Summer is fading fast and for one reason or another you haven’t gotten around to cleaning up the old buggy. Well it’s not too late to put a shine on your ride. Driving a clean and shiny car is a great feeling. Think back to the day you brought it home and showed it off to family and friends. Assuming your car is in good shape, you can bring back those days with just a simple wash. And remember, if you keep that car in good shape, you’ll get more for it when you sell or trade it in.

I used to spend hours washing, waxing and detailing my personal fleet, but now I just don’t have the time. So, I’m always on the lookout for products that save time yet provide a professional look. Recently, I pitted Eagle One’s new NanoWash & Wax car soap against the Mr. Clean AutoDry car wash system to see if the high-tech system could beat a good old-fashioned bucket-and-hose wash. I also checked out car-wash centers to see how they worked when you’re pressed for time.

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First let’s discuss how to wash a vehicle yourself.

Make sure your car is not hot and that you park it in a cool, shaded area. Good soap is a must. Under no circumstances should you use dishwashing soap because this will strip the car’s finish of wax and could even dull the paint. Eagle One’s NanoWash & Wax comes in a 64-ounce bottle ($5.49) with a built-in measuring cap. The soap contains tiny carnauba wax particles that penetrate and extract deep-down dirt and grime while restoring luster and shine to yield a smooth, mirrorlike finish. Eagle One claims the special formula protects against dulling, fading and oxidation.

The Mr. Clean AutoDry soap contains a special polymer formulated to sheet water off your car for fast drying without having to use a chamois or drying towels. The soap is an important part of the kit, which also includes a filtered, triggered sprayer that hooks up to a hose and is loaded with soap cartridges. The full kit with cleaning accessories retails for approximately $40; the wash gun and soap costs just more than $20. Both contain enough soap to wash three midsize cars. Soap refills are $6.99, and refill filters are $7.99.

I begin by hosing off my vehicle to let the water moisten any mud, bugs and bird droppings. After a minute or two of soak time, I hit the entire car again with water, getting underneath, inside the wheel wells and in the body seams to gently splash the dirt off. For the stubborn stuff I use a bug- and tar-cleaning product.

Now it’s wash time. I start at the top and work my soft cloth-covered sponge down from the top in a gentle, circular motion. I frequently rinse the sponge to remove dirt and debris. Then I go panel to panel so I don’t miss an area. With the Mr. Clean system, one first pulls the trigger for a soapy water mixture that is then washed with a sponge. To rinse, turn a dial to the water-only setting.

Make sure that the car stays wet until all panels have been washed, including the grill, headlights/taillights and the inner fender lip and lower rocker panels. Use a soft rag in those areas to save your sponge from wear and tear.

The wheels and tires are the last parts to wash. There are numerous spray-on wheel cleaners but they usually require the wheels to be dry, cool and done first. I wash the wheels with the same soap as the body panels unless the soap packaging indicates that it will harm metals or alloys. For tires, use the same soap as you did on the car but use a good scrub brush.

So after cleaning different cars using the two products how did they fare? Both soaps cleaned the cars equally well and required about the same amount of effort. But the Mr. Clean AutoDry system did not dry without water spots as advertised. I attribute this mainly to the hard water where I live.

Cost also is an issue. Of the two, the AutoDry system is more expensive. Consumers are paying a premium to save time, which did not happen when I used the system. In the end, the AutoDry system did no better than the NanoWash & Wax soap with a hose and a bucket. Mr. Clean does offer a money-back guarantee.

For my money the NanoWash & Wax worked better for less. It cleaned the cars well and provided additional carnauba wax protection. The shine was also deeper than the AutoDry system. The water beaded well and easily was whisked away by using the Absorber, a synthetic chamois-type drying towel.

As for tires, Eagle One also makes a new tire gel product – Tire Shine Gel – that comes in a trigger spray that retails for about $5.49. I tried that also because you must have shiny tires to finish the look. The thick gel worked better than the oily old-school protective shine products I’ve used. It clings to the tire with no drip or splatter yet still shines.

Now if you really don’t have the time, place or desire to wash your vehicle, you have to take it to a car wash. Old-style car washes are being replaced by affordable car-care centers. These centers offer simple washes to full detailing and even sell parts and accessories to personalize your ride.

At these centers you have two options: friction automatic and touchless automatic wash setups.

While the name may cause you to bristle a bit, friction automatic systems use spinning or gently massaging cylinders/strips of thick, soft cloth to gently scrub and lift the dirt and grime off your car. You pull into the building, select the type of wash or indicate your preference to an attendant and you or the attendant drive the vehicle onto a track where it goes down a wash line and passes through various sections where the scrubbers clean your vehicle with a variety of cleaning agents; hot wax can be applied. At the exit your vehicle is wiped dry by attendants. The drawback to these systems is that they don’t get into all the nooks and crannies because the strips can’t reach those areas like hand washing allows. Friction automatic car washes cost $6 to $9 for a standard wash.

At a touchless automatic wash, you drive your car into a bay and high-pressure water jets spin automatically up, down, around and under your vehicle to power off the dirt, bugs and road grime. Like the friction system, a variety of cleaning agents and hot wax are applied while the high-pressure water is washing your vehicle. Once the water jets have finished you drive through a curtain of hot air dryers that blow-dry your vehicle. The disadvantages to a touchless automatic system are that it still does not clean the hard-to-reach areas and the timed air dryers turn off before your vehicle is dry. When I use this type of car wash I bring the Absorber with me to finish the job. This type of wash is a good way to clean your car after winter to remove the winter salt and crud. These washes cost $5 to $8 before adding optional cleaning services.

A nice benefit to these car-care centers is that attendants vacuum the inside of your car or there are high-power self-serve units available that work better than most home vacuums. The larger centers offer interior cleaning services and glossy protectants for the interior. Do yourself a favor and skip the air fresheners unless you want your car to smell like a pack of gum or cough syrup.

I don’t advise the old coin-operated self-serve wand/soap brush units because the bristles can be too abrasive even with mild scrubbing and the soap quality is unknown. Many of the newer self-serve coin-operated centers do have decent brushes but make sure you check them out first.

Whether you do it yourself or take it somewhere, there are no excuses for driving a dirty car.