ARTICLE: The Car Care guide (Aesthetics)

[Rudra Sen]

The key to have that smile when you look at your car.
The key to have control on the expenses that take place due to undue negligence.
The key to get a better price when selling.
The key to an overall better ownership experience.

By and large, aesthetic car care is neglected. An overall wash or wipe a day feels perfect to most people. Sadly, beauty is more than skin deep. Reading what I present here may raise a few queries and doubts. But if you use your understanding and discretion, the results will definitely be outstanding.

Team-BHP shows you the ideal way to nurture the aesthetic beauty of your car!

Regular washing and cleaning:

Don’t pour buckets of water on your car. It’s of no use, and a serious offence when it comes to water conservation. Honestly speaking, you don’t need more than three buckets of water to clean your car on a normal day.

Use a separate cloth for the body and for the wheels. The yellow/brown shade cloth that we get at traffic signals is useless. Instead, buy the other cloth (mostly blue) that has a typical Indian towel feel. Dip that new cloth in boiling water with detergent to get rid of unwanted starch and lint. This will also help it to become softer. Your new cloth is now ready to be used.

1. Soak the cloth in water (don’t squeeze) and wipe your car’s body with a light hand. Once you’re through with washing the entire car, clean the cloth in fresh water and start wiping the body dry. A good soft cloth should remove all watermarks from the body. Take one portion of the body at a time.

2. With a separate cloth; wash inside the mudguard thoroughly (atleast twice a week), the running board (also known as the door panel) and under the bumpers (not visible to most people).

3. Use a vacuum cleaner to clean the floor carpet at least once a week. Wash floor mats regularly, if need be.

4. After a long trip or the monsoons, take the car to a service station and wash the under body. Rubber coating helps (at the cost of spending INR 4000 to INR 5000). Additional value of the rubber treatment is its
noise-deadening quality.

Few points to remember:

- Don’t keep washing your car under the sun.
- Pour water on your windshield to loosen dust and hard particles.
- Try to avoid hard water (from the bore well) as much as possible. It’s the fastest way to make your paint fade and to invite corrosion.
- Use newspaper (black & white) to clean the glass.
- Remove road tar spots with diesel-soaked cloth.
- Alloys (coated with brake pad dust) should be washed with detergent. Use a soft toothbrush to clean those hard-to-reach areas.

PLASTIC TRIMS

The grainy texture of door/body/bumper plastic attracts a lot of dust and grime. Use a dashboard/ plastic cleaner, as it creates a coat of oily film that prevents dust and water from settling down. There are a number of options available in the market.

ALLOY WHEEL

Good alloy wheels make the aesthetic look of the car, and you probably paid through your nose for them. Add to that, those broad tyres to give the look and performance. There are lots of wheel cleaners available in the market, of which the easiest available is SONAX. By and large, all wheel cleaners remove brake pad residue and road grime. The operation is pretty simple; Apply the wheel cleaner onto your rims. Allow them to work for five minutes. Wash with water. Wipe clean dry. At times you may find stubborn marks on your wheel. To remove those, use a soft toothbrush. After applying the wheel cleaner, wait for few minutes for the liquid to work through. Carefully scrub the stubborn marks out with a toothbrush.

Chrome alloys need extra special care. Follow the same process as mentioned above. Later, use a soft cloth or white cotton waste to wipe dry and restore that bling look.

LEATHER UPHOLSTERY

Try to use the air-conditioner as much as possible. Body acid and sweat are the main culprits here. Use a moist cloth with a light detergent to remove strong stains. After that, use good quality leather cleaner to treat the leather. For the steering wheel’s leather wrapping, use the same leather cleaner but wipe it after application. Excessive cleaner usage gives out a shine and tends to become slippery. This may work out a little expensive but remember that you’ve paid through your nose for the leather.

FABRIC UPHOLSTERY

It’s fun to eat munchies with your girl, but try to avoid doing that inside the car. A vacuum cleaner and fabric protection covering is the answer here. Please take proper care. Fabric wears out faster than leather.

WAXING

Toughest exercise of them all.
Great workout for your muscles.
Great recipe to burn calories.

