Hey guys, ChrisFix here
Here are my top 10 mistakes people make while cleaning their car.
These are my top 10 mistakes,
and I don't cover them all, so I want to hear what mistakes you have
so after the video's over
leave a comment in the comments section below.
Mistake #1:
Taking your car to a car wash.
These car washes are guaranteed to scratch your finish.
Even if the car wash says it [has] soft bristles,
and soft cloth,
dirt gets trapped in the cloth,
and ends up getting scratched against your paint.
Car washes are aggressive,
even the touchless type,
where powerful jets of water slam your paint's surface to remove the dirt.
The water pressure can be too high,
and even if the water pressure isn't too high,
the water will push dirt against the paint,
thereby scratching it.
Now don't get me wrong —
car washes are good for cars where you don't really care about the little scratches in the paint.
For example, I bring my van or my truck to a car wash
because the paint is already beat up a little bit.
But I would never take my Corvette or a new car to a car wash.
Mistake #2:
People clean their car in direct sunlight
and when it's really hot.
I try to wait until the sun is just about setting
and then you get this really good shine on the car
so you can see where all the dirt is.
The reason why you don't clean your car in the sun
is because the car's surface will be so hot
that the water you're cleaning with
will evaporate and leave water marks on your paint.
Another problem is that these chemicals and cleaners that you're using
aren't made to be put on hot surfaces
which is why it says in the directions
to park the car in the shade.
This time of the day where it's cooler, and the sun isn't as strong,
is perfect
it'll allow your car to stay cool
and this water won't evaporate very quickly.
Mistake #3:
Using Dawn or some type of kitchen soap
or degreaser, to clean your car.
These products are bad for your paint
and will strip your protective wax coating.
So all that hard work waxing goes to waste.
Also, these products are not always pH-balanced
so you can be damaging your clearcoat.
You do not want to use a degreaser
What you want to use is an automotive soap.
This stuff is specifically formulated to clean your car's paint
so it won't strip the wax
and it's pH-balanced.
It also foams up really well.
So it provides good lubrication while you use your towel against your paint.
You can even see it on here:
it says it won't strip wax like some dish soaps.
Here's a quick car washing top tip:
make sure you always clean out your bucket.
So that you get all the dirt in your bucket out
so when you put your towel in here
you don't pick up the dirt
and rub it right into your paint and scratch your paint.
Now we can get some soap in here.
Mistake #4 that I see all the time:
is people don't use lubrication
when they're cleaning their car.
You could use some type of spray wax
if your car finish is completely dry
for example, if you have some bird poop on your car
never wipe this off with just a towel.
Always spray some lubricant
and then this will come right off.
Just like so.
After you wipe one way
fold your towel over
and wipe it the other way to clean it off.
Do get that bird poop off that car right away
because bird poop has acid in it
and the acid will break down your paint and your clearcoat
and leave a nasty mark there.
But make sure when you take it off
use some type of lubricant
or just make sure your car is soaking wet
and you have a towel that is completely covered in soap and water
so you won't scratch your car.
Black is one of the most difficult colors to clean.
And the reason why black is so difficult to clean
is because you have to be extra careful:
black shows scratches really easily
going along with #4
make sure you get the car soaking wet.
And when you're getting the car wet
make sure you're not using a power washer
and if you are,
make sure you can put your hand in front of it
and it doesn't hurt your hand.
If it hurts your hand,
that's too much pressure for your car.
Mistake #5:
You do not ever want to use
a paper towel
on your paint
you don't ever want to use an old T-shirt on your paint,
you never want to use a sponge,
or the rough end of a sponge on your paint,
and you never want to use one of these bathing towels
or whatever kind of towel you want to call this
on your paint.
The only thing that should touch your paint
is a nice and soft
microfiber towel
or something with a similar softness.
Mistake #6:
not cleaning from the top of the car
to the bottom of the car.
You always want to start cleaning your car at the top,
and then finish cleaning at the bottom.
The one exception is [that] you can start with cleaning your rims.
When cleaning your rims
the same rules for cleaning your car's paint apply:
use a microfiber towel
and some type of lubricant.
In this case, water and a wheel cleaner.
And make sure you don't use the same towel
for the rims as for the paint.
You should have two different towels
because rim dust is acidic and gritty.
