October 11th, 2021 by Keith Gribbin - Precious Metal Vehicle Detailing

Like any other process in life, there is a “tried and trusted” method to protect preserve and improve the condition of your vehicles bodywork, engine compartment, wheels and interior. Most Professional Vehicle detailers will employ the specific process to be time and cost-effective, working in a particular fashion to bring your vehicles dreary appearance “back to life”. Why do we need to keep our vehicles clean? There are plenty of reasons, from improving your car's performance to making sure you get the best deal when the time comes to sell it.

The Basics

Your vehicle becomes dirty in respect of every- day use, or even when it's parked up, and not in use. It’s subject to the changing weather conditions, traffic residue (Carbon monoxide and Sulphur), tree sap, bird droppings, grit and dirt, and if left for any length of time in damp conditions, even green algae. All of these above will go a long way to laying on top of your car, slowly building up on the bodywork, preventing the natural finish and beauty to shine through. Always follow the instructions of the product for the best results.

Why is it Important to Keep My Car Clean?

It is always important to have a clean vehicle. Not only does the vehicle look good, but it will also help you obtain better fuel economy. A clean and polished vehicle will travel through the airstream more efficiently than a car covered in grime, or carrying heaps of dirt. This might not be noticeable when you're driving the car, but you will find that keeping your car clean saves - on average - around 2 mpg, saving you a lot of cash over the course of a year. Cleaning your car will help to retain its value, especially in these times that second-hand vehicles are actually going up in price due to the shortage of new car components.

The more regularly you clean your car, the easier and quicker it is to do so, next time around. However if you do not follow the proper car cleaning regime, you will effectively be moving particles of dirt and grime around the bodywork in a fine abrasive solution, held in a sponge against the paintwork causing damage by “micro scratching” the bodywork. This results in your vehicle’s paintwork losing that brilliant shine, resulting in wasted effort and a depreciation in the value of your vehicle.

Method and Recommended Products

Start by investing in proper car cleaning equipment. Don’t use inferior products, as it will not be cost-effective, and you will also go a long way to ruining the surface of your vehicle's bodywork. As stated above, a car will become covered with a film of dirt, grime, bird droppings, traffic film and even at times sand from the Sahara desert. It is important to loosen this coating which if just approached with a bucket and sponge, would act as a fine abrasive solution that would dull the paintwork with thousands of micro scratches.

Alloy Wheel Cleaning

We would highly recommend that you first use a diluted solution of Pro-Kleen Troll’s Breath alloy wheel cleaner to tackle the wheels first. Spray the alloys with the diluted solution of the above product and after a couple of minutes, you will see the solution turning a dark purple colour. Agitate the alloy wheel surface with a soft brush to lift brake dust and contaminants off the surface of the wheel. Do not leave the solution on the wheel for any more than 15 minutes as this may result in a damaged wheel surface. Rinse thoroughly with clean water to neutralise the solution and to reveal sparkling alloy wheels.

5L Pro-Kleen Trolls Breath

Price: £26.95

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Bodywork

Now is also the time to use the Pro-Kleen Troll’s Breath diluted solution on heavily soiled vehicles to help loosen and break down the contact of anything attached to your vehicle. (Let’s just refer to it as “dirt” for the purpose of this advice sheet.) This helps to take the bodywork back to its basic topcoat so that a thorough wash and cleaning process can be undertaken.

We would then highly recommend the addition of a Pro-Kleen super snow foam treatment to cover the vehicle from top to bottom. The snow foam is a finer detergent and lifting agent which helps promote the loosening of dirt material and naturally absorbs any contamination, sliding in a downwards direction as it does so, carrying any dirt and debris with it, all in a matter of minutes. It is applied by use of the Pro-Kleen Super Snow foam gun pressure washer bottle attachment, which connects directly to the bayonet fitting on your pressure washer. Different pressure washers have different fittings, so make sure you pick the right one to match your pressure washer (if you're really not sure, just get in touch with us and we'll tell you which one you need). This will help to remove the majority of the dirt, helping speed up the process of washing your vehicle and allowing less damage to occur in the same process. At this point, thoroughly rinse your vehicle, preferably with a power washer on a gentle to medium spray pressure. Your vehicle will at this point be 80% clean, without the need for a physical wash!

