Andy’s Car Valeting

Why Should You Clean Your Car?

Buying a vehicle is one thing, but owning a car is another story. As you may already know, owning a car comes with many responsibilities. From doing yearly MOT tests and diagnostic check-ups to keeping the car free of dirt and grime at all times, there are tons of things you have to take care of.

We can’t deny that some car owners in the UK simply don’t have the time to wash their car. That’s understandable as people have other responsibilities on their plate. However, cleaning your car is extremely important.

In this post, we’ll go over the things you should know about car cleaning and why it is important to do so regularly.

 

Top Reasons to Clean Your CaR

Washing your car regularly may be enough to keep it clean, but there’s more to cleaning your car than that. We know that a car has several parts. Most often than not, these parts can’t be cleaned easily by a mere exterior wash.


Think of the other parts aside from the metal exteriors. You have to remember that maintaining these hard-to-reach parts is just as important as cleaning your car’s exterior. This is where car valeting comes into the picture.

Car owners in the UK are inclined to book this service for the following reasons:

 

Shiny Exteriors Make Your Car Look Brand New

Everybody wants to ride a car that is freshly cleaned because it looks like it’s brand new and just out of the showroom. After all, people take pride in their precious investments. This is why every car owner must ensure that their car’s exteriors are thoroughly cleaned.

 


When it comes to the valeting or detailing process, the first step is always washing the exterior part of the car. Using their equipment, special tools, and proper car cleaning soaps, car valets wash away any visible mud, dirt, and grime stuck on a car’s exteriors. They will then dry out and polish the car using a clay bar or some other polishing tools that are suitable for the type of coating that the car has.

 

Avoid Expensive Car Repairs and Replacements

Unlike other parts, your car’s wheels and tires are usually the ones that can easily collect mud, tar, animal poop, and other harmful particles during your daily drives. Your wheels will get damaged over time if you don’t clean them regularly. Bear in mind that wheels cost a fortune, and you wouldn’t want to replace them just because of too much accumulated dirt.


Through proper wheel detailing, you don’t have to spend so much on a tire replacement. Car valets will make sure to wash away all the unwanted particles stuck on the tire grooves. These car valets use special tools and pressure washing equipment to achieve desirable results.

Proper detailing is a smart investment as it helps prevent expensive repairs and premature replacements. It also ensures that your car will look great and will be up and running in the many years to come. So, consider bringing your car to a valet near you.

 

Keep the Car’s Upholstery and Carpets in Good Condition

Apart from the exteriors, your car’s upholstery and carpets are also important components. They make your daily drives more comfortable and feel luxurious, even though it’s not something you usually notice. Your carpets are one of the areas that easily collect a lot of dirt and dust since it’s where you step your shoes on.


You can’t possibly determine what kind of bacteria and other substances your footwear have gathered along the way. Who knows, maybe there could be disease-carrying bacteria stuck on the soles of your shoes that have spread to your car’s carpets and upholstery. This is why you have to ensure that the carpets are clean at all times.

Not to mention, carpet fibres easily get damaged when they aren’t cleaned for some time. As such, it helps to keep the carpets in good condition. You can always hire car valeting services to ensure this.

 

Protect Your Health and Your Passenger’s Too

As we have previously mentioned, your car’s interiors can easily collect bacteria-ridden dust and dirt. Add to the list food crumbs, coffee stains, soda pills, pet allergens, and other harmful particles. These particles can make your car’s interiors look dingy over time.


Not only that but they can also produce bad odours and cause diseases to spread. This is absolutely unsanitary and something you should not wait to happen. With valeting services, you can effectively remove all the particles and germs that have accumulated on your car’s upholstered surfaces—leather seats, dashboard, sound system, and entertainment console.

Professional car valets use special chemicals specifically made for detailing vehicle interiors and upholstered parts. They make sure to sanitise the interiors thoroughly. By properly sanitising the interiors, you can prevent bacteria from spreading and causing health problems to you and your passengers.

 

Get Better Visibility When Driving

If it’s been a while since you cleaned your car, do a little test. Try driving your car and glance at the side view mirror. Observe if your vision is blocked by a blurry car window and look at the window closer.


If you see a smattering of faint grey spots on them, these are water spots that are caused by the dried-up minerals in the water. You can’t remove them through washing, even with the use of soap. Professional car valets are equipped with the right chemical solution to safely remove these spots without causing damage to your car windows.

To ensure your safety on your daily drives, especially at night, make sure that you have your car windows professionally cleaned. The next time you’re trying to manoeuvre your car through the thick city traffic, you can be sure that you will have better road visibility.

 

How to Properly Care for Your Car

Among car owners, an important topic of discussion is properly caring for their vehicle’s interior and exterior. It’s impossible to protect the body of any car from a variety of environmental elements and other material (bird droppings, dirt, and splattering bugs) without washing it regularly. That said, every month should be Car Care Month.


