Wash Your Car by Hand

For many vehicle owners, washing a car by hand is a therapeutic act as beneficial for the person’s state of mind as for the vehicle’s appearance. The best car wash can happen in your driveway with a hose, some soap, cleaning mitts, and a few buckets of water. Pick a good location. You don’t want to clean the car in direct sunlight or direct heat as the soap will dry onto the car before you can rinse it off.

Aim to wash the car in the early morning or late evening and don’t wash it near a dusty road or under a tree where buds, bugs, and leaves can fall and stick to the car. Make sure your hose has a nozzle with enough pressure to spray the car and one that allows you to stop the water flow when you want. This way you’re not running water throughout the entire process.

Focus on the wheels

1. Use a hose with a nozzle that provides good water pressure to spray the wheels of the car. The wheels contain the most dirt and debris so you want to clean them first.

2. Spray around the wheel wells, as well as the undercarriage to get rid of brake dust to clear out any road salt left behind from winter.

3. Clean the wheels with a cleaner that’s made for tires – some cleaners work best with certain paints or types of aluminum and you can typically find this information in your owner’s manual. You don’t want to damage your wheels by using the wrong product.

4. Once you’ve finished with each of your wheels, put that mitt or chamois aside – you don’t want to use this on the rest of the car or you’ll risk transferring all that tire dirt and debris to your car and scratching the paint.