Washing Your Car Tips

Vinylex by Lexol is a product used for cleaning and shining the interior door panels, dashboard, and center console of your car. I use it on my 2008 Acura TL to keep the interior looking brand new like the day I bought it. It can also be used as tire dressing, although it’s main purpose is interior-based. It nourishes the plastics that is applied to and acts as a sunscreen. Cars with black interiors would most benefit as it is easier to see the shine compared to lighter interiors. Working with the product is extremely easy and it doesn’t feel as “greasy” as ArmorAll does. Vinylex also guards against dashboard cracking, something that Armor has a bad reputation for. It does this by using a patented low-density silicone compositionby combining two silicones of different molecular sizes: larger molecules to protect and beautify surfaces and smaller molecules to penetrate and revitalize underlying plasticizers.

Vinylex is ideal for:

• Vinyl tops
• Plastic seats
• Tires
• Vinyl interiors and dashes
• Vinyl luggage
• Interior and exterior vinyl furniture
• Marine fiberglass
• Motor vehicle vinyl, rubber and plastic

How often should you apply Vinylex to your interior? If your car is garaged apply it every 1-2 months. Cars that stay outside more often and are in hot, sunny climates should apply at least every month. For best results apply every 2-3 weeks.

You also want to have the car waxed and polished on a regular schedule as well. Hand waxing should be done at least seasonally to protect the clear coat from the elements such as salt, snow, UV rays, and other pollutants. Waxing regularly will help keep your car shining and will work with regular washing to keep resale value high. As with washing, it’s very important to have a proper waxing technique to ensure you aren’t harming the paint by creating swirl marks and scratches.

Maintaining the interior of your car is just as important as the outside. Besides also helping to maintain resale value it also where you spend many hours of the week. Items such as the leather seats and vinyl in the car are very important areas to keep maintained. Neglected leather seats will rapidly start to age and deteriorate and dramatically lower resale value and be an eye sore to you on your daily commute.

Step #1: Purchase the right tools for the job. You’ll need a sheep skin wash mitt, two buckets, car wash soap, and microfiber or chamois towels for drying. Don’t skimp on the quality of these items as doing so can induce scratches into your paint by using inferior products that keep dirt trapped which will then lead to scratches in the paint. Car wash soap such as Meguiar’s Gold Class Shampoo & Conditioner or Meguiar’s Wash & Wax will work well. Do NOT use dawn/dish soap as this will strip your wax layer! Two buckets are important so that you can have one bucket that holds your soap, and another to rinse out the dirt from your wash mitt which will help reduce the chances of scratching. High quality towels are essential to reduce scratches. Using dirty or poor quality drying towels will only mess up your paint job.

Step #2: Pre-rinse your car with your hose. Keep one bucket filled with soap and use the other bucket to periodically rinse out your wash mitt. You must rinse it out every so often so that you don’t accidentally scratch your paint by dragging dirt on the surface. Dip your wash mitt into the soap bucket and then lightly move it around the car from TOP to BOTTOM.

Step #3: Rinse your car with the hose. This will help decrease drying time and will also help reduce the chances of scratches. Use your clean drying towels to dry the car from TOP to BOTTOM. If you drop your towel on the ground DO NOT use it on your car until it is washed. After using towels to dry a car once, you must wash the towels before using them again. Keep another towel handy that is only used for the wheels.

What about running your car through an automatic car wash? These car washes can be ideal for a person with a busy schedule that doesn’t have time for hand washing. If you are going to use an automatic wash make sure the facility doesn’t have any abrasive brushes that could harm your paint and ensure that they are using clean towels for drying.

Every week you should be washing your car to remove dirt and dust that has settled on it from the elements. Proper washing technique is very important to properly taking care of the paint and ensuring you don’t leave any scratches or swirl marks in the paint. The wheels should also be washed with wheel cleaner to remove brake dust build up. Leaving the wheels coated with brake dust and grime, they could potentially “burn in” the brake dust leaving it nearly impossible to remove.

How to properly wash your car

Waxing your car should be done at least seasonally. Optimally you will have it waxed monthly. This will give it the best shine and maintain the paint’s gloss and shine for years. Waxing needs to be done properly in order to not scratch your car and to get the highest shine possible. Make sure you use a clean wax applicator, if it is dirty this can lead to scratches in the paint. When working with wax, less is more! Only use enough wax to lightly coat the surface. This will do two things 1) make the wax easier to remove, and 2) be more cost-effective by increasing the amount of wax applications you get per bottle. As with proper drying methods, make sure your microfiber towel is clean before buffing off the wax. Periodically shake the towel to get rid of wax buildup as well as folding over to a new side of the towel every so often.

You can add the finishing touch to your wash by applying protectants such as ArmorAll and Vinylex to plastic trim and the tires. These products protect the surface from the sun and bring out a shine to make them look newer. These products can also be used on your interior door panels and dashboard to revitalize them and make them shine like new. I prefer Vinylex over ArmorAll for interior detailing.