Whether you are a car enthusiast or not, there are certain things you need to know about the car detailing process if you keep a car. It’s of great importance to keep the little parts of your car intact to ensure the durability you desire especially in Pakistan where we experience challenging weather conditions throughout the year. Maintenance is essential at scheduled intervals to make sure everything is in supreme condition. Car enthusiasts want their cars to look standout among others on the road. There is a huge difference in keeping a car washed and keeping it serviced in detail. Car detailing is an essential part which makes every little part of your car work in a smooth fashion. There are many service stations in Pakistan where you can get your car look fancy but a few things can be easily done at home and can save you some extra cash. Following are a few important things you should know about car detailing:
Using a microfiber cloth:
It’s important to know which cloth to choose for washing, cleaning or detailing purposes. Usually, people don’t care in this regard and use a regular towel or duster for regular cleaning purposes. Stop today! Using a regular cloth is just making your car look uglier with each passing day. If you are a car enthusiast and care for each little detail of your paintwork, it’s time to turn to a microfiber cloth. A microfiber cloth has standout qualities that keep your car surface scratch less. It provides improved efficiency in terms of quick and effective cleaning your car. Since a microfiber cloth offers very little friction effect, you don’t need to worry about any scratches or scrubbing marks on the paint of your car. A regular cloth not only creates scratch marks on paint but also result in less efficient cleaning. Remember to remove any tags on the microfiber cloth that may cause scratching. A microfiber cloth is a little on the expensive side as compared to a regular duster but easily available in an automobile shop.
Cleaning the top edges of windows:
On most of the times, while washing or cleaning your car, one thing gets unnoticed because there is a certain part of it not exposed. The top edges of the car windows get a permanent line of grime if not cleaned over a long period of time. Make sure to roll down the windows after washing the car and with the help of a clean microfiber cloth, clean these top edges of windows to avoid any permanent marks. It appears and looks ugly when you roll down the windows to a certain level.
Brushing the air vents:
It is next to impossible to properly wipe off the dust from air vents with the help of a cloth. As a result, the dust particles accumulate in the narrow spaces of air vents and stick there. Using a good quality of soft brush will help you clean the dust settled on the inner spaces. Cleaning this old settled dust would give a new look to the interior of your car. You can spray a dashboard shiner afterward to give it a more attractive look.
Read More: 5 Easy and Highly Effective Car Washing Hacks
Two-directional glass cleaning:
Cleaning the glass of your windows or windscreen in two directions might sound tricky but it makes sense. In a developing country like Pakistan, where construction sites make a dusty environment hence making your car dirty in a single drive; you need to clean the car thoroughly. It’s a common practice to observe streaks or blemishes on the glass that may annoy you while cleaning the surface of the glass. At this stage, you would try to figure out which side of the glass has created them. There is a good chance that you might pick the wrong side to clean and dry once again. Here’s where this two-way cleaning of the glass becomes beneficial. Cleaning both sides of the glass in opposite directions would let you know which side has produced the streaks. In this way, it’s easier to figure out and clean the surface of that particular side of the glass without much hassle.
Vacuum cleaning the floor surface:
After you have completely cleaned the interior of a car, it’s time to clean the floor bed. If you own a vacuum cleaner at home, use it to suck all the dust and trash pieces from the floor under the seats. Nowadays very compact vacuum cleaners are available in the market and online portals that may help you reach spaces where an ordinary vacuum cleaner fails. Slide the front seats of the car to remove any unnecessary material under them. A simple vacuum cleaner may cost you around Rs.1500-2000 in Pakistan.
Lubricating door and trunk hinges:
Do you ever notice the door of your car producing a squeaking noise whenever you open or close it? The dust on the roads of Pakistan reduces the life of any part of the vehicle if not cleaned properly. The dust particles in the air along with moisture start to settle on the door hinges with the passage of time. If you don’t notice this little detail while cleaning your car after a quick wash, it may eventually start to squeak on the movement of the door. This noise is so annoying to hear which can be avoided easily by applying lubricant oil on scheduled maintenance of the car. It’s recommended to clean it properly once or twice in the month as well.
Cleaning the ignition and door locks:
Everything gets jammed with the passage of time if not properly cleaned or lubricated. Same is the case with the ignition switch or door locks of your car. You can use a WD-40 spray with the help of a needle injector to clean the door locks from the inside. It would remove any traces of corrosion or dust particles from them.
Polishing the dashboard:
While we park our car in the direct sunlight, the dashboard of the car faces a lot of beating. Usually, the people in Pakistan don’t get an appropriate place under a shade for parking their car. The scorching heat in summers of Pakistan has a huge impact on the interior of the car. You might have seen cracks start to appear on the dashboard of a car. This is majorly due to the dryness created by the sunlight. It must be regularly polished not only due to this specific reason but also gives a new and shiny look the most prominent part of the interior of a car. After properly cleaning the dashboard with a microfiber cloth, use a spray polish or luster to give a shiny and brand new look. It’s very important to figure out the details while polishing the dashboard.
Cleaning the hood latch:
Hood latch is the locking system of the bonnet of a car. It consists of an internal hood latch handle which is used to open the bonnet of a car with the help of a hood release cable. It’s opened through the hood latch assembly under the hood of the car. This assembly is exposed to the environment and might often corrode due to moisture content and becomes harder to release the hood latch assembly to open. It’s preferable to spray some lubricant such as WD-40 to make it corrosion free and easy to handle. This little cleaning detail will definitely save you from changing the hood latch eventually if it stops working or gets corroded completely. Normally the mechanics in Pakistan grease it roughly and the car user never bothers to clean it which damages the interlocking mechanism.
Washing and detailing the tires:
Last but not least, tires are the most important accessory of your car. They face the majority of wear and tear while you drive a car. It’s important to take care of them and simply washing them is not the end of the story. The dirt and dust on the tires stick to the tires after you drive it through a rough terrain. Washing them properly to wipe off the dirt and using a rubber shiner liquid would not give them an attractive look but also increase their lifespan. Alloy rims need to be cleaned thoroughly with the help of a soft microfiber cloth. Once you have cleaned them, it’s important to dry the surface to avoid any moisture to penetrate and cause corrosion.
Using a hand mitt for paint polish:
The most important aspect of professional car detailing is the polish to the paintwork of the body. It might look a simple job but to get the best results, you need significant knowledge about it. The exterior of the car faces the most extreme weather conditions throughout the year and needs proper maintenance. The paintwork could easily lose its shine due to the dust, dirt or moisture in the environment. To keep your car in the original paint condition, you need to properly apply a good quality polish with the help of a microfiber hand mitt or cloth. It’s very easy to extract the original shine of your car paint by using this soft microfiber hand mitt. You must have two clothes for this purpose; one of them to apply the polish and the other one for shining purpose. It’s easily available on many online portals including PakWheels where you can order it anytime from anywhere.
Changing wiper blades:
Most of the people overlook the condition of wiper blades because they are not used often. You may get surprised to see that they are not properly cleaning the windscreen in case of rain. To avoid such helpless scenario, it’s recommended to often check the wiper blades and rubber to see if they need replacement. Moreover, a damaged or old viper blade may also cause streaks on the windscreen hence causing a significant damage to the surface of the glass in the shape of scratches. You often see round scratch marks on the windscreen of cars. This is the reason behind such marks. A windscreen is not inexpensive by any means and you don’t want to change it due to such little negligence.