If your car has not gone through a proper rubbing and polish for a long time, I suggest a visit to a professional car care centre. This will get you back the “wet look”; after which it is only a matter of maintenance.

The car polish process does not mean that you need to use a rubbing compound prior to applying polish. New generation car polish come with road/ weather grime removing properties. Besides, current generation automotive paints (known as generic 2K paint) are way stronger and longer lasting than the usual NC base paints.

Car polish (read waxing) means applying a coat of wax over the paint. This coating works as a protection so that water/dust does not sit on that slippery surface. Today, we have a vast range of car care products available in the market. Unfortunately they are not consistent when it comes to demand/ supply ratios.

1. Wash your car and wipe dry before applying polish.
2. Always wax your car under the shade.
3. For a normal polish, use one that has swirl remover/cleaner.
4. Do not apply polish to the whole car. Go part by part.
5. Use applicator (comes with all tinned polish) to apply polish evenly.
6. For polishing, use cotton waste (white).
7. Do not use the same waste for your next polish.
8. Do not go overboard and put wax on plastic trims. You’ll spend double the amount of time to remove it.
9. Be careful not to choke your windshield washers with wax. Dried up wax looks ugly and sticks out like a sore thumb from those curves and trim joints. Remove dried up wax with wooden toothpicks.

RUBBER PARTS

Wiper blades should be cleant with a light shampoo. Not regularly, but once in 15 days. This process will keep the blades soft and also prevent scratch marks on the windshield.

Tyres should be scrubbed with detergent (at least once a week). Apply tyre shine after that if you wish. To remove shine and have that matte-black finish, wait for half an hour and wipe it with a dry cloth or cotton waste. If you like your tyres to shine, leave it as is after applying.

UNDER THE BONNET

Service stations usually use soap/diesel to scrub out the grime from the engine bay, but they seldom use their air hose properly to dry the area completely. Insist on that (if need be, pay extra to that washing guy). Diesel soaked rubber/plastic parts have the potential to retire from their respective duties at odd hours.

Few contacts and links

The Professional Car Care Centre,
D-19, Shivdarshan Co-op. Soc., S.V. P. Nagar, Mhada,
Off Four Bunglows, Andheri (W), Mumbai - 400 053
Tel: 022-20634684 / 26365094 / 26365095
The Professional Car Care Centre This is the place for Turtle Wax product range

SONAX range of products is available in India through Methods Automotive.
To check out their range go to SONAX

Our own home-grown company, WAXPOL has progressed a lot. Their products are good and you have a wide choice. Have a look at those at WAXPOL

If you're from Bombay or go there regularly, check out Heera Panna shopping complex for imported car care products.

Few links for information
For interior leather:
Armor All® - Leather Care Gel
Armor All® - Leather Protectant
Armor All® - Leather Care
Turtle Wax

For tyre cleaner:
Armor All® - Protectant
Armor All® - Wheel Cleaner
Turtle Wax

[vid6639]

Nice article Rudraji. For the wax I guess it's a better idea to get the liquid wax or gels. They dont leave the white dried up marks.

The turtle wax leather polish is excellent. It does not shine the leather it gives it a nice dull finish. That's the one which has aloe vera and cocoa butter.

Even the armorall protectant gives a nice dull finish rather than shiny tyres.

[Rudra Sen]

They do. Over a period of time.
Toothpick is the only way to clean without damaging the surface.

[s0uljah]

Great one as usual Rudra sir !!

Any good places for car detailing in Bangalore besides the Mission Road , CARS R US ?

[kpzen]

Excellent Sir..!!!!

The two things i would like to clarify (Pls correct me if i'm wrong)
1.Putting Engine oil on the black bumpers to make the bumpers jet black
2.Clean tyres with Pepsi ...It makes it black but dunno if its harmful to the rubber

Regards
KP

[theMAG]

Great writeup Rudraji. I'd saved your earlier article abt car maintenance, altho I've a technique developed that gives eye-watering(mine) results. I'll share it when we meet up next for that closet fear of being riduculed publicly otherwise

[Gordon]

1.Putting Engine oil on the black bumpers to make the bumpers jet black
2.Clean tyres with Pepsi ...It makes it black but dunno if its harmful to the rubber

Engine oil is meant for the engine. Agreed it will look black but imagine how sticky it would be. Try leaning against you car and you'd get it all stained.