Pro-Kleen Super Concentrate Snow Foam 1L Bubblegum Fragrance

Price: £13.96

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Any stubborn areas including tar and resin residue, such as tree sap and bird droppings can be treated with Pro Kleen Tar Dah solution before the vehicle is then hand washed. 

The Wash

Always use a two bucket method, along with grit guards.

The two bucket method is a bucket of hot water containing Pro-Kleen Wash and Wax, and a second bucket containing only clean warm/hot water. The purpose of grit guards stops you from taking on more dirt from the bucket, the dirt should fall to the bottom of the bucket and not be regenerated into the majority of the clean water.

Start by using a quality such as the Pro-Kleen Micro Fibre Hand mitt into the hot water bucket containing Pro-Kleen Wash and Wax, Work from top to bottom, wash the roof of the vehicle first, then rinse the mitt in the clean water bucket. Then continue, one body panel at a time, before taking the hand mitt and washing it out in the clean water bucket again, after every panel is washed! Open the doors and wash the sills and door bottoms too. The hot Wash and Wax bucket water should remain clean at all times, and the second clean water Bucket will start to show signs of dirt transferal. If the buckets get cross-contaminated or show excess amounts of dirt (for example, if you dip the dirty hand mitt into the soap bucket without first cleaning it off in the clean water bucket) then empty them out, refill as above and continue. If you don’t do this, you will be subjecting the bodywork to a mild form of abrasion which will, over time, cause damage to the vehicle’s paintwork.

3 x 5L Pro-Kleen Wash and Wax Shampoo

Price: £37.96

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Thoroughly rinse and complete the vehicle quarter by quarter, rinsing off with clean water from the pressure washer as you go. Then it's time to dry off the vehicle with a quality microfibre dry cloth such as the Pro-Kleen microfibre towel. Always fold the towel twice, so it effectively becomes a quarter in size and uses a fresh clean quarter for each panel. This equates to eight quarter panels if you use both sides of the cloth. Empty a bucket of water out and wash the interior of the bucket clean. Then refill with clean warm water so you can rinse the microfibre out as you dry each panel off. The microfibre works better than a traditional wash leather as it is far more absorbent, is far cheaper to buy in the first instance and can be placed in a washing machine to clean, ready for use time and time again.

The Final Steps; Vehicle Protection and Easy Top Coat Wax Application in 7 Minutes  

As a finishing touch to help protect your vehicle's bodywork, and again to help make it easier to keep your vehicle clean in the long term, use Pro-Kleen Amazing Glaze. This is a specially formulated Carnauba Wax product that can be simply sprayed onto the bodywork, panel by panel and wiped off to an amazing high gloss finish using a clean Microfibre cloth. Standing water will then bead and simply roll off the bodywork, carrying particles of dirt as it does so and keep your car looking cleaner for longer. An average size family vehicle can be treated in around 7 minutes with very little effort. The result of this treatment never ceases to amaze and it can be used on glass, plastic bumpers and alloy wheels to offer an additional layer of glaze protection.

Pro-Kleen Tyre Shine Dressing 5L

Price: £24.95

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Use Pro-Kleen Tyre Shine on your vehicle's tyres for that just “as new” sidewall appearance. Apply with an old sponge for best results. Vacuum the interior of the vehicle, quarter by quarter, including the boot area. Then treat the vehicle interior to a blast of Pro-Kleen “New car” air freshener. Wipe down the dash and plastic trim with Pro-Kleen dashboard treatment for those final finishing touches.

Professional result. Job done.