JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – No matter if it’s a brand new ride or your old favorite, everyone loves cruising in a sparkling, clean car. But getting it to look that way can be a long and expensive process.
If you’re someone who likes taking the do-it-yourself route, News4Jax spoke with a local car detailing expert to break down what supplies you need to buy and how to use them.
Greg Clark has been detailing cars for 24 years. He owns “Greg The Detail Doctor,” a mobile detailing service in Jacksonville.
Here are some of his secrets:
Soap: “I don’t recommend using dish soap. It needs to be pH balanced because you don’t want to strip the polish,” Clark said. “Polish is what keeps the oils in your paint which gives it that wet, glossy look. ... Chemical Guys, that will probably be the best choice as far as soaps that you can buy in the store.”
Drying: “Bye a synthetic shammy cloth. You can get it at Walmart for about $10. That will dry it down. But before you dry it down, if you take some spray wax, spray it down while it’s wet, let it sit for a minute and just come back with your shammy and it’ll change the water behavior.”
Wheels & Tires: “First thing you want to look for is make sure it’s not aluminum coated. If it’s aluminum coated, soap and water. Soap and water is the safest route because if you put something that’s too strong on an aluminum coated tire, it’s going to eat it up, and it’s going to look really bad, but if it’s chrome, you can use the acid base cleaner.”
“I recommend that you scrub them first. Go to Walmart and get some bleach white. You can spray that on there, get a brush, scrub the tire itself, you’ll see the brown stuff start to come off. Hit that with a pressure washer and then apply your tire shine.”
Water Spots on Glass: “I will use Invisible Glass and wipe it down with the microfiber rag. If you still see what water spots. Use Invisible Glass again, some #0000 steel wool, and then take your microfiber cloth and clean it and the water spots will be gone.”
Exterior Trim: “After washing, take a cotton-wrapped and apply some Back to Black bumper treatment. You can get that at Pep Boys, Walmart, and just apply that. Let it sit for about five minutes and wipe it off, and it’ll bring back a nice shine to it.”
Wax: “Waxing is important, because if the car is left outside, being in Florida all the heat, it dries out the paint that’s giving you a barrier of protection. So, the best way to go about that is wax it every three months and you won’t have to worry about oxidation at all. So, what I would recommend out of the store is Maguire’s their paste wax, not the spray wax. The paste wax is going to give you more longevity for the detail.”
Interior Stains: “The best thing I could recommend to get stains out of your carpet out of your interior, would probably be Awesome cleaner. It works good. You spray it on there. Use a damp microfiber to agitate the carpet and you’ll see the stains come right up.”
Interior Dash & Leather: “Wipe it down with a microfiber cloth. Terrycloth leaves too much lint. Wipe that down and then put a protectant on their like Armor All or Ultra Shine. It’s a good product.”