What happens between detailing sessions?

Red and Black cars are the most work and the most rewarding.  This beautiful 67 GS belongs to a friend in Nevada.  I learned many of my car car tips from him...Thanks Lothar!

Perk up your car between detailing sessions

    A good coat of wax should last two to three months.  Especially if your car sees daily duty and bad weather.  If you wash your car weekly or more often, then wax won't last much longer.  Any wash product will strip wax off, thus my use of Ivory over the years, since no real wash product can clean and also "wax".
    To keep your car looking good between sessions, a good wash is necessary.  Hand wash and dry with soft towels per a previous "tip of the week".  In the Midwest, it's sometimes not practical to hand wash in below freezing weather, so I resort to either a wand-type car wash or one of the better drive through washes.  Yes, these are not as good as hand washing, but getting grime and salt off your car is more important than a few minor scratches.  If you have a good coat of wax, then the scratches will only be in the wax.

The "Tip"!

    If weather permits, I like to use (after a good wash and dry) a product like Meguires Quick Detailer (also called Final Inspection).  This works especially well on freshly waxed cars at shows and cruise-ins, where you just want to get rid of a few fingerprints or light dust.

NO-NO-NO

    DO NOT use products that claim you can spray a dirty car and wipe clean!  I don't care what they say, you can't "encapsulate" silica sand, which is basically little bits of broken glass, good enough to prevent scratching!  If you like this type of product, only use it on clean cars or those with the lightest bit of dust.  While it might temporarily hide minor scratches, they will "come home to roost" at some point in the future.

Make it stand out!

    Nothing makes a car look good like clean windows, tires, wheels and chrome (after the paint is shiny).  Use Lexol Vinylex or similar products on your tires.  Clean the windows (buff with newspaper for a better finish) and put some wax on the chrome.  Use a plastic polish (Meguires makes a good one) to perk up taillights and plastic headlights.  Of course vacuum out the car and use Vinylex on the interior vinyl parts and Lexol on the leather.

    You can see that those "between" detailing sessions are almost a full detail.  Your car will last longer for it though.

NEXT: Washing the Engine Compartment

Email: dmall@mwonline.net