How to clean, buff and wax your car
Dana Ross
Road salt, bug guts, tree sap,
road tar and other foreign residues, along with oxidation, can ruin a
cars paint job in short order. With the right tools, chemicals and a little
hard work, almost anyone can make their cars exterior look like new again.
Not only can you make it look better, you will help lessen the effects
of future bug attacks and the harshness of Northern winters.
STEP 1: Best Time
The best times to spend time
cleaning and protecting your cars exterior are in the fall and spring
when the weather is mild enough to work outside. In addition to mild weather,
these times of year are on both sides of a paint jobs worst season-winter.
STEP 2: Washing
The most important step in
caring for your paint job is a thorough cleaning. It should not be a touchless
carwash cleaning, but rather a bucket of warm soapy water (mild dishsoap
works fine), soft towels and three or four pounds of elbow grease. After
giving your car a good rinse to get the big clumps off, use your soapy
rag to scrub one panel at a time and then rinse it clean. When you've
gotten all the way around the vehicle, let it drip dry.
STEP 3: Removing Tar
When your car is dry it's
time to get up close and examine the paint for any non-water soluble foreign
matter. The usual culprits are road tar and/or road paint behind the wheels
and paint from less than friendly parking lot encounters.
Taking road tar safely off of your paint requires a substance known as
wax and grease remover. You can purchase this at autoparts stores or take
a glass quart jar to a local bodyshop and purchase it from them. Expect
to pay $15-20 for a gallon at a parts store or around $5 from a bodyshop.
Use two rags to clean off the tar, one to scrub it off and a clean rag
to buff off the residue.
Taking off road paint can be beyond the skill level of most do-it- yourselfers
if it is thick and has been on the paint for a long period of time. I
would suggest you drive down to a bodyshop and ask them if they can get
it off for you. Be aware that it may not come off and that refinishing
can cost big bucks. If it comes to this, you'll have to make a decision
as to how much you want to spend.
Taking off minor parking lot paint scrapes can be done with fine rubbing
compound or polish. You will again need a clean rag and elbow grease.
If you can't get the paint off you may have to make that trip to a bodyshop.
STEP 4: Buffing
Once you've gotten the paint
as clean as possible, it's time to restore and protect it. Stand back
and look at the paint for fading or dullness. These things almost always
show up on the top surfaces first. If you don't see these problems you
can move on to protecting. If you do see them, you've got one more step
to complete before this.
In order to get rid of minor fading or dullness you will need a very fine
rubbing compound. It can be purchased at that local parts store. You'll
want to make sure you use a compound designed for clearcoat paint jobs
as almost all vehicles sold since the early 1990s have clearcoats. You
have to make a choice on how much labor versus how much money you want
to spend to complete this step. If you decide to do this by hand you'll
need clean rags and lots of elbow grease. You might want to watch the
movie "Karate Kid" again to get the idea on how to hand buff.
One thing to think about when doing this is that you are rubbing off the
very top surface of the paint in order to get to paint that is undamaged.
If you decide that you want to spend the money on an electric power buffer
to buff your car make sure you don't plug it in and then stand in water
while buffing.
STEP 5: Waxing
The last step is to use a
good quality paste wax. My personal preference is DuPont RainDance. Do
one panel at a time and make sure you use soft clean rags. Try to keep
the wax off of trim areas such as moldings as it can be quite difficult
to remove.
When you have the car completely waxed go for a drive and show it off
because you've earned it.
Related Links:
How To Clean Anything
Vintage Car Care
Proper Car Care
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Items you'll need:
- Water source
- Water bucket
- Soap
- Rags
- Wax and Grease remover
- Rubbing Compound
- Paste Wax
- Elbow grease
Get rid of the bugs.
Remove road tar.
Use a good paste wax.
You're done. Go for a cruise.
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