Spring Cleaning Your Daily Driver

SEVEN SIMPLE STEPS TO THE ULTIMATE SPRING CLEAN

Winter can be extremely harsh on any vehicle, which is just one of the reasons why, as detailers, we can't wait until Springtime. You see, with an over-abundance of grime on the roads, along with salt and other heavy contaminants, your vehicle will always take quite the battering… and, let's face it - the weather doesn't always help for getting out there for anything other than routine maintenance, either!

But, we always say that giving your car a good detail at the start of Spring sets you in good stead for what's on the horizon. Spring is a time for change... and there's no change quite as satisfying as cleaning away what remains from the cold season.

And, that's exactly what a thorough Spring Clean is all about - deep-cleaning and decontamination of all the winter grime. So, whether it's getting your daily driver show-season-ready, or you haven't quite been keeping up on those maintenance washes, here you'll find our seven simple steps to Spring Cleaning heaven, and you can do it all in less than a couple of hours...

STEP 1 - ENGINE BAY

It's a stage that many forget, which is something of a shame because transforming your engine bay, especially on a relatively modern car, couldn't be simpler.

Over Autumn and Winter you'll find significantly more salt and road grime being flung up into engine bays, along with other organic debris like dead leaves, mud and mulch finding its way through scuttle panels, in some cases even blocking the factory drain holes.

Areas that seem to suffer the most from the extra dirt are engine covers and trims, along with the underside of the bonnet. Cleaning heavy contamination away is not only a matter of aesthetics, it can actually prolong the life of vital components by stopping contaminants from rotting some of the more sensitive parts of your bay.

All these areas are easy to clean however, and you even have a choice of great products. A strong 1:2 dilution of Verso All Purpose Cleaner and Eradicate Engine Degreaser are both ideal for shifting the worst heavy soil and oil-based contamination .

On a cool engine (starting with the underside of the bonnet) give the whole engine bay a pre-rinse, being sure to flush out scuttles and shuts. This is a safe process to carry out just as long as you avoid spraying directly at alternators and exposed electrics. Instead mist your pressure washer over the entire bay to remove any loose contamination.

After your pre-rinse, a liberal helping of your cleaning agent can be applied and agitated into surfaces with a soft Detailing Brush or Hog Hair Brush. This is an extremely quick process designed to ensure that your cleaning solution makes contact with every nook, and that it's being refreshed as you go. For the most heavily contaminated areas you can keep applying your Eradicate or Verso as you work, just don't let it fully dry.

Once you've brushed your cleaner into all areas, including shuts, pillars, plastic covers and scuttle panels, simply rinse away the the grime by misting over your pressure washer.

One unique thing about engine bays is that you can finish them before going on with the rest of your detail. Just liberally apply Dressle All Purpose Dressing over the entire area, shut the bonnet and leave to cure for a few hours. You can go back later after you've finished your detail to mop up any excess if you need to, it really is as simple as that.

STEP 2 - WHEELS, ARCHES AND TYRES

Now on to what you may call the main detail, and as always, we start with the wheels tyres and arches - generally the dirtiest parts of the whole vehicle. All of these areas should be completed together, one corner at a time.

Again, for a Spring Clean on a daily driver it's more about performing a peroidic deep-clean and decontamination than it would be for general maintenance, this is why we not only use a powerful wheel cleaner, like Revolution Wheel Soap, but combine it with a hard hitting decontamination product that's capable of chemically dissolving embedded ferrous particles. For this we use Iron Out Contaminant Remover.

The reason these sharp metal particles - which are chiefly derived from brake dust - need to be removed is that, if left for long enough, they'll not only damage the wheel finish but can cause corrosion. Eventually this can even compromise the structure of the wheel.

In this case, after a thorough rinse to remove any loose grime, Iron Out can be applied directly to the wheel faces and barrels. We'll then agitate the Iron Out with a solution of Revolution shampoo, around 2-3 capfuls in a bucket of water will be sufficient to act as a powerful cleaner and lubricant.

Start with a Barrel Brush to agitate the product on the inside of the wheel, and then go on to use a Detailing Brush, followed by and a dedicated wash mitt, to clean any grime from the spokes and faces. Basically we're looking to agitate our solution into every part of the wheel here, paying particular attention to the awkward dirt traps such as behind the spokes, the lips and the nut recesses.

Finally, when we've made contact with every part of the surface, we can rinse away the cleaning solution residue (along with the grime).

After cleaning our wheels, we can move on to the tyres and inner arches. Here we're looking to remove any road salt, leftover dressings or other heavy contaminants that may have built up over winter. The idea is to not only make our tyres look a whole lot better (and of course, protect them from any adverse effects of the worst contaminants) but to ensure that any tyre dressings we apply latter will have the perfect surface to fully bond to. In other words, clean tyres not only make your dressings look better, but will help them last longer, too.

Using our Tread Tyre Cleaner or a 1:2 dilution of Verso All Purpose Cleaner will remove all soiling here.

