If you don’t know how to approach washing your car, the whole process can be a bit of an ordeal. Whether you take your car into a hand car wash or an automated one, you’re probably used to getting it back with new bumps and bruises. I don’t know about you, but I’d like to avoid that as much as possible. So today, I’ll reveal the best way to wash a car without leaving scratches or swirl marks.
In addition to talking you through my car washing guide, I’ll also tell you how you can wash and dry your car without ever laying a finger on it. But first, here are some tips on choosing a good hand-washing car wash.
Pick a Good Car Wash
Personally, I like to wash my car every other week or even weekly if the weather is particularly heinous. That ensures that my vehicle never gets too dirty, which is in itself a defense against scratches.
However, I completely understand why someone wouldn’t have the time to do that. Still, rather than take your vehicle into an automated car wash, which can easily leave horrific scratches and streaks on the paint, I recommend finding a good hand-washing place. So how do you do that?
Well, you’ll want to keep in mind a few basic car washing tips. Make sure that the car wash you’re looking into has plenty of shade. Stop by and ask about their methods and the tools they use to wash cars. Let them know that you’re looking for a place that will treat your car right.
Even if you’re not planning to wash the vehicle yourself, this article will give you an idea of the sort of questions you need to ask. These include what kinds of solutions, tools, and movements they like to use on cars. If you’re wondering which answers we want to hear, we can just move on to my tried-and-true car washing guide. So let’s talk about how you can avoid leaving scratches, swirl marks, or water spots on the surface of your car.
How to Wash a Car Without Scratching It: Step-By-Step
Believe me, I’m painfully aware of the fact that most people approach washing their cars haphazardly. However, I like to have a more thought-out approach. So here’s the routine I’ve come up with over the past several years.
1. Park Your Car in the Shade
First of all, you should keep your car in the shade anyway, if only to avoid sun damage. But it’s particularly important to keep it sheltered when you’re washing it.
One of the reasons for this is that some car washing solutions can react poorly to the sun and damage the paint. However, even if you’re just using water or working with a solution with a neutral pH value, you’re going to want to shield your vehicle from the sun. When you finish rinsing off the suds, the sun may dry the water too fast, leaving you with dust where the water drops used to be.
So if you want to avoid having your car appear dirty even after you’ve washed it, you’re going to want to keep it in the shade. Specifically, you can wash the car in a garage or under a sunshade. Or you can simply wait for an overcast day. If you’re looking for a good car wash place, make sure they have plenty of shade too.
2. Prepare the Cleaning Supplies
As always, before we get to work, we should get all of our cleaning supplies ready. Here are some of the things you’ll need:
- A pressure washer or, if you don’t have one, a water hose. Either one will work just fine, but it will affect the attachments you use and the approach you take.
- A snow cannon, if you’re using a pressure washer, or a snow gun if you’re not. They do the same thing, except your pressure washer lays the foam down thicker than a hose could.
- A 5-gallon bucket or two, as well as dirt grates for both. If you get buckets that are marketed as car wash buckets, they’ll likely come with the grates included.
- A cleaning solution, whether it’s homemade or commercial. I’ll link to a few of my favorites later down the line.
- A microfiber sponge or a washing mitt for transferring water from the bucket to the car.
- A microfiber towel for drying. I prefer to use a bigger towel to soak up the water in big swiping moves, rather than have to rub and polish the car with a small towel.
- You can also dry the car with a high-velocity dryer or a simple leaf blower. But keep in mind that you’ll likely also need noise-canceling headphones if you decide to use a pressure washer or a dryer.
I like to keep all of my supplies in the buckets I use to hold the water when I’m washing my car. I make sure to wash all the towels and sponges and allow them to dry before putting them in the bucket along with my car cleaning solutions. So when I need to wash my car again, I can just take out the buckets and get to work.
3. Wash the Wheels
The first step to any car washing process is a matter of personal preference. I, like many others, like to start with the wheels. But if you like to get to the wheels last, that’s completely fine too. These tips would work either way.