Every month, your car needs extra care. You may be washing and performing wax service on your car sometimes, but how often are you doing it? Also, are you using the correct car care products and the proper washing technique to avoid scratches and swirl marks on the exterior?

In this section, we will list some helpful tips on how to get your car spotless clean.

 

Exterior Car Wash

As the seasons change, it is important to clean your car and remove salt, grime, and elements of the road associated with the season. But you have to do it right because improper washing can create swirl marks and scratches, damaging your car’s exterior. Before starting, you have to remove every single piece of jewellery, including your wedding ring.

 

It doesn’t matter if your wedding ring is made of moon stones or rubber. Scrubbing your car’s exterior while your ring is on will lead to outer coat damage, so you want to take off your ring to prevent that. If you’re wearing a belt with buckles, you also have to take it off to minimise the risk of scratching the exterior.

 

PREP TIME

⦁ Your area should be prepped. From the chemicals and towels to the hose and buckets, make sure everything is ready and in place. (You shouldn’t let the water dry on your vehicle as this may result in etching the exterior paint.)
⦁ Prepare two buckets. One for soapy water and another one for rinsing. (Your dirty rinse bucket should have a grit guard at the bottom. That way, dirt won’t make it back onto the paintwork.)

⦁ If you don’t have access to a hose, you can get slick spray detailers. These items have microfiber towels and can be used as a lubricant.

 

WHEELS AND TIRES

⦁ Clean each tire thoroughly one at a time: pressure wash, rinse, and dry. Doing so will prevent the clean tires from air-drying before you even get back around to them.

⦁ Use one towel for drying the wheels and tires and another one for the body of your car.
⦁ Don’t use any other cleaners except the ones designed for the type of wheels your car has. You will easily find commercially sold cleaners that work for removing brake dust, dirt, and grime. However, you might want to go for a stronger cleaner if there are a lot of impurities built up on the surface.
⦁ Use a brush with feathered bristles for the wheels. This brush is ideal as it will not scratch the surface. For the inner areas of the wheels (such as behind the spokes), use a long, slender brush.
⦁ As for the tires, use a stiff brush. (Rubber is tough to clean when you use soft-bristled brushes and you don’t want to have a hard time cleaning your car tires.)

⦁ Finally, you can polish the wheels. By waxing them, you are essentially creating a barrier against dirt, dust, and grime. This makes it easier to clean your wheels the next time around.

 

BODY

⦁ Don’t wash your car in direct sunlight as the heat creates a risk for water spots. Heat also dries up the cleaning solution on the body of your car before you get to rinse it off.

⦁ Once your car is parked in the shade, you can go ahead and pre-rinse it to remove any dirt on its surface. Pre-rinsing your car will save you time.
⦁ Start cleaning the top of your car’s exterior and work your way down. You will find the bottom as the dirtiest part. By working your way down, you won’t be moving the dirt and grime from the dirtiest bottom parts onto the surface. (Wash in lines. Don’t move the mitt or sponge in circles.)
⦁ Rinse the surface frequently if you’re working in hot weather. This prevents water spots from forming.
⦁ For the surface, use microfiber towels to dry it. Also, wipe down the trunk, hood jambs, and door jambs. Grab another towel once the other gets saturated.
⦁ Feel the car’s exterior. If it feels rough to the touch, use a clay bar to effectively remove the contaminants that simple washing can’t eliminate.
⦁ Finally, wax your car to add shine to it. Wax protects your car’s paint job for when you have to scrub the exterior.

 

Interior Car Cleaning

While your car’s interior is not exposed to the weather and outside elements, its seats, steering wheel, and dashboard are still prone to cracking and peeling from the sun’s rays. Depending on whether you have fabric or leather seats, you have to choose the right cleaning products.

 

Here, we’ll list some easy steps you can follow to care for the interior components of your car.

 

SEATS (LEATHER & FABRIC)

⦁ It doesn’t matter what kind of seats you have. You always start the cleaning process by removing the dirt and food crumbs from between the seat cracks with a car vacuum. A car vacuum can be costly, so you might want to go to a local car wash and use a coin-operated vacuum for interior car cleaning. (If unable to find a car vacuum, you can use a toothbrush to help scrape out debris stuck in the crevices.

⦁ Use a commercial cleaner or a homemade cleaning solution. Do not use a cleaning solution with bleach or ammonia as it may cause damage to the leather material.
⦁ Use a bristle brush to agitate the dirt. Wipe clean the surface with a microfiber towel.
⦁ For leather seats, use a conditioner to help replenish the natural oils in the leather. This prevents premature cracking and fading caused by the sun’s rays.
⦁ Once you have applied conditioner in virtually every seat, you can then park your car in the shade for twelve hours. This ensures that your car seats will not be exposed to UV light.

 

Main Takeaway

Your vehicle is a precious investment, so it only makes practical sense that you take care of it. When caring for your car, you have to follow the proper cleaning techniques to avoid damage to the exterior. To ensure a thorough detailing and car wash, you can turn to the professional car valets over at Andy’s Car Valeting.

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