How to maintain your vehicle, like a pro.

✅ Car Shampoo designed for Automotive Paint. We recommend Meguiars Hyper Wash or Feynlab Pure Wash.

✅ Wheel Cleaner. Non-Coated wheels we recommended a normal wheel cleaner. For wheels that have a coating, use normal Car Shampoo. 

✅ 2 5-gallon buckets with Grit Guards. One bucket is for your paint / wash mitt, the other for your wheels / brushes.

✅ Microfiber Wash Mitt & Microfiber Drying Towel. Also having access to a dedicated car dryer or blower is great for touch-free drying and getting water out of crevices, especially if your vehicle is COATED. 

✅ Separate Wash Witt / Soft-Bristle Wheel Brush for your wheels & Stiff Tire Brush

✅ Quick Detailer or Ceramic Topper. A product like this is essential for easy / on the go maintenance. Most Quick Detail products are pretty solid, we use a custom mixed Quick Detailer product in our shop alongside a ceramic topper (Technicians Choice 582)

1.  Prepare Your Buckets
Place grit guards in both of your buckets. Fill one bucket with water (Wash Mitt / Paint bucket) and the other with water (Wheel / Brush bucket). Put a couple ounces of car shampoo into each bucket. This adds some extra lubricity to the tools in the buckets. 

2.  Pre-Rinse the Vehicle
Start by rinsing the entire car thoroughly with water. This helps remove loose dirt and debris so you don’t rub it into the paint / wheels during washing. A pressure washer or hose with a strong spray works best.

3.  Start with the Wheels / Wheel Wells / Tires First
Always wash your wheels / wheel wells / tires before the body of the vehicle to avoid splashing brake dust or grime onto clean paint.

• Use a dedicated wheel cleaner for NON coated wheels
• Use normal car shampoo for COATED wheels
• Rinse thoroughly
• Rinse door jams as well if heavily soiled

4.  Bug Removal (If needed) 

We like to have bug removal be its own separate process as bugs can be tedious.   Wash windshield, mirrors, front area of vehicle with a mitt / bug towel. 

• If vehicle is NOT coated, use dedicated bug cleaner / all purpose cleaner to help loosen bugs. 
• If vehicle is coated, use normal car shampoo to aid you in bug removal. 
• If you used a bug cleaner, do a light rinse to neutralize cleaner before moving on. 

5.  Hand Wash Paint (Straight lines)

Take your soapy wash mitt and hand wash the rest of the exterior surfaces. Use straight lines. Light pressure. 

• After each section, rinse your mitt in the clean water bucket before reloading with soap.
• Wash small sections at a time to keep soap from drying on the paint.
• We do the hood, fenders, bumper. We then move onto the drivers side of roof, work our way down washing the entire drivers side. Wash rear of vehicle, then complete passenger side. 

6. Final Rinse
Rinse the entire vehicle thoroughly to remove all soap residue.

7. Dry the Vehicle

• Use clean, plush microfiber drying towels to gently blot and wipe down the car.
• Use same process of washing, for drying. Straight lines going from panel to panel, in order. 
• Dry Paint / Glass first, then wheels, then door jams. 
• Alternatively, a dedicated car dryer or blower is great for touch-free drying and getting water out of crevices, especially if your vehicle is COATED. 

Have your vehicle covered in a Protective Coating

This will help immensely with making your vehicle to easier to maintain. Surfaces become hydrophobic = easy to clean. 

Use Quick Detail Spray / Ceramic Topper After Wash
Whether your vehicle has been coated or not, it's helpful to briefly go over the vehicle after the wash with an aftercare product. A great product is Technicians Choice 582.

•  If your vehicle isn't coated, it'll add instant gloss / water beading to your surfaces. 
• If your vehicle is coated, it'll simply refresh the coating. 

Dress The Tires
A nice finishing touch is your tires being freshly dressed. It's important for your tire dressing to look good, that you did a solid job actually cleaning the tire itself. 

Get a tire shine applicator, apply tire dressing to applicator, apply to tire. 

Shade is your friend 

Wash in a cool, shaded area to avoid water spots.

Separate towels & mitts

Don’t cross-contaminate.

Never use household cleaners 

They hurt protection over time and can stain / damage surfaces. 

✅ Microfiber towels (multiple — for glass, plastics, and seats)

✅ Soft-bristle interior brush. Or detailing brush (great for vents, crevices)

✅ Vacuum. It's extremely useful to have access to an air compressor as well. This will make your vacuuming process more efficient

✅ Interior Cleaner. Depending on condition of your vehicle, you may be able to just use a Quick Detailer, or you might need an actual Interior Cleaning. Lightly dirty vehicles we use Quick Detailer, Heavily dirty vehicles we use our Interior Cleaner, which is P&S Interior Cleaner.

✅ Glass cleaner (ammonia-free to avoid damage to tint) We recommend SprayWay glass cleaner or Meguairs Professional Glass Cleaner.

✅ Protectant / Conditioner (if applicable) You can use a dedicated leather conditioner, or simply just use a Ceramic topper like product (Technicians Choice 582) and protect your leather / plastics. 

1. Remove Trash / Personal Items / Floormats
Start by clearing out any debris or clutter. This makes the cleaning process easier and more thorough.

2. Vacuum / Blowout Thoroughly

Start off on drivers side. Vacuum loose debris in doors, and work your way into the interior of the vehicle. It's extremely helpful to have access to an air compressor to blow out crevices. 

• Use crevice tools for tight areas between seats, console, and door pockets.
• Don’t forget under the seats!

3. Clean Plastics / Leather / Floormats

Same order as vacuuming, start off on driver side, go over all areas. It's helpful to use a wet towel & a dry towel to mop up cleaning residue. 

• Use a clean microfiber towel with the appropriate interior cleaner to wipe dash, console, door panels, and trim.
• For tight spots (vents, buttons, seams), use a soft detailing brush lightly misted with cleaner.
• Use any desirable cleaner to clean rubber floor mats. If they are carpet floor mats just simply vacuum / wipe clean. 

4.  Clean the Glass

Use Towel #1 to spray glass cleaner in, go over glass. Then use Towel #2 to wipe up majority of residue. Use Towel #3 to ensure no streaks. 

• Use a clean microfiber towel and ammonia-free glass cleaner on interior windows, mirrors, and infotainment screens.
• Wipe in straight lines to reduce streaks (up/down on one side, side-to-side on the other so you can spot smudges).

5.  Protect Surfaces  (Optional)

• Apply protectant to a towel, then wipe clean with a fresh microfiber.\
• Can make maintaining interior easier ovetime

Use Quick Detail Spray to maintain vehicle overtime
Before vehicle gets too dusty / grimy, use a light mist of quick detailer spray to mop up any light grime.