My reason for starting with the wheels is that they often have the most dirt on them. So I like to work on that before I work on anything else. Just spray a wheel down with water from a hose or a pressure washer, then hit it with your cleaning solution. You can either use a special solution like the Wheel and Tire Cleaner or go for whatever you’ll be using on the rest of the car.
Once you’ve doused the wheels with a cleaner, you can use a gentle brush to get the grime off. Follow that up with soft foam wand to get the wheel and rim looking extra shiny. Repeat until you’ve cleaned all of your wheels.
4. Blast the Car With a Hose
You really don’t want to go in with your soap solution on a dry car, so make sure to soak everything in water before you do anything else. Dousing the whole car is essentially a pre-washing treatment. If you rinse your dishes before you put them in a dishwasher, that’s essentially what you’ll be doing here.
On the other hand, if you’re using a foam cannon or a foam gun, you wouldn’t need to pre-wash. Just attach the cannon to a pressure washer (or attach a foam gun to your garden hose) and blast the car.
The car shampoo from Adam’s Polishes has a neutral pH value, which means that you’ll be able to use it even in the sun. Since the foam is meant to sit on the car for about 10 minutes, you’ll want it to be something that won’t mess it up. What’s more, according to the manufacturer, this product won’t leave water spots — although that’s more of a drying issue than anything else.
5. Soap It Up
While the water or the foam breaks down the dirt that got baked into the metal, you can get your buckets and cleaning solutions. If you want to try your hand at making a homemade cleaning solution, you can also use one of the recipes I suggested in my article on removing bug residue.
In any case, if your car is dirtier than it ought to be, no amount of cannon foam will be able to fix it, so you may have to dig in your elbows to get the dirt to budge. Use a gentle brush or a sponge to get everything off. Also, make sure that you have several clean washing mitts and sponges to work with.
Now, you could just use a single bucket to get all of this done — but let’s see how you could do it with two.
6. Use the Two-Bucket Method
If you want to try out the two-bucket method, you’re going to need two 5-gallon buckets. Adam’s Polishes makes one that comes with a washboard as well as a lid. If you’re going to keep the bucket in the basement, having a lid is a great defense against the dust you’d otherwise have to rinse out before each use.
Once you’ve got your buckets, pour clean water into both of them, adding your cleaning solution to one. That will be your clean bucket. Now, put your microfiber mitt on or just take a gentle sponge and dunk it in. Without squeezing out the excess water, get to the car and start sliding your hand over the roof in big sweeping motions.
Generally, you’re going to want to keep washing the car from the top towards the sides, pushing the foam down. After you notice your sponge or mitt has become dirty, go to the other bucket and rinse out the gunk. If you’re using buckets you already had at home, you can order a separate washboard insert.
These things sit about an inch or two away from the bottom of the bucket, allowing you to dislodge dirt by rubbing your mitt or sponge against it. The dirt then sinks to the bottom of the bucket, where you can’t pick it up and put it on the car again. After you wash the tool, you can submerge it in the clean bucket for more soap.
7. Rinse
While your car still has soap on it, you might as well check for leaks around the windshield. A pretty obvious clue that you have a leak would be if you opened your car and found a puddle on the floor. However, you could also check for leaks by blasting the inside of the windshield with air.
After you’ve taken care of your car from top to bottom, you’ll need to rinse it off and dry it. If you opt to use a pressure washer with a foam cannon, you’ll be able to completely wash your car without even touching it. Obviously, that would minimize your chances of getting scratches or swirl marks. You’d apply the foam, wait about 10 to 15 minutes, then rinse it off with the pressure washer.
If you apply your soap by hand, rinsing the car will still be easy. Just take a garden hose and move it from the roof down, letting the water drip down. Most of the business of avoiding scratching the surface of a car is in the way you wash it. However, water spots and swirl marks are all about the way you dry it. So let’s see how you can improve that part of the process.
8. Dry the Car With Towels or an Air Dryer
There are several ways you can go about drying a car. However, the most important thing is to act quickly. After all, if your garage or driveway — or wherever you end up washing your car — is warm, the water will start evaporating soon. So here are several ways to avoid swirl marks and water spots.
