Hand Car Wash- Tips, Equipment and Supplies

Hand car wash is the most common method most car owners are using to keep their car clean and shiny. Although it is a traditional method, it still delivers the best results in my opinion. This is why hand car wash is also a technique preferred by most professional car detailers.

Another benefit of hand car wash is that it is gentle to the car surface. Machines and auto car wash normally uses harsh materials which could potentially damage the car surface and cause imperfections such as swirl marks. So, where should you start if you are convinced to start hand car wash?

If you are a busy person, you can start from getting the professionals to do it for you. Car detailers are quite common and you could find some on Google Maps. They normally charge around $5 because they want to promote their detailing package. If you decide to do it yourself, here’s the tutorial for you. This is the exact method how me and my team wash our car weekly:

Equipment and Supplies

Wash mitt. This is the most important tool for car wash. Never ever use a piece of normal cloth to wash your car because they could cause damages to your car surface. Other than safe to your car, wash mitt is also very good in trapping dirt while you wash your car.

Car wash shampoo. Unlike dish washing liquid or detergent, car wash shampoo is gentle to the car surface yet effective in cleaning. Detergent normally contain harsh chemicals which could remove a thin layer of your clearcoat every time you use them.

2 Bucket. You need to bucket for this technique. This hand car wash technique is also referred as the 2 bucket method and very commonly used.

Drying towel. This is used for the drying process. Most car owners do not care much about drying. In the later part, I will explain why drying is so important and the damages if you fail to do so.

Water blade (optional). If you are in a rush most of the time and wouldn’t mind reduce the quality of your results, use a paint safe water blade to dry your car. This is not a normal squeegee or water blade for glass and windows.

Car Washing Tips: 2 Bucket Method

Step 1: rinsing

At this step, turn on the tap and use a hose to rinse your car. Do not use nozzle or strong water pressure to rinse your car. At this step, your aim is to loosen the contaminants and not moving them. Rinsing also allows you to lubricate the car surface so that you will not damage it when you wash your car later.

Step 2: preparing the bucket

Grab 2 buckets you have prepared. Fill one of them with plain water and another bucket with water and car wash shampoo. Before you wash the car, soak your wash mitt into the second bucket. After washing, rinse off the dirt in the first bucket. With this process, the dirt you washed off will not be separated from the car wash shampoo. That’s how this technique is able to clean your car very effectively.

Step 3: wheel cleaning

If you have 2 wash mitts, dedicate one of them to wash the wheels and the other for the car body. This is because wheels are the dirtiest part of the entire car and you do not want the contaminants from your wheels to contaminate the car body. Use the two bucket method to wash your wheels and rinse it before you wash the car body.

Step 4: car body cleaning

This is the step where you start washing the entire car body. When you wash the car body, always remember wash from the top. This is because contaminants might flow from the top to the bottom. If you wash from the bottom, your car might not be very clean. Wash your car very quickly. Do not wash your car as slow as you wax your car because you might end up leaving water spots on your car.

Step 5: rinsing

Rinse your car quickly with the same process as step one. You do not need to use wash mitt or cloth while you are rinsing off the contaminants and car wash shampoo.

Step 6: drying

Drying is one of the most important process of car wash. Most people leave their car aside so that it dries naturally. This is not the right way to dry your car because you might end up having water spots which are very hard to remove in future. Use microfiber cloth which are good water absorbent. Place cloth on the car surface and move it very slowly. The key here is to let the cloth to absorb the water and not wiping off.

Extra Car Washing Tips

If you follow this steps, you probably will find that your car is much more shinier than before. This is because the normal method which uses cloth or sponge to wash a car does not remove all the contaminants and dirts from the car. Next, I will be sharing some extract tips that will help you in car wash:

Tip 1: under the shade

When you wash your car, make sure you do it under the shade and not the sun. If you wash your car under the sun, the water on your car will dry up very quickly and form water spots.

Tip 2: once a week

I highly recommend every car owner to wash their car once a week. This will help car owners to keep their car clean and shiny at all times. Other than that, you could remove contaminants which will etch to the car surface and prevent them from building up.

Tip 3: extra care

Instead of relying on washing, wax your car to protect your car from damages and contaminants which might potentially damage the car surface. Contradict to most people think about waxing, waxing is about creating a protection layer on the car surface and not making your car shiny. With a layer of car wax, washing will be much easier.

If you hate washing, treat it as an exercise. I enjoy hand car wash because it allows me to sweat and keep my car clean at the same time. If you insist to get someone to do it for you, make sure they follow the same process. Download our free report to get the complete car detailing process to keep your car shiny and new.