Wheels, Interior, and Engine Bay cleaning.
Back again. The snow seems to be melting away (though freezing again at night) so I decided to give my moms car another wash. No claying, cutting or waxing this time. Just a normal was with wheel cleaning, interior cleaning, and an engine bay shampoo. In this post I'm going to go over the Materials and procedures required to clean these area's of the car.
Lets first start with the Interior. What we'll be going over today is just a general cleaning. No removing barf stains or carpet shampooing, instead we'll be touching on vacuuming, dust removal, and vinyl care.
For vacuuming, I use a 6.5hp Shop Vac. The tip I use is the rectangular angled tip. This is the best tip for car vacuuming. The bigger brush type tips won't fit into small spaces and won't get as much dirt out of the carpets. To properly use this tip, have it flat on the carpet, and drag is back and forth. It doesn't simple "suck" the dirt out, but rather flick it up into the air, and then the suction pulls it away. You need to press fairly hard for the deepest dirt to come out. This won't clean the carpets like a shampooing machine, but it will get surface dirt off and restore the color and finish to the carpet. I recommend doing this once every week. If you don't vacuum often enough, the dirt will pit into the carpet and require much more drastic measure to be freed again.
With your car cleaned out (IE: Garbage wrappers, club, CD case, whatever is on the carpet and seats) start the vacuum and begin cleaning. Move the seats all the way forward when you're cleaning the rear, and visa versa when you're cleaning the front. Always vacuum under the floor mats, and down in between the seats and the doors. When the seats are all the way forward, you should be able to vacuum underneath them as well. When the carpets are done, start vacuuming the seats. Seats that are leather will only really need vacuuming in the seams.
Now that the carpets are clean, we'll turn our attention to the vinyl. Generally, the biggest problems facing vinyl is dust, UV light, and stains from food (tsk tsk). For dusting, I've found that a damp Chamois works best. It traps the most dust, and can even remove scuffs and milds stains without any detergents. I recommend having a normal sheep-skin style chamois for cleaning the car, and having it used STRICTLY for this process. Keep a separate chamois for your paint, and if you desire, another separate one for your wheels (you will need to COMPLETELY remove all dirt and brake dust from the wheels before your can dry them, otherwise it will ruin the chamois).
Once you've dusted the all the vinyl trim (doors, door jams, dash, rear dash, center console, all of it). You should be good to go. Every once in a while, you will need to put some sort of protection agent on them. I don't recommend armor-all, or any of their products. I use a special Toyota Touch product that cleans, protects, and leaves the stain finish that comes from the factory. If the product leaves a glossy finish, it will reflect in the windows and impede your vision. Some products also eat the vinyl, so research on your part is key to the right product. For my product I just apply it to a terry towel and rub it into the dash. Make sure you soak the towel through and keep it consistent, otherwise the finish will be streaky. You'll need to keep an eye on the finish of your vinyl to determine when do do this again, but I'd say every 2 months is reasonable. I don't have pictures of my application of this product, as I had to leave my dealership and go to detail to do it.
On to Wheels. I explained wheels in the first post, but I didn't have any pictures of the process. I also didn't show you when you would need to use the Acid cleaning solution. This is a last resort process and can only be used on polished aluminum (will need to be polished again afterwords) and painted wheels. NEVER on chrome, as it turns it white.
Acids main use it to remove PITTED brake dust. This isn't an weekly cleaning ritual. It also produces a toxic odor and should only be used in proper facilities designed for car washing (Your driveway is a bad idea). You MUST wear gloves when using acid (and all the chemicals really) and be in a well ventilated area or have a mask on. So on to wheels. I have a 2 separate examples here to show you, one that doesn't require acid, and one that does. If you look after your car, you can usually get away without having to scrub the wheels. Most cleaners are designed to be sprayed on, and sprayed off again. I recommend ONLY spraying acid off, as it is very hard on the mitts.
First we'll start with the non-acid procedure.
Spray the cleaner on your wheels (you may be require to wet it down, depends on the product) and begin scrubbing with your mitt. It's key to make sure you put lots of pressure on the wheel with your fingers in between the spokes, these area build up the most brake dust. Do your best to clean out the lugnut holes with the mitt. After a while however you will need a pressure washer to really get them clean. Once all the wheels have been scrubbed, spray them off. I don't recommend drying wheels unless you cleaned them while they were off the car, and removed 100% of the brake dust. This usually requires the use of acid.
Acid procedure.
Because Acid is best used for lifting brake dust and stains, I recommend using your degreasing wheel cleaner in conjunction with it. Any grease on the wheel will be left behind after you've used acid. Generally, I spray the acid on, and then use my degreaser afterwords (while acid is still on the rim). This is where things get scary. Not all wheels cleaners are made equal, and mine (Purple Power) seems to go well with acid. If you want to be experimental, go right ahead, but you may create a toxic gas or something worse that might stain the wheel permanently. You can rinse the wheel off and use your degreaser afterwords and still yield the same results (I operate on a time limit, so I spray one then the other). The wheels should be completely devoid of brake dust and road grime after this is complete. You will need to drive the car and brake in the brake rotors after this is finished, as the acid instantly adds a layer of rust.
Finally, the Engine bay. This is a process I reserve for modern cars, with distributor-less ignition and Fuel injection. If you have a normal distributor, or any exposed air filter, I recommend you skip cleaning your engine bay unless you completely wrap these so they are water tight. However, even in a modern car, you need to be careful when spraying certain components in the engine pay. Avoid very close and hard pressure around the spark plugs, air intake pipe, and the throttle body. If you drive a European Vehicle, I would avoid spaying any water on the engine, as it will most certainly short and die
. This is only done when the engine is dirty. if done regularly you will need premature belt wearing, and may break down rubber seals on the engine.
First things first, wet the engine down. This will help when you rinse it off, as the degrease will stick less. Once wet, spray the degreaser, focusing on the fenders and firewall, as well as the rad support. You may spray it on the block, but be careful around wires and pulleys. With the engine pay covered, you make take a minute to let it lift some dirt, but don't let it dry. Once ready, spray it off with the pressure washer (or hose, but the hose isn't going to do that much), making sure not to get too close to the above mentioned components. When the rinse is complete, you can either let it drip dry, or blow it off with compressed air. This isn't necessary, but it will help with any belt squeal you may encounter. If you do get some nasty squeal, simply spray the belt with a silicone based lubricant in bursts until the noise is gone. Check by revving the engine.
All done. With the above information, you can tackle almost any obstacle dirt throws your cars way. Later on when it warms up, I'll show you carpet shampooing, and deodorizing.
SheepStar
