Sweating the Details: 10 Car-Cleaning Mistakes to Avoid
No fooling around, April means National Car Care Month! Whether you’re a seasoned pro, or someone like me who has committed many of the below errors, it’s easy to overlook best practices when washing and detailing your car. Now that spring is upon us and great driving weather is ahead, I’ll bet you want your car looking and feeling its best. Here are 10 common car cleaning mistakes to avoid as you take your beloved machine out of hibernation.
Don’t: Leave wax on for too long (or wipe it off too soon!)
How long you should leave wax on a car before you wipe it off? It’s 1-2 minutes… if it’s Ammo Skin Defense. If you are using Griot’s Garage Ceramic 3-In-1 Wax, you shouldn’t let any water touch it or apply a 2nd coat until it cures for 12-24 hours after wiping off. Then there’s Chemical Guys Butter Wet Wax, which should be wiped off immediately.
There’s no hard and fast rule here. Each wax is different, so the move here is to follow the instructions to get optimal results. Some need to dry to a haze. Others will leave streaks if you don’t wipe them off immediately. Just keep in mind that with any wax, if you leave it on the longer than directed, expect to leave streaks.
Don’t: Go overboard with the product
Whether it is wax or interior protectant, less is best!
Especially when it comes to paint protection, using too much wax offers no additional benefit and just makes removing it that much more difficult. That also applies to mixing a concentrate product, so don’t go too strong. Using too strong of a window cleaner, for instance, leads to more visible streaks.
Don’t: Leave bugs or bird dropping on your paint
Maybe it’s revenge, but bugs can damage the paint long after they hit the car. The little splattered insects stuck on your bumper can contain acidic substances. As insect remains decompose, they produce enzymes intended to break down the carcass. These enzymes also break down automotive clear coat and, eventually, paint. It can result in permanent etching. They’re also gross.
Bird droppings, too, are both gross and acidic enough to penetrate your clear coat and leaving a lasting stain.
The fix here is easy: Grab a spray detailer and wipe off bugs and bird poop when you see it on your car. Don’t wait!
Don’t: Wash the wheels last
It may seem counterintuitive, but I’m a believer in washing your wheels/tires/wheel wells first. Once that’s done, start at the top of the car and work your way down.
If you wait to do the wheels as the final step, all the caked-on brake dust and dirt you are spraying away from wheels/tires can get on the nice clean paint that you just finished. Am I the only one who doesn’t like to repeat my work?
On that note, it’s best to use a separate wash mitt or brush when you do the wheels/tires/wheel wells first. You do not want to soil a mitt or microfiber and then apply it directly to the body. For more on that …
Don’t: Use one towel for all tasks
Today is the day! Get your car cleaning towels organized!
Color coding can help a lot here. Towels used for cleaning windows should be all one color, so they are never mistakenly used for anything else. Interior protectant towels, a different color. Towels, you wipe the paint with? That’s right, a third color.
Using a towel that previously had Armor All on it to clean a window will lead to streaks (even if it’s been washed). A towel that applied leather protectant one week can’t be expected to do perform a clean final wipe down on paint the next week.
Don’t: Forget to clean the tires before dressing
Think about it: Before a big night out, most people shower before getting dressed. You need to clean or degrease tires before applying tire shine. Otherwise the dressing can’t absorb into the tire as well, causing it to fling off the next time you drive—potentially onto your paint.
Don’t: Damage your infotainment screen
Is there a new car on the market that doesn’t come with a big infotainment screen dominating the dash?
These screens can be very vulnerable to damage. They tend to pick up fingerprints, smudges, and germs, and it can be tempting to reach for a Lysol wipe to clean them off. Don’t do it! Household cleaners like wipes or Windex can damage your infotainment screen; many screens come with an antireflective coating from the factory that will be destroyed by these products.
Scratches are also common, especially if you use a plastic vacuum attachment to run over the screen. (Soft attachments made for dashes and screens, however, do exist.) A clean microfiber cloth is the best when it comes to cleaning your screens, along with a little automotive window cleaner added if needed. If even that seems risky, you can always dilute the cleaner with a bit of water.
Don’t: Add fabric softener to your cleaning towels
Pretty self-explanatory here. Any dryer sheets or fabric softener added to the wash with your towels makes them smell like rainbows, but causes them to leave streaks on paint and windows the next time they are used. Now you know.
Don’t: Use a Magic Eraser to clean your car
Magic Erasers are great at removing dirt and grime from surfaces. But they should stay far away from most parts of your car.
Made from melamine foam, a type of abrasive material, a Magic Eraser removes not only dirt but also some of the protective coatings on your car’s surfaces. Vulnerable finishes like wax or even the clear coat on the paint are at risk with a Magic Eraser—even the tint on your windows. There is a drying effect to this product, as well, which can strip away the natural oils from your car’s paint, interior plastics, and leather seats, leaving them looking dull.
I’m sure there are some safe areas they can be used, but in general I keep them away from my car.
Don’t: Wash your car with dish soap
This is the most common mistake I see people make. Dish soap is engineered specifically to break down and remove grease, so it will strip any wax or paint sealant from surfaces on your car. Although it gets the car “clean”, dish soap will cause more harm than good and can even dull paint.
