all the tricks we've got.
Consumer Reports,
car expert Mike Quincy with us,
he's sharing the DOS and the don'ts
of car washing and the right way
to do it all with you today so
you can text him your questions.
Here's how you text that question.
The number is
336-379-5775. When you get your question
answered here on the spot you know Mike,
I've got some folks here at work who are
like just obsessed with washing their car,
and I kind of am on the other spectrum.
If it rains, I feel like that's enough.
It's probably not enough, is it?
No, not quite OK. Especially as as
you introduce this that this topic.
There's all this pollen and all this
stuff that's coming up the trees.
And for people that live where
they've got pine trees, I don't.
They probably have a few pine
trees in North Carolina, right?
So so some of that's gonna fall in your car.
So definitely take the time and do a
thorough washing and the first step
is one of the most important and
that's you want to give your car a
thorough rensing down with the hose.
You're not even applying the
soap and the sponge yet.
You're just kind of rinsing
off the debris to begin with.
OK, and I see that and the first
thing that was on that graphic was
don't wash your car when it's hot.
That's what it it.
It definitely not in direct sunlight.
The direct sunlight is when you start
washing it that the heat and the sun is
gonna dry up the water really quickly.
You get all these water spots on on your car,
so you definitely don't want to do it when
it's super hot or in the direct sunlight.
That might mean doing it first thing in
the morning and definitely in the shade.
OK, all right. So you want to
wash it all down first with just
water and then you do the whole
soap thing and whatever else.
So I grew up using like dish soap.
That's what people use.
To wash their car, what are the
real dos and don'ts for that?
Well, you know Don may be great for your
dishes, but it's not great for your car.
You wanna get a dedicated car wash soap
that's specifically designed for car paint.
It's not gonna ruin your car's clear
coat or some wax that you might
have put on it the previous season.
And I know, and I know,
certainly here in the Northeast you
wanna make sure you you do a good job.
Also rensing the undercarriage of your car.
A lot of rust can form underneath your
carts and always always on the surface.
It can be in your chassis and whatnot.
So you make sure you get that
hose way down underneath your car
and do the undercarriage as well.
Yeah, I know. We talked about that
a lot after we've had like a snow,
and there's been salt on the
roads and things of that nature.
OK, so now that you've washed the car
and you've washed it with the stuff
that you're supposed to wash it with,
not the stuff that we all
grew up washing it with.
What is the most effective
way to dry your car?
Well, you definitely want to get a dedicated
shammy or really soft Terry towel.
I know in in in my house my in
my garage we have like dedicated
equipment we only use for car
washing and that's its own bucket.
It's owns a specific car sponge
and we had definitely have our own
car shammies shammies really good
because it soaks up a lot of water.
It's easy to rinse out and you just
keep using it over and over but but
don't go don't go short on these things.
Have extra towels and shammies on hand
just in case they get it get super.
I mean, the last thing you want to do
is if you miss a section of your car
from washing and there's some dirt there.
You last thing you want to do is take
the shammy or a towel and like rub the
grit and dirt back into the paint.
So so definitely you know like like
swap out your shammies and towels
as much as you can.
OK now this is something it's kind of funny.
Like we all do the wash on wax
off thing or whatever else,
but most of us do probably like wash
like in a circle and you say that's
probably not the best way to do
it. Right? Because when you when you when
you when you wash in a circle you might
get these swirling marks in your paint.
It's better to go across.
Like I'm like this this great
visual that I'm giving, yeah.
For those at Home watch watch Mike
do his hand across the screen,
yeah, because that that is a better,
more efficient way to to keep
your cars surfaced from getting
getting those swirl marks.
OK, of course someone's asking
what's the best cloth to clean your
car to keep from having scratches.
And you say the shammy?
Yes, definitely a shammy.
There's also specific gloves that you
can use to sponge the car down also.
Again, we have a dedicated sponge
that's only used in your car.
And again you want to make
sure you keep checking it.
You don't want any dirt to accumulate
in the sponge and to rinse it out
or even have another one on hand,
right? And someone's asking how
often should someone wash their car.
And it isn't a maintenance issue.
It it can be a maintenance issue.
I mean if if you have it,
you know the dirt and and the grit
can can degrade the the cars.
Paint the clear coat.
So you definitely want to
do it on a regular basis.
It depends where your car lives.
If your car is garaged on a regular basis,
you might not need it as much.
If your car sits outside a lot
then you might need it more often.
I mean, it's definitely a visual thing
and as you mentioned I mean certainly
here in the Northeast we're also
having a huge onslaught of pollen.
It's not only you know killing my eyes,
but it's also hurting.
My car,
OK, we've got a question about like how
do we keep the windows from streaking?
Yeah, that that also is kind
of a dedicated window cleaner.
Uh, and there's a guy that that
used to take care of the cars.
The Consumer Reports,
test track and believe it or not,
he used old newspapers to to wash
the the the windows of the cars.
I'm not sure that's still.
That's a great way to go.
And you know how can you
find a newspaper these days?
Because they're all gone.
But again,
I would use just some good paper
towels and some window cleaners,
but only use that cleaner on the glass.
Don't use that cleaner in other areas,
you mean like on the inside
of the car. That's correct,
to make it all shiny and stuff.
That's not what we use.
No, no Windex inside the car,
just just just on the glass and
maybe the mirrors. That's about
it. Alright, we're gonna
talk more about this.
He's also a car expert so he
can talk to you about other
things like maintenance and
tires and things of that nature.
So if you've got a question,
you can text it to us
336-379-5775.