Pepsi....for tyres. 40 bucks for 1.5L and the shine wouldnt last even a day. Tyre foam costs around 150-200 bucks and one spray would last for around 10-15 days. And the whole can would last for around a year depending on the frequency of the usage. Pepsi has an expiry date of 3 months.

[hydrashok]

Originally Posted by kpzen

2.Clean tyres with Pepsi ...It makes it black but dunno if its harmful to the

.........................

[kpzen]

Originally Posted by Gordon

Engine oil is meant for the engine. Agreed it will look black but imagine how sticky it would be. Try leaning against you car and you'd get it all stained.

No its only sticky for one day .....once u clean it with a dry cloth next day it becomes smooth n shiny.....

Originally Posted by Gordon

Pepsi....for tyres. 40 bucks for 1.5L and the shine wouldnt last even a day. Tyre foam costs around 150-200 bucks and one spray would last for around 10-15 days. And the whole can would last for around a year depending on the frequency of the usage. Pepsi has an expiry date of 3 months.

Ya u are right n plus get some firing from parents for wasting pepsi

Originally Posted by hydrashok

.........................

Even i was when someone told me this....


Note : its all desi jugaad i dont recommend this to anyone

[theexister]

I ordered Turtle was products from The professional car care centre 2 weeks back & did a complete platinum wax paste on my Fiesta, of a month old.
I started out with first washing the car with the turtle wax car wash & then drying it out completely.
Then proceeded to waxing the whole car which tool about an hour.
The whole process took me 3 hours & it was worth it. The paprika red is now looking really dark & only fine dust seems to settle unlike earlier when it was really full of dust after one nite.
I shall soon post pics. Im trying too but after my digi cam starting acting funny Im left with no options except my phone cam!!!

[babe_on_wheels]

awesome article rudraji...
it works like a charm even for my dio.....the black shine it had 2 yrs ago is still present..and it still looks brand new and eyecatchin as the first look....

[benbsb29]

For the black rubber or plastic trims on the door as well as bumpers of my ikon, i use the same tyre shine spray, although i do not remember the name of the brand. Spray it on in patches, and wipe with a dry cloth, thus reducing the shine, while at the same time giving it a nice look. The ORV mirrors on the ikon do tend to look dirty pretty fast, and use the same on those too.

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by kpzen

1.Putting Engine oil on the black bumpers to make the bumpers jet black
2.Clean tyres with Pepsi ...It makes it black but dunno if its harmful to the rubber

Regards
KP

Originally Posted by kpzen

No its only sticky for one day .....once u clean it with a dry cloth next day it becomes smooth n shiny.....

The whole idea of polishing is to make your car look clean & to prevent dust from settling. Oil would attract dust & would only make your bumper look dusty. There are fantastic polishes for the black plastic parts like the bumpers, handles, beadings etc. They work quite well in giving the car a shiny look & preventing dust from settling on them and they also make the job of cleaning your car that much easier.

[kutlee]

Hi,
I too got inspired and coated turtle wax premium and it looks glossy now. I have used it on my Santro earlier. But the colour being silver coulnd't get much detail out of it. I have used Turtle wax black/n/flash (something like that) for my santro bumper, mirrors etc. I think its better to keep tyre foam for tyres only. This might work but might harm the plastics in long term.
Rudra Sir,
Could you kindly elaborate on mainitaining after waxing? I have no idea on how frequently one should wax. Some one told me that once you wax, then you should wax again after 3 days or so. For daily cleaning, spalsh water without wiping to remove dust etc. And once its dry, use dry cloth to make it shine. I have found that the wax looses its smooth surface very soon.

[esteem_lover]

Normally, once you wax the car, there is no need to use water to clean your car for the next couple of days unless there are sticky grime sitting on the car. Just dusting the car with those fancy coloured dusters that you get, will do. If necessary soak the blue cloth in water & wring it well until there are no water droplets & just wipe the car part by part. this should do for normal city dust. For sticky dust & grime, Rudra's procedure is fine. But certainly waxing is not recomended for the next couple of months. thats from my experience.