You have a hot date or an important appointment and you rush outside,
only to find that your car looks like a hazmat zone. Luckily, you still
have five minutes to do something about it. But where do you start?
Take a tip from used-car salesmen and give your car "curb appeal" — a
good overall first impression. When you can't make use of a car wash,
even little things can make a world of difference.
Here are six tricks you can use to keep up the good looks of your car between car washes. Think of it as triage for a dirty car.
Triage Tip 1: Clean horizontal surfaces with a spray detailer.
You don't have to clean the whole car, just the obvious surfaces that
catch dew or light rain and leave water marks. The eyesore areas are the
hood, trunk and rear bumper.
Schultz recommends cleaning these surfaces in sections, using a spray
detailer and microfiber towel, which is finely woven and makes better
contact with the car's surface. For example, divide the hood in quarters
and clean the four sections individually. He estimates you could even
clean the entire car this way with spray detailer and only four towels.
Many car enthusiasts worry about scratching or putting swirl marks in
the car's finish. The spray detailer is designed to avoid this by
lubricating the dirt so it can be wiped up with a towel. But Schultz
stresses the importance of flipping the towel often so you don't grind
dirt into the clear coat — the transparent finish covering the car's
paint.
Triage Tip 2: A clean windshield is (almost) a clean car.
Glass is easy to clean and it sparkles like a jewel once you remove the
haze and grime. Visibility is a huge safety factor, but a clean
windshield also just makes you feel better about your car. When you're
finished with the outside of the windshield, clean the driver-side
window and side mirror, too. And for bonus points, clean the inside of
the windshield and rearview mirror.
Keep a bottle of glass cleaner in your trunk, along with a roll of
paper towels or the aforementioned microfiber towels. A foam spray
cleaner also works well. For the really lazy folks, there's a squeegee.
In addition to cleaning, a squeegee works well in the morning when there
is dew all over the windshield. Squeegee off the morning moisture and
your glass won't be left with those horrible drying marks.
Triage Tip 3: Take out the trash. It's a car, not a
dumpster. Pull up next to a trash can somewhere and throw away papers,
food or other junk that dates from the second Bush administration.
Better yet, put a small trash bag in your car and empty it often,
Pennington suggests.
While you're shoveling out your car, you might find a couple bucks'
worth of change. Use it to buy a car deodorizer. Pennington says car
interiors can absorb smells, but there are new products that actually
absorb dreaded foul odors rather than just mask them. We've tested a few
and they seem to work.
Triage Tip 4: Shake out the floor mats. When time is
tight and you don't have a vacuum, you can simply grab your floor mats
and shake off all the gravel, loose dirt, sand or — heaven forbid — used
ketchup packets. The mat on the driver side probably is secured, so
you'll have to work it off the anchors first. But the other floor mats
are unattached and you can simply whisk them out for a quick flapping.
Triage Tip 5: Clean the wheels and tires. Pennington
says that having dirty wheels on a clean car is like wearing old shoes
with a new suit. So it makes sense to make the "shoes" look as sharp as
possible.
The absolutely laziest way to go is just to use a cotton rag to wipe
off the flat center section of your rims. (There's too much dirt on the
rims for one of your microfiber towels to handle.) If time allows, work
the rag into the spokes or crevices. You also can use a brush for the
hard-to-reach areas.
As tires degrade, the rubber takes on a brownish hue that makes them
look dull, Schultz says. So after you're finished cleaning the wheels,
apply tire black with a sponge. Easier still, just use a spray product
to get a quick shine.
Triage Tip 6: Clean anything you touch or look at.
When you're in the car, you spend a lot of time looking at the gauges,
the dashboard and the center console. So take that microfiber towel you
used on the car's exterior and quickly clean off a few strategic areas
inside the car. The plastic covering for the gauges is a must. Then,
wipe the dust off the dashboard and sweep the fingerprints from the
center console. Our experts recommend keeping car cleaning wipes in the
glove compartment for quick interior touch-ups.
Now that you're finished, here's one more suggestion to make your
life easier: Be very careful where you park. Sprinklers can undo all
your hard work.
Hope this will be helpful?
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