With summer coming to an end and the dawn of a new season, we have to prepare our beloved vehicles for either the winter or to be placed in storage. Regardless of your plans for your adored car, I will share with you the step-by-step guide on detailing your car the Camilo style.
Ever since I had my first car, I always have enjoyed a great detailing session. For me, washing and detailing the car is not a chore; it is a therapy session. I get the chance to be one with the car, and, most importantly, I get a correct status and overview of the overall condition of my beloved car.
How do you know your car needs to be waxed? This is a very easy question, when it rains or when you wash your car, if the water on the paint beads off like marbles rolling off an inclined plate, then you are ok. If the water seems to stay, then you need to wax your car.
When I detail my car, I find it very important to use the best products and materials. You can use any product you want, be it Meguiars, Zymol, Turtle Wax or anything else you can find. I have tried them all, and my recommendation is to use Griot’s Garage car care products (griotsgarage.com), whether it’s on your Cadillac CTS or your 1957 Ferrari Super America.
Getting ready
Some things that you need before starting:
1. A clean bucket that has not been used for anything other than holding clean water. If you are using the same bucket for washing your car and your household floors, you could damage your paint job. Cleaners that are used for the house have strong contaminants that will ruin your car’s finish.
2. Plenty of clean terrycloth towels that have not been washed with bleach. Towels washed with bleach will have contaminants that will leave a residue on your vehicle. Remove all tags from the towels because they could scratch the car.
3. A nice shaded place. Never wash or wax your car in the sun because the soap or wax will dry in a pattern.
4. Remove all jewelry, and watch so that you don’t accidentally bump into the car and scratch it. Wear clothes that don’t have buttons for the same reason.
On your mark, get set … Go!
Let’s get started. For me, this is one of the most exciting activities. We will divide the car in five different sections and tackle them in the order they should be cleaned. First, start with cleaning the engine, then washing, waxing, cleaning the interior and lastly, add any final touches. The result should be a completely detailed car that looks great and feels faster when driven (at least that’s what I think!). I would like to thank Mike Hedge from North Shore Magazine for letting me use his 1998 BMW M-Z4 convertible and the McCorkle family for allowing me to use their house. Thank you once again.
Engine
There are many incorrect ways to clean an engine and then there is the proper way. This is the most delicate part of the car, and cleaning it correctly is very vital because you don’t want to mess up your engine. The first step is to have a warm engine, not a HOT engine. I would suggest running the car for 15 minutes and then letting it cool for 15 more minutes. Remember to have the engine turned off. Next, you want to cover all of the electrical connections using a grocery store plastic bag and a rubber band. Once all the electrical parts and throttle body are covered, spray the Griot’s Garage Engine Cleaner over the whole engine. I like to saturate it into the areas that have the most grime. The nice thing about Griot’s Garage Engine Cleaner is it is safe for most car finishes and can be used on the body parts located inside the engine compartment. With a steel-bristle brush, clean some of the engine parts, but be careful not to clean the hoses with the steel brush. Otherwise, you will end up with scratches. After about five minutes, delicately rinse off the engine using a light pressure setting on your hose. Never use a high power rinse on your engine. If the engine hasn’t been cleaned recently, repeat the above steps.
Once the engine is clean, remove the plastic coverings, and very delicately use a terry cloth towel to clean those parts with an automotive glass cleaner. You can wait for the engine to air-dry, or what I like to do is dry the engine using a terrycloth towel. Finish by using Griot’s Garage Engine Gloss on metals and hoses. Touch up plastic parts with Griot’s Garage Tire and Plastic Shine, similar to ArmorAll. (An added tip: Griot’s Garage and ArmorAll even make handy wipes, which are great to keep in the car for spill emergencies.)
Washing
Prep the car by rinsing the dirt with a strong hose spray. Always do this in a shaded area. If you find yourself in a bind and don’t have car wash solution, use a tablespoon of dish soap with a tablespoon of olive oil to make it more ph-balanced. Wash the car using a car sponge, starting from top to bottom, using the Griot’s Garage Car Wash solution. The technique is preferred because, as the top isn’t as dirty as the lower panels of the car, dirt ends up collecting on the sponge. Make sure to clean between the doors, inside the trunk and engine gutters.