Simply spray liberally over tyre sidewalls and inner arch liners and scrub away using a Rubber Scrubber Tyre Brush. After rinsing and re-flushing arches, you can give your wheels a final rinse.

STEP 3 - PRE WASH AND CONTACT WASH

Starting with thorough a pre wash is the only way to remove heavy soiling without inflicting swirl marks. In fact, no matter the level of grime on the vehicle, we'll always perform a pre wash just to be sure that potentially sensitive surfaces have been rid of the most harmful particles. The idea is to make sure we're not dragging large pieces of grit and grime across surfaces with our wash mitt during our contact wash later.

The first stage is to tackle awkward areas like door jambs and boot shuts. These are often forgotten during routine maintenance and can build up a surprising amount of grime. We always start by liberally applying a suitable pre-cleaner - such as Citrus Power Bug & Grime Remover or a Dynamite Traffic Film Remover. On these areas a little agitating with a soft Detailing Brush will do far more good than harm. After this you can rinse away the grime and move onto to rinsing down the rest of the vehicle from the top to bottom. The reason we always pre-rinse the whole vehicle is simple - it removes any loose soiling and leaves our cleaning agents to work where there most needed - on the stuck-on grime.

Next, more of our pre-cleaner over the rest of the vehicle to break down and encapsulate the rest of the heavy grime. Both Citrus Power and Dynamite are wax, sealant and coating safe, and can be used on all trim, glass and paintwork. We recommend spraying on the most contaminated areas (the lower halves, front bumper and rear end) first to give maximum dwell time. Once rinsed away, we can move on to the second re wash stage - using Avalanche Snow Foam.

Using Avalanche Snow Foam, our Citrus-infused cleaning agent, is an important stage in any pre-wash. The idea of snow foam is that your Snow Foam Lance whips it to a thick constancy to ensure that it dwells on the surface for the maximum possible time. While it's dwelling the heavy duty cleaning agents in the solution are busy breaking down and lifting any bonded grime allowing it to be rinsed away.

Avalanche also works its way into any awkward panel gaps to clean those out, too. This ensures that any dust and debris won't come out later and interfere with the rest of your detail.

We apply our snow foam from the top of the car down, this helps prevent spreading any grime upwards to the typically cleaner areas.

The great thing about Avalanche is that (assuming you've already carried out your first stage pre wash) it can be agitated with a soft Detailing Brush to give extra contact and cleaning power around intricate areas like grills, badges, along window rubbers and inside fuel flaps.

What's important here is to make sure that your Avalanche doesn't dry on the vehicle while you work - it has to be wet to do its job. A great pro tip is to keep an eye on the windows as these tend to start to dry out first. When this happens you can rinse away your Avalanche (along with all the grime trapped in the solution) working from the top of the car down.

With the Avalanche rinsed away, we can move on to the contact wash.

Using a detailers 'two bucket' wash method is the best way to avoid inflicting swirl marks. Here we'll use one Detailing Bucket for our shampoo solution and another with plain water for rinsing out our wash mitt after each pass on the car. Note that neither of these will be a the bucket we previously used to clean our wheels - always keep that one separate.

It's also important to use a powerful but kind cleaning agent such as our Lather Car Shampoo. This will lift and lubricate any remaining grime, allowing it to slide off of the vehicle without abrading paintwork. Keeping our contact wash safe and swirl-free is the key here.

As you contact wash the route you take around the car is also important. Here we look to tackle the least contaminated areas first - starting with the roof and upper sides, and finishing with the lower sides and rear end. This will avoid any transfer of grime to any cleaner areas.

Obviously we use a professional wash mitt for the job. The mitt you use may be down to your preference and it can be made from lambswool or microfibre. But what they all have in common is that they're designed to glide over the surface lifting away any harmful particles and trapping them deep within the pile. The idea is to pick these up rather than simply pushing them around, and most importantly to keep them locked in the mitt, away from your paintwork, until you rinse them out in your bucket.

Only after you've covered every inch of the exterior with your mitt should you thoroughly rinse away any shampoo solution.

STAGE 4 - DECONTAMINATION

A full 3-stage paintwork decontamination is arguably the most important collection of processes in any Spring Clean. Here we tackle the sort of embedded and bonded contaminants that can't be eradicated by washing alone. This includes contamination such as ferrous metal particles, sticky tar and glue residues, along with embedded organic and inorganic contaminants, such as bird droppings and tree sap. All the kind of contaminants you don't want being pulled out and interfering with your polishing later. As you'd expect, we have an specialist detailing product for each type.

First we'll tackle any metal contamination. You can look as this as tiny pieces of shrapnel from sources such as brake dust. These are flying around in the air on the roads and will inevitably embed themselves into paintwork, eventually creating what looks like tiny rust spots.

The only way of safely removing metal contamination from your paintwork is using Iron Out Contaminant Remover. This product chemically dissolves the metal into the solution allowing it to be rinsed away.

Spray Iron Out liberally over all surfaces, leave to dwell for a minute or two (without allowing the product to dry) and you'll see it react to turn blood red. To get a little more bite on heavily contaminated vehicles you can also gently agitate the solution with a wet Polish Pad or microfibre Work Cloth. It can then be rinsed away, taking the metal particles with it.

