How to wash your car

OK, so yesterday I didn't get to wash the car, but today I have. Absolutely filthy, but worth the effort. Anyway, most people don't look after their cars properly (I'll admit the odd bout of neglect as well) but even washing weekly can screw up your paint if you do it wrong. So a little tutorial is in order...

1. rinse the worst of the deposits off the car (using a hosepipe if possible, if not a light wipe with warm water will do)
2. fill two buckets with warm water, adding car shampoo to one
3. using a sheepskin mitt, wash the car starting at the roof. After each use, rinse the mitt in the bucket of water to get most of the grit and deposits out of it - this avoids any light scratching and swirls in your paint.
4. once you've been over the car, do the wheels - wipe with mitt and rinse. If necessary, use an alloy cleaner for as small a time as possible!!! Use a toothbrush if your alloys are fiddly
5. rinse the car with clean warm water (or hose it)
6. dry the car
   

there you go, a quick overview. You can then wax the car, using polish if you've got a weekend to lose. One tip is to get some car wax and wax your alloys when clean - this just makes it harder to get bits stuck to them and easier to clean.

Some products - I really Meguiars stuff (I love the NXT shampoo). I binned all the Autoglym stuff after I'd tried it, it really is very good. Big bottle may look expensive, but it last ages and it smells nice ;-) Get some of their microfible cloths as well, really useful for polishing and drying and machine washable. The best Megs stuff I've used is in the NXT range - the wax is a doddle to put on. Cut down the time I take to wax the car by at least half! Other stuff worth looking at is P12s wax, and Poorboys has a good reputation too.

Megs is available in Halfrauds, or www.seriousperformance.co.uk for the full range.

You can also get into clay bars and stuff - but that's when you lose SERIOUS time. Worth doing if the car has a lot of tar marks or sap on it, but remember to wax AND polish afterwards, ideally in multiple coats.

Just remember, if your thinking this all sounds like too much hassle and use fairly liquid (a HUGE no no - it strips all your wax off) - your car is likely to be the second most expensive thing you own - look after it and it'll be worth more come trade in.