I'm not using a paper towel on the rims
because the rims are actually clearcoated,
to protect the aluminum finish,
and paper towels are just going to scratch your clearcoat
just like it's going to scratch the clearcoat of your paint
so that's why you don't want to use it on your paint.
And you never want to keep this stuff on your rims,
so make sure you clean it off.
So now that we did all four tires,
now's a good time to start cleaning from the top
to the bottom, and I'll show you what I mean right now.
We start at the top because on all cars,
the bottom is gonna be a lot dirtier
compared to the top of the car.
You can see the bottom is way dirtier than the top,
primarily because the bottom of the car
is close to the dirty road.
All the road grime and dust and mud
kick up on the bottom of the car
but rarely make it to the top of the car.
To prevent all this dirt from getting on our towel,
and scratching the whole car,
we start at the top of the car
and leave the bottom until the end.
I like to split the car in half
so right at that yellow turn light here
all the way across.
That's what I consider
the top half
and then down below that is the bottom half
so we'll start cleaning the top half first.
Here's a top tip for you:
when you just start using a towel,
always snap it out
to get any loose rocks or dust or whatever
that could scratch the car
try to get it off.
Every little bit helps.
One thing that you should notice while I'm cleaning:
I'm moving the towel in one direction
from the front of the car
to the rear of the car.
And that brings me to
Mistake #7:
cleaning in a swirling motion.
Pick a direction and clean in that direction.
If you do it in a swirling motion,
you're more likely to see scratches at different angles.
When you're cleaning your car,
go in one direction
Pick a direction. I like going from front to back.
From the front of the car to the rear of the car.
And that's the direction I stick to.
Mistake #8, that people make constantly,
is using only one bucket.
You can see here I have two buckets:
one bucket, which is this one right here,
is just for the soapy water.
This is a clean bucket.
The other bucket that I just filled
is your rinse bucket.
You want to fill your rinse bucket all the way to the top
with plain water,
and that'll allow all the particulates and everything
that are in your dirty towel
to fall to the bottom.
And it won't [contaminate] the nice clean, soapy water.
So I have my dirty towel,
I dunk it in the rinse,
I wring it out,
and this will get most of the big particles off,
that's the goal: they'll all sink to the bottom of that bucket.
You can see it looks pretty clean now
and then I dunk it in my soap
and I go back and clean the car.
So finally, after you're done cleaning everything,
rinse off all the soap,
and again,
you do not use a sponge, you do not use a bath towel,
you do not use a T-shirt,
and you do not use a paper towel
when you dry off your car.
You want to use a good microfiber cloth
that absorbs water really well.
Just like cleaning your car,
we're gonna dry it in one direction
You don't want to add a lot of pressure
this'll prevent scratches.
And then after a few dries,
use a new part of the towel.
And you also dry the car from top to bottom.
Same as cleaning.
Good. Now look at that shine.
Nice and clean, and dry.
Mistake #9 that I see all the time
is people drop their towel on the ground
and they pick it right back up.
And use it on their car.
When you drop your towel on the ground,
it picks up all types of debris
including little rocks, like that right there,
which'll put a nice scratch in your car's paint
it'll pick up little leaves and stuff
so once you drop this on the ground
this is done.
You can't use this.
So once this touches the ground
keep it there.
And the final mistake — mistake #10:
I always see people put Armor-All or some type of leather and vinyl cleaner
on their steering wheel
and on the brake and the gas pedals.
I always see people put it on the shifter, which is never good.
All these things you need to grip onto.
Whether it's with your hands
or with your feet.
You never want to put any chemicals on your steering wheel
brake pedal, or gear knob
that are gonna make it slippery.
This just makes driving dangerous.
And you could potentially cause an accident
and hurt yourself or hurt somebody else.
And the final top tip:
if you're going to use some type of leather or vinyl protectant,
make sure that you spray it on a paper towel
and not directly on the leather or vinyl.
This'll prevent it from getting all over your windows
and things you don't want it on.
Hopefully this video gave you new insight for when you're cleaning your car!
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Up on the screen is going to be a link to another top 10 video that I did
that video is the Top 10 Mistakes Car Owners Make
and I'll go through different things
that people do with their cars that shouldn't be done.
To get to that video, you can click on the screen
or you can find a link to that video in [the] description below.
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And finally I want to hear from you guys
I obviously didn't cover everything:
if you have any mistakes you know of
that people do all the time, leave it in the comments section below!