Frequently Asked Questions:

Q) What is the proper method of washing a car?

Here is a tutorial on how to wash your car without damaging anything. There are many misconceptions about something as simple as washing your car. We will tell you the RIGHT way to do this.

The main objective is to remove accumulated dirt, insect residue, bird droppings and tree sap, from the surface of the paint without resorting to hard rubbing and harsh chemicals. Bugs and bird doo-doo are both corrosive and will cause irreparable harm to your finish if left on too long. We want to finish with a clean car that is ready for waxing or simply maintain an existing wax job. Always wash the car in the shade and make sure that the surface is cool to the touch.

To wash the car properly, you will need:

1) Clean bucket of 3 to 5 gallon capacity

2) Water Hose

3) Two medium size 100% cotton Terry Cloth towels or two large sponges. Natural sponges are the very best but presently, very hard to find.

4) Two large size 100% cotton Terry Cloth towels for drying. These should be pre-washed, using no fabric softener that will streak when used for drying. Bath sheets are really great due to their size. Make sure that your spouse won't kill you for using those nice towels usually reserved for house guests.

5) One tablespoon of a very mild tallow soap. If your car is unusually dirty, you can use two tablespoons!. Do not use any household soaps which are too alkaline for automobile use. These type of soaps will strip away the wax and attack the factory finish. This promotes the oxidation that makes your paint lose its shine. Adding a teaspoon of salad oil (vegetable) will allow the emulsified dirt to slide off without scratching the paint. Plus, it suds' up real nice, too.

6) Now, we'll wash those wheels. Using a low pH Wheel Wash designed to break the cohesive bond between brake pad dust and the surface of the wheel. Do not wash or rinse any wheel just after driving the vehicle. Wheels and brake rotors can be damaged by the sudden temperature changes. Let the wheels and brakes cool before washing. Apply the wheel cleaner to a dry wheel for best results. Use a soft bristle brush to loosen really stubborn deposits. If you follow the regimen of cleaning your wheels every week, it will be much easier to keep them clean with a minimum effort. Don't ever let the brake dust and road grime accumulate. That is when it becomes a real knucklebuster to get the wheels clean again. Rinse the wheels using a strong stream of water and thoroughly flood the surface.

7) Dry the car using those nice soft Terry Towels. Use one towel to gently push water off the car, then follow with the other towel to dry the surface. Remenber to dry the doorjambs and the trunk lid. Check to make sure that the drains at the bottoms of the doors are clear. The owner's manual sometimes has directions on where they are located. This helps prevent the doors from rusting. More cars have been destroyed by rust from poor door drainage than anything else.

Towels used for washing and drying should be washed in hot water with a small amount of a mild non-phosphate detergent. Rinse the towels twice to remove all soap and machine dry without any fabric softener.

-Tip-

One thing to remember is that the more often you wax your car, the easier it will be to remove the dirt, bugs, tar and sap. Having several coats of a premium wax on the surface makes it difficult for these contaminates to "attach" themselves to the finish. In fact, a well-waxed car doesn't even get very dirty in a rainstorm. All of the water flies off due to lack of surface tension. This effect is very noticable on black cars.

Q) How do I help prevent those little scratches I find in my car's finish?

Those annoying little scratches are difficult to prevent and they can be quite obvious, especially on dark colored cars. There area few things to remember about paint. First, dark colored paint is actually softer than light colored paint. Viewing the entire spectrum, Black is the easiest to scratch due to its inherent softness, and White is the hardest paint to scratch. This problem is further exacerbated by the apparent visibility of surface imperfections on dark colored cars: a double whammy!

Never touch the surface of a dark colored car with your hands, let alone lean against your car. All this will do is grind any surface dust or dirt into and across the finish. A white car may not show this damage as much as a black car, but the damage is there. There are several methods available that helps prevent this from happening and products to polish out shallow scratches so that they are no longer visible.

1) Keep the cat off the car. Your cat's paws have an incredible amount of dirt embedded in its paws. This sort of damage can only be repaired by a professional detail shop. Use a car cover whenever its practical to do so.

2) Carry and use religously, one of those "California Car Dusters". These wax-impregnated cotton strands that lift dirt off without scratching. If there isn't any dust, you cannot damage the finish! The more you use these products, the better they work. Sometimes they can leave light streaks from the wax in the fibers, but that is preferable to a scratch that must be laboriously polished out. The streaking left by the dusters wipes right off with a cotton towel or diaper. The other product that works very well is the Kozak cloth. This is a specially treated cloth that is used to wipe the dust off of the paint.

3) Try not to touch the surface of your car with your hands. Just like cat's paws, your hands hold a lot of dirt that isn't visible. This will go a long way toward keeping the finish shiny and smooth. Don't lean against the car either since yours pants are usually dirty enough to scratch the finish and most fibers are quite abrasive besides cotton.

4) When washing or waxing, never move the applicator or towel/sponge in circles. This creates the dreaded "swirlies". This is the round circular pattern of scratches that is most obvious in direct sunlight or at night under street lights. Move the towels in a back-and-forth motion. This will really minimize that kind of damage.

Call Rennsport Systems for custom application information and pricing

503.244.0990