Exterior Maintenance
Regular washing
The first step in body maintenance is regular washing. Depending on where you live and where you drive, regular washing may be needed once a week or only once every three weeks. The latter suggests a car housed in the country where the air is clean, and used only for shopping and church. Most cars need a good washing once a week.
You can simply run your car through an automatic car wash to keep it clean. But that costs from $1.50 up, and, if you have ever stopped to wipe off the water that did not quite dry under the blower, you know even the best auto laundry can leave water spots. The worst merely rearranges the surface dirt.
However, if the exterior is really filthy, it pays to go to an automatic car wash first if you can, or get a wash at a service station which has a hand-operated hot water pressure washer. Some car owners schedule one or the other at least once a month because either method loosens the dirt in hard-to-get-at places like rocker panels, valence panels, and wheels.
Ideally, set aside some time on a particular day each week to wash your car, and have all the necessary equipment ready.
1 Set the hose nozzle to give maxi-mum pressure and work from the bottom of the car to the top. Take a sponge from your pail of wash suds and, using a circular motion, apply suds to one portion of the lower part of the car at a time,rubbing out problem spots where necessary. Don't knock yourself out pressing down too hard. Use a good medium pressure and let the detergent do some of the work. After sudsing, hose off the surface.
2 Now do another section of the car adjoining the cleaned portion and hose that off. As you complete a section, wipe it down with your chamois or rag. It's a good idea to switch sponges frequently. Don't worry too much about the windows because you will be doing them over with window cleaner after the wash job. Leave the wheels for the very last.
Waxing inside or out?
While some wax manufacturers say their products can be used in sunlight, most prescribe shade. We've found that most products work best if you inside your garage.
3 After you have done the hood, trunk, and fender tops, proceed to the roof and greenhouse of the car. The greenhouse is that part, including the windows, above the hood and trunk lid. Follow the same procedure, sudsing, hosing off, and wiping down with a chamois.
4 Hose the wheels with maximum jet at close range. Then suds them with a brush, remembering to loosen the dirt that accumulates around the wheel rim. Grease and tar on the wheel is usually very thick and must be attacked with a special solvent or a household cleaner.
Caution: Read the label carefully before you use a detergent on tire whitewalls. Some detergents, especially those containing alcohol, can damage the rubber.
Now hose off the wheels again, and wipe them with a rag rather than the chamois, to save the chamois for future use.
5 Black rubber dressing should be applied to blackwall tires with a paint brush. This improves the tire's looks and helps preserve the rubber.
6 Clean the windows after you have finished washing and drying the rest of the car. Use any one of the many available household window cleaners, or take a bucket and add a bit of ammonia to some water. Starting with the inside windows, apply window cleaner liberally
7 Wipe off the cleaner with a clean rag. Then wash the outside windows in the same way.
Hints and tips
• Pay attention to how sunny it is while you are washing your car, and to how much body surface you can work on at one time given the outside temperature. No matter what the directions on the detergent say, if you are working in full sunlight, do a little less surface at a time.
• If you find problem spots like bird droppings, dead insects, and leaves you can get a small sponge with a roughened side to clean off these areas during the cleaning/hosing cycle. Make sure, however, that the rough side does not scratch the windows or the paint. You can also use a small brush, like those made for applying shoe
• On fenders and lower door areas, you may encounter little black specks or even lumps of road tar. These spots should respond to your sponge or brush. If they do not, get a special product at an auto supply store for removing tar, or try a household foam cleaner. But read the directions on the product to make sure it is not harmful to painted sur-faces. Whatever you use, hose it off just as you do the suds.
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