The second decontamination process is designed to take care of any sticky contamination, most commonly road tar and glue residues. For this we use ObliTARate Tar & Glue Remover.

This powerful solvent-based formula is ideal for targeted use on lower halves where you'll typically find this kind of harmful contamination. A few light spritzes over these areas is all it takes and you'll see the sticky stuff melt away ready to be wiped off of the surface with a clean microfibre Work Cloth. For even more targeted use on tighter areas you can simply apply your ObliTARate to a microfibre cloth and wipe.

Once you have used any solvent to remove sticky contamination it's important to rinse away the solution thoroughly and rewash the area using Lather Car Shampoo. This will neutralise any leftover solvent and prevent it reacting with your clay during the next stage.

The final decontamination process is designed to physically pull other bonded contaminants out of paintwork using detailing clay. This will leave the surface smooth and glass-like, making it perfect for further enhancement using an abrasive car polish.

Here we use our Clay Bar along with Glide Clay Lube. It's an extremely simple process that makes a huge amount of difference.

Take a small piece of your clay bar and flatten it to make a pad. You can then lubricate the clay and the surface with Glide, and then gently run the clay back and forth until the contaminants have been removed. You can actually feel the difference in resistance as your clay glides across the surface.

After claying the whole vehicle, another wash with Lather and a rinse down will ensure that all traces of Glide has been removed.

Of course, we can never say this enough, always dry your vehicle thoroughly after washing. This is because tap water - the stuff coming out of your pressure washer - will contain a huge amount of mineral impurities. If left to air dry, these will inevitably be deposited on the surface causing marks and hard water spots.

Tap water isn't pure like filtered water or rainwater, so it needs to be soaked up safely using an Aqua Deluxe or Silk Drying Towel. For drying door jambs and wheels, a super-fluffy Primo Plush or Ultra Plush Microfibre cloth is perfect and a little more controllable than an extra-large towel.

STEP 5 - ENHANCEMENT

At this stage you can choose to fully machine polish your vehicle using a selection of our specialist paint correction polishes and compounds, along with one of our dual action machine polishers. This will certainly remove every defect in your paintwork, but admittedly it's more along the lines of a full correction detail, rather than a relatively simple Spring Clean. So, in this case, were going for a quick and easy hand polishing process.

Our product of choice here is our extremely versatile Tripple All-in-One Polish. This advanced abrasive formula will not only enhance the look of any type of gloss paintwork, but will also clean away oxidation and leave behind the unmistakably warm glow of wax… yes, this one is actually infused with T1 Grade carnauba, so it will also install a layer of wax protection!

What's more, we've also engineered this polish to be extremely quick and easy to apply by hand. Just add a few drops to a Polish Pad or Microfibre Applicator and massage into paintwork, one panel at a time. After leaving the product to haze for a moment, buff away the residue with a fresh microfibre cloth - you'll immediately see the difference.

Basically speaking, using Tripple is the speedy way to clean, enhance and protect, all in one step.

STEP 6 - INTERIOR

Now is a great time to start tackling your interior, simply because if you do this before adding your final paint protection layers, then any area of exterior paintwork that you may accidentally rub against while cleaning the cabin can be quickly rectified.

Spring Cleaning wise, you're looking to rid the vehicle of mud and general grime that will have been dragged in on your shoes, along with dust, body oils and fingerprints. The most affected areas will inevitably be carpets, pedals, seats and steering wheels, but dashboards, doorcards and plastic trim also take a particular battering in Winter. Luckily every single one of these areas can be taken care of with Total Interior Cleaner.

Vacuum the seats and carpets first, to remove the worst of the loose grime and then you can spritz Total liberally over fabrics, agitating the stains and grime away with an Upholstery Brush. A final wipe over with a clean microfibre and your cabin will be as fresh as the day it left the factory.

For dashboards, doorcards and plastic trim, Total is a quick and effective 'spray-and-wipe' formula, you can either spritz directly onto surfaces and wipe, or onto a microfibre cloth before wiping over the surface. For more intricate or awkward areas, Total can be agitated with a soft detailing brush, before wiping away any excess. On all these areas Total leaves behind a subtle and non-sticky finish.

STEP 7 - ADDING PROTECTION

Of course, we understand that adding protection is a personal thing for every detailer. You may be looking to apply your favourite hard wax or even a sealant or ceramic coating, it all depends on your preference. For a super-fast Spring Clean though, Radiance Carnauba Crème comes highly recommended.

Again, we've developed this product to be extremely easy to apply, and it gives similar visual results to the hard waxes in our Signature Hard Wax Collection, it's just a little faster. Radiance also offers up to 3-months protection from the elements, and is applied in much the same way as Tripple.

A few pea sized drops on a Microfibre Applicator or Polish Pad is all you need to enhance and protect a whole panel, and you simply won't believe how easily the residue is buffed away. In fact, you can complete an entire vehicle and get amazing results in a matter of minutes.