Dedicated car cleaning soap, for example is designed to be effective and safe on automotive finishes. Plus, it’s really affordable! Using products that aren’t designed for cars can do damage and end up costing you significantly more in time and money.
Hopefully you have time to get out and celebrate National Car Care Month by cleaning up your ride. What are some other car cleaning mistakes you have made? Or perhaps, ah, mistakes “someone you know” made? Let us know in the comments.
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PINE SAP !!! I left my new BMW under a pine tree for a week, my paint was destroyed in a week. It was a lesson learned. It went though the clear coat and discolored the paint underneath. If you catch it quickly there is not much that will remove the sap. Almost nothing will dissolve this off.
I know some of the readers will cringe, but I resorted to carburetor cleaner, in a small amount to dissolve the hardened pine sap and was able to remove.
The final solution was a chainsaw, which worked the best.
Leave all chemicals away from your car. Get 2 nice large bath towels, wet one to clean the dry one to clean up after. If you have access to a hose that would be great. I haven’t waxed any of my cars in years, with the advent of good clear coats I’m not sure if anything is good for it. I use simple green on the tires and a good stiff scrub brush with a long handle to do the wheels when the tires are wet. I hose them off and do the tires last. .
Here is my $.02. I use Top Coat F11 on all my cars. Water beads up and dirt rinses off easily. The collector cars look amazing and the dailys stay clean. Even my 2001 S 10 pickup which sits outside 7X24 looks good. Also regarding the Magic Eraser it is great for cleaning windows before using window cleaner. No streaks because all the grease is gone.
I own several of the old Mr. Clean sprayers, and wish they hadn’t stopped making them. You’d pour the soap in, and it also has a water filter, and a mister to spray on that helps prevent water spots. The sprayer isn’t the most sturdy, but it worked well enough. The best part is that you didn’t have to dip back in to a bucket with dirty water at all. Perhaps not enough people bought them. I still use it, but had to go back to the soap in a bucket and the mitt.
I have always washed the wheels last for the obvious reasons. I’m just careful with how I spray (Mr. Clean Rinse setting isn’t a super blaster), and just rinse around the painted areas if I do get anything on them; still don’t have an issue with that. I also use the Mr. Clean wheel brush with the soft bristles for wheels, and only use the mitt to get into tighter areas for detail. The California Water Blade works well to get water off windows and horizontal surfaces to avoid spotting as well.
Lemon Pledge works well for cleaning the entertainment screens and for plastic convertible top back windows. Use a very soft cloth to remove.
I can attest to the need for removing bug splats from paint ASAP. When I got my Mustang the one thing that was noticeably wrong was the painted front bumper looked like the surface of the moon from bug guts left on the paint. I ended up having to get it repainted as all the rubbing & polishing compound in the world wasn’t going to help. Ate through the clear coat and into the base color. Tree sap is just as bad.
I usually wash my car with dish soap….. and bar keepers friend. The DeLorean that is 😉
I have a good “don’t do” if cleaning your windows.. don’t use blue shop towels, with Windex it leaves streaks not only cause grief when sunlight or another cars lights hit it (and it will look clean until then) and you can no longer see anything because of the glare , but also know it took two more cleanings using ample Windex and regular white paper towels to completely remove the film left from the blue shop towels. And just to prove that’s what caused it I forgot and cleaned my car windshield the same way next weekend with the same p.i.b. results. (Pain in butt)
So glad I signed up and took time to read this advise, rebuttals and followups.
I’m 76, live in wet Oregon and have two sweet rides late in life. A 2002 Corvette from a guy who sold Chemicals for a living and had the car since 2003. He said he has never used any soap washing the cars finish.. period. I was shocked, simple he said, all soaps are chemicals. They all will work to break down the finish. This car has 30K actual miles and looks showroom, I can photo if interested in seeing. Not for sale, but the water only I thought was worthy of mention, and the fact it has never been driven in the rain, possibly why he had 5 garage stalls, lol.
I’m still learning. Thanks again.
I’m not sure I want to live in a world anymore that has words like “infotainment” in it.
Hi. What’s the best way to clean a leather steering wheel that’s gone all shiny and slippery? My truck is two years old. I watched several videos showing people cleaning their steering wheels with magic erasers. They did state to use them lightly. I’ve tried some basic cleaning but it only looks good for a day or two.
What to use to remove dead bugs, etc. if they have been on for months?
Wheels first ? Really nobody should ever listen to you, about anything. Spraying wheels puts dirt on paint? You should leave.
ALWAYS wash the wheels LAST.
You don’t ever want dirty soap or dirty water on a vehicle’s painted surfaces.
Highly recommend waxing with Collinite 845 Electrical Insulator Wax… it makes metallic finishes POP like no other product will!
RE: Infotainment Screens. Save yourself some worry and extra work (diluting automotive window cleaner? Really?) and use the right tool for the job: Eye Glass/Optical Glass Lens Cleaner. I purchase 16 oz from a popular on-line retailer for less than $15 and it can be used on eye glasses, sun glasses, phones, tablets, laptops, monitors, TVs…essentially any high-performance or coated screen or piece of glass/polycarbonate that commercial glass cleaners may harm…and always used with a microfiber cloth that is laundered frequently WITHOUT using fabric softener and air drying. 😉