Washing Your Car

I came across a little fact the other day that just simply, and quite literally, blew my mind. This little fact was that by not having your car washed and waxed properly, and regularly that you are going to decrease the average fuel efficiency of your car by about 7%. Considering that the cost of gas seems to be rising on practically a daily basis, every little bit that can help reduce the amount of money that you spend on gas is something that should be embraced.

Prior to starting any task, it is a necessity to gather together the tools and materials that you are going to need. Since washing a car is a fairly simple matter, the corresponding list of materials and tools that you need to collect should be a fairly simple one as well. Here is a list of what you should have on hand when you begin.

• Large soft, lint free cloths or rags or wash cloths
• Chamois
• Water hose
• Car wash soap
• Old clothes
• Two large buckets

After you have gathered all of the materials and tools that you need to decide when to actually wash your car. This is a task that is going to take a few hours, so be sure that you can dedicate the time that is needed to properly accomplish the task. Finally before beginning, make sure that you are going to be working on a day that is not rainy, and that you are preferably working in a location that provides some shade.

1. Prepare. Get your water ready. In one of the buckets place a small amount of the car washing soap, say roughly one or two capfuls. After having placed the soap into the bucket, you need to fill that bucket about ¾ of the way to the top. The other bucket, you need to simply fill with water.
2. Rinse. Using either the hose, or a rag and your rinse bucket, rinse off all the lose dirt and grime from the car.
3. Wash. Work your way around the car, starting on one side. Work up a sudsy lather with the soapy water and one of the rags, or sponge. As you are working the soap into a lather, be sure that you are using a soft, gentle pressure to avoid causing any damage to the vehicle's paint. You want to work on only one side at a time, because if you do not you are going to run the risk of having the soap dry before you can rinse it off. If that does happen, simply wet down the dried area.
4. Rinse. Once you have "sudsed" up an area of the vehicle, you can go about rinsing off the area with either the hose, or through the use of more rags and some clear water. Make sure that you have completely rinsed off all of the soap in order to avoid having a soapy and dirty mess that is going to take more time and effort to clean.
5. Dry. After completely rinsing off all of the soapy water, take the chamois and begin to dry the vehicle. As you are doing this, you want to again make sure that you are using only a gentle and steady pressure. Work from the top down, using circular motions. This is ensures that you do not have any spotting after you have finished.