Your Basic Saturday Morning Wash

Recent blog entries have focused on very particular parts of a detail or more advanced techniques.  This article is for those of you who just want to know the proper methods for a simple home car wash, something car owners have loved doing for decades, typically on a Saturday morning.

The following information is designed to assist the do-it-yourself vehicle owner with the basic items and procedures needed to conduct a simple wash at home.  It assumes there are no special issues that might require remedies involving additional chemicals, equipment, and procedures (e.g., tree sap, tar, heavy brake dust, etc.).  Check other blog entries for instructions on addressing these special issues.

Proper Conditions

First, we want to park the vehicle out of direct sunlight.  Also, it’s advisable on hot days to perform the wash in the early morning hours or early evening, when the ambient temperature is cooler.

Park the vehicle in a spot that ensures that the wash run-off will drain into a lawn, shrubbery, or dirt.  We don’t want rinse water laden with washing chemicals to go down the storm drain or into a nearby stream or the like.  If you are using a garden hose, please get a trigger nozzle that automatically shuts off the flow of water when released.  This will save water and money.

Inside First?

If you are going to vacuum and dust the interior of the car, it is advisable to do this before the exterior wash so that you are not mixing water on the ground with the electricity involved with the vacuum cleaner.  This will also avoid dragging the vacuum hose through the water left on the ground from the wash.

You could also clean the interior glass at this point, using Proje’s Genesis Glass Cleaner and a couple of microfiber towels, like Proje’s Waffle Weave Microfiber Window Towel or Diamond Window Towel.

Get It Together

Start by assembling all the items you will need for the wash.  Here’s a bare-bones list:

• Garden hose with shut-off nozzle
• Bucket
• Wheel brush (Proje’ Rim Cleaning Brush)
• Wheel cleaning spray (Proje’ Redline Wheel Cleaner)
• Car wash shampoo (Proje’ Vital Car Wash Soap)
• Wash mitt (Proje’ Microfiber Car Wash Mitt)
• Drying materials (Proje’ DryPro Microfiber Towels)
• Wax (Proje’ Old School Paste Wax)
• Wax applicator pad (Proje’ Large Applicator Pad)
• Wax removal towels (Proje’ PRO Microfiber Towels)

Start by assembling all the items you will need for the wash.  Pull out the garden hose to the length that it will be needed to walk all the way around the vehicle.  Install the shut-off nozzle and charge the hose by turning on the water.  Grab a step stool if you have a taller vehicle.  If you use a leaf blower to help dry the vehicle, get that ready to go (but keep it away from water during the wash if it is a plug-in model).  Set your Proje’ DryPro Microfiber Towels on a clean surface ready to be grabbed as soon as the final rinse is done.

Wheels First

Prepare your “wheel cleaning bucket”.  Fill the wash bucket with water and the appropriate amount of Proje’ Vital Car Wash Soap according to the directions on the bottle.  Toss the Proje’ Rim Cleaning Brush into the bucket, and hang the Proje’ Red Line Wheel Cleaner on the rim of the bucket.

Rinse off all four wheels, then mist each one with wheel cleaner.  Scrub the wheels and tires with the wheel brush, dipping the brush in the wash bucket each time to rinse the excess dirt out of the brush.  You can also use this brush to clean the lower parts of the car, like the rocker panel.

When done, quickly rinse these areas before continuing.  Then dump out the wheel bucket into the bushes or on the lawn (NOT in the storm drain!).

Main Vehicle Body Wash

Now it’s time to wash the main body of the vehicle.  This includes everything but the wheels and any other lower areas that we already washed with the wheel bucket.

Start by making a fresh batch of car shampoo using Proje’ Vital Car Wash Soap.  You will need at least two gallons of solution to wash a standard sized sedan.  Toss the Proje’ Microfiber Car Wash Mitt into the bucket.

Rinse off the car.  Wash from top to bottom.  Dip the wash mitt into the car wash solution and bring it directly to the car, dripping wet, without wringing out the mitt.  Use gentle pressure to scrub the area.  Re-dip the mitt each time you move to a different section of the car. 

An example of “sectioning off” the car could be as follows: 

• Driver side roof and windows,
• passenger side of roof and windows,
• right doors,
• left doors,
• each half of the hood and respective fender,
• front grill and bumper,
• trunk and rear fenders,
• rear bumper and taillight area.

Each one of these sections should be scrubbed with a freshly dipped mitt.  Once the entire vehicle body has been washed, rinse it off, top-to-bottom.

Drying

If you have a leaf blower, this can be handy to blow out the areas that hold water, like the sideview mirrors, door handles, and grill work.  This will prevent these areas from dripping water the next time you drive the car.

Use Proje’s DryPro Microfiber Towels to dry off the vehicle from top to bottom.  You can use a particularly dry side of the towel to give the windows a final streak-free wipe, or you can separately clean the windows with Proje’s Genesis Glass Cleaner and a couple of microfiber towels, like Proje’s Waffle Weave Microfiber Window Towel or Diamond Window Towel.

Summary

Using the ingredients and procedures described in this article should make the basic Saturday morning car wash should be a stress-free, simple process that leaves the car looking great for the coming week.