Tips & Tricks To Wash Your Car At Home – Quarantine Life

Since many areas are now opening up after the coronavirus lockdown, time to think about washing the car. Sure, you can buy stuff online or at a local store for washing your car yourself, but did you know you might already have products to use that you never though could be used?

Cleaning your Car’s Interior 

Cleaning the outside of your car is for the world to see. Cleaning the inside is just for you. Can you really enjoy driving if your car is dirty?

First on the list, clean out the garbage and bag it up or put it back in its rightful place. Dusting is next and you can tackle all the nooks and crannies with a soft cloth (electrostatic works best), a house duster, an unused paintbrush sponge or even something children like to use—sticky goo, which works especially well in your AC vents.

A small brush and soapy water will clean the pedals of your car.

Then it’s time to vacuum. You can use attachments from your house vac or a dust buster or what about that mini-vac you received as a present you never used.

Now, it’s time to deep clean the seats and vinyl. Commercial leather cleaner works great but if you don’t have that, you can use a solution of vinegar and olive oil.

Your Mechanic recommends for heavy-duty stains, mix one cup of dish soap (like Dawn) with one cup of club soda and one cup of white vinegar and then spray. May need a brush to work out the stain. For easier stains, equal parts white vinegar and water could work as well.

One thought though: Dish soap works on the inside of cars but its use on the outside is controversial except for aluminum rims. Proceed with caution.

Wash the Wheels of your Car

Before you start washing your car, take care of the wheels. This is the area where most of the dust and gunk accumulates. When you are washing your wheels, first make them wet. Dawn Detergent with equal parts water can then be sprayed on aluminum rims. If some spots don’t go away, make a paste with Cream of Tartar and scrub with a stiff brush. Then rinse with the hose. Hunker.com has some other great tips for cleaning those rims.

Clean the Exterior of your Car

When you want to clean your car’s exterior, use a soft sponge or cotton swabs along with a toothbrush. You can get into the small areas of your car. Along with that, don’t wash your vehicle in the hot sun. The hot sun can ruin the finish of your body.

When you spray your car, spray it lightly around the edges of windows, sunroof, and rear deck lid. This will give you an idea if the weatherstripping is leaking or not. Make sure to wash with car washing products rather than using some ordinary dish soaps.

Car Windows–Use Rubbing Alcohol & White Vinegar

Use one cup of clean water, one-half cup of white vinegar, and one-fourth cup of rubbing alcohol and mix them properly in a spray bottle.

Spray the solution on the windows and always use a newspaper to dry. There may be bug splatter that can be removed with the help of plain vinegar.

Use Hair Conditioner To Shine Your Car

And now for the last step!

Are you worried because you don’t have the polish to shine your car? Well, how about trying a hair conditioner? Sounds weird?

Make sure to wipe your chrome down with a hair conditioner that contains lanolin. Once you apply hair conditioner, rub your car off with a clean cloth. At the end of this process, you will see gleaming results that will leave you astonished.

Final Thoughts

Spending time during COVID-19 in a productive way can be a difficult task. You often feel you have become useless when you have nothing to do. So, you can wash your car with the help of some accessible household materials.

If you can wash your vehicle regularly, there will be no need to spend money washing it. Better for your car to keep it clean and better for your own piece of mind in taking pride in ownership. Besides, it could be fun!

To treat your car and yourself, what about having fun accessorizing your vehicle with some essential automotive accessories to improve your car’s look.

Liza Parker is an automobile enthusiast and can be reached at https://inspireuplift.com.

Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.

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