Once done, rinse and repeat on the wheels. Many people enjoy using tire cleaners on their wheels, but remember, these are harsh chemicals and I always recommend using the same soap and water from washing the body of the car. “What about wheels that have wires and hard-to-reach places?” you might ask. You could remove the wheels, but then it is necessary to use a wheel cleaner. Griot’s Garage Wheel cleaner works well, but I also like using Mothers Wheel cleaner. Remember to wash the tire, too.
Dry the car using a chamois or clean terry towels. Take the car for a quick drive around the block to get rid of excess water, and then wipe it down again.
Determining the condition of your paint
Before starting the waxing process, determine the condition of the paint. Feel the paint with your fingertips. If the paint doesn’t feel as smooth as a glass plate, then you need to do the clay process. Paint feels grainy because it has been filled with contaminants picked up while you were driving. Don’t worry. The clay process is very easy, and all it involves is using Griot’s Garage Clay and Speed Shine. Speed Shine is a spray-on wax used to quickly touch up the car after it has been cleaned. If you don’t have Griot’s Garage Clay handy, then you can go to your local auto parts store and pick up the Mothers version. First, spray the desired area with Speed Shine. Knead the clay, place it in your hands and glide it over the paint using the Speed Shine as a lubricant. The clay will pick up all the contaminants on the paint. If you notice the clay getting dirty, then just knead the clay again. If for some reason you drop the clay, simply remove the particles from it. Spread the entire car with clay and then wipe dry. Take your hand to the paint again, and notice what a difference the clay makes. The paint should feel like glass now. Wash and dry the car again.
Polishing and waxing
You want to wax and polish your car about every three months. You can over wax your car, but you would have to be waxing every 3 weeks to get that result and then you would have something called wax-buildup. If you do wax your car often you might want to remove the old wax using the Griot’s Garage Wax Prep (wax remover) before starting.
You polish a car to get the best shine possible, and then seal that shine with wax. Polishing removes a very thin layer of paint (you have many layers of paint) and it will give you a great shine while covering up some scratches. There are two ways to do this, either by hand or by using an orbital machine. We are going to use the Griot’s Garage Random Orbital. Be careful when choosing your orbital because many just turn in circles, which will leave circular marks on your paint. The Griot’s Random Orbital uses a different pattern so you won’t get those circular swirl marks. Label the polish pad so you remember this one is covered in polish. Using the medium setting, apply the polish with the orbital, going back and forth and left to right until the polish is worked into the paint. Using the Griot’s Garage Polish Remover Bonnet and the orbital, remove the polish before it dries with a terry cloth. Do a small section at a time. Once the car is completely polished, proceed to waxing.
This time, repeat the same steps as above only using the Griot’s Garage Best of Show Wax. This is a great wax, and it can be used by hand or by machine. I like to apply the wax in the same direction as the air flows through the surface. (In my mind, I like to think this will make the car go faster). Apply the wax to the entire car using the orbital. Then remove the wax using either a clean terry cloth or with the orbital. The result is an impressively shinny M-Z4 or whatever car you’re waxing.
Interior
Interiors remind me of the seventh inning, when the game is almost over, but not really. Remove all of the garbage and items you don’t need in the car. You want the interior to be free of everything that wasn’t in the car when you bought it. Vacuum the car completely, starting with the front. I used the Griot’s Garage 4 horsepower Peak Compact Vacuum. The attachments made it easy to get into hard-to-reach places. One of my favorite Griot’s products is the interior cleaner; it leaves the leather/vynil with a matte shine. Don’t spray the interior cleaner all over a cloth interior; rather, use it as a spot cleaner to dab over dirty areas. Depending on the condition of the leather, you might need to treat the leather. If so, use the Griot’s Garage Leather Care system. Fortunately, the M-Z4 did not need it; the Interior cleaner left everything looking new. Clean the car windows using an automotive window cleaner, not a household window cleaner that contains ammonia. Vacuum once again to pick up any dirt you might have tracked into the car.
Final touches
Shine tires by applying Griot’s Garage Long Lasting Tire Dressing. First apply the dressing to a terrycloth towel and then apply to the tire. Clean the outside windows with window cleaner. Faded plastic body parts can use Back-to-Black, which can be purchased at most auto parts store. Give the car a last wipe down using a clean terrycloth towel, and you’re all finished! I like to spay air freshener inside the car, but that is up to you. A great final touch is replacing old and faded emblems with new ones. In this case, the side BMW M emblems were faded, so we replaced them with new ones from Bavarian Autosport (bavauto.com). If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at calfaro@pioneerlocal.com, and remember to have a great time detailing your car!