Chamois
The traditional way to dry the surface of a car is to use a mountain goat or sheep leather chamois. Nowadays, they’re made of various synthetic leather compounds. But even if you’ve never heard the word, your dad likely had one folded up in a plastic tube in the glove compartment of his car when you were growing up.
When it’s dry, this material is pretty harsh. So instead of dragging it over the surface of your vehicle in its natural state, run it under a tap and wring it out. Then, fold the material and lay it on the surface of the car, pressing down with your hands and dragging it along.
This material is able to absorb an enormous amount of water, so it’s ideal for big cars, trucks, or even aircraft. It also sucks up water quickly, and without damaging the surface of the vehicle. Generally, you’re not meant to machine-wash chamois, but rather run it under warm or hot water and let it dry. However, the synthetic one I linked to says that it’s machine washable, so I suppose the times are a-changin’!
Microfiber Towel
Most drivers are now more likely to have a microfiber towel than a chamois one, though. They’re less absorbent, to be sure, but they’re much more convenient to carry around. You can toss them in a washing machine and use a microfiber detergent on them. What’s more, they’re incredibly gentle on a vehicle.
The one from Chemical Guys is 16 by 24 inches, and it has silk edges to prevent scratches. Microfiber towels also work great with water repellents like the Chemical Guys’ After Wash drying agent. The spray is hydrophobic, which means that it encourages water to slide away when it comes into contact with it.
You can just apply it to the surface of the car, then wipe it off with a microfiber towel. As long as you’re using long swipes, you won’t see any water spots or swirl marks.
Waffle-Weave Drying Towels
Waffle-weave towels are also microfiber products, so you can use a hydrophobic spray with them as well. However, I thought that they deserved a special mention.
Because of the unique square pattern in the material, waffle towels are able to hold more water than regular microfiber ones. That means that they’re great for bigger vehicles as well. As you slide them across the surface of your car, you’ll notice that the square indentations in the material are swelling because of the amount of water they’re taking in.
Also, if you don’t want to use swiping motions, you can fold up your microfiber towels and press down, patting the moisture away.
Synthetic Water Blade Squeegee
Another really effective way to dry your car is to use a synthetic automotive squeegee. It’s not the same thing you’d use on your windows. Rather, this water blade is made of soft silicone that won’t harm the surface of your car.
However, I do have a word to the wise. You should make sure that your car is really clean if you want to go in with this tool. It’s definitely great for chasing water away and handling large vehicles. But if there’s a chunk of dirt left on your car and the squeegee starts dragging it — you could have a scratch on your hands.
High-Velocity Air Dryer
I’ve mentioned using high-velocity dryers when I was composing your list of supplies. But here’s the thing. This product is really only worth it if you wash your car frequently. If you don’t, you could just use the Air Force Blaster SideKick.
Both machines blow air out of a soft rubber nozzle, scattering the droplets that remain on the car. The same effect can be achieved with a leaf blower. If you’d like to see the full process of washing and drying a car without touching it at all, this video is really enlightening.
Once again, if you’re planning on taking your vehicle to a car wash, ask the people there about their usual wash and dry routine. However, if you like to do things yourself, remember to protect your car after you wash it. A spray wax would make your car shiny and easier to wash the next time you need to do it.
Wash Your Car Without Touching
I hope you’ve been able to learn some new things from my guide to washing and drying a car. Ultimately, the safest way to avoid scratches and water spots is not to lay a finger on the car. So you can use a pressure washer and a snow cannon to wash it, and a high-velocity air dryer to dry it. That will guarantee a spotless surface.
Remember, these tips aren’t only applicable to people who wash their vehicles themselves. You can also use them to find the perfect hand car wash for your car. As long as you avoid automated car washes, your car should remain streak- and scratch-free.
But why stop with a clean exterior, when you can also clean the cabin and the trunk as well. I’ve got articles that will help you keep your car spotless. If you have suspicious spills in your car, I’ve already written about removing gasoline spills. By the time you implement all of the advice I doled out, your car will look like a million bucks.
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- By CarRoar