How To Wash A Ceramic Coated Car

I am continually asked:

"How do I take care of the ceramic coating on my car?"

I appreciate the trust people put into my recommendations so I wrote this little article with some pictures and explanations of the tools, towels, brushes I use to wash a car and I recommend you get to wash your car. I will not try to convince anyone to buy this stuff - you'll need to either trust me or by all means, feel free to do all your own testing and research and then come to your own conclusions.

Below are pictures with my comments and at the bottom of this article are the links to get your own car washing tools, towels, brushes and buckets.

The Cart

The cart is the Grit Guard Universal Detailing Cart. It holds your primary car washing bucket at waist level so guess what? No bending over. Plus it can be used to hold all your other car washing tools. Here's the deal, the thing you're going to do the MOST to your car is WASH IT. Without this car you will always be bending over again and again and again - each time you wash your car. If you get the car - no more bending over. Your wash towels and all your tools are elevated to waist high.

Me? I love the cart. I use it every time I wash my car with a water hose, waterless wash or rinseless wash.

The Car Wash

The car wash is a new product and it's the real-deal. It's called Wolfgang Uber SiO2 Coating Wash. Each time you wash your car it deposits SiO2 onto your car's exterior. You use it sparingly. Like 2 to 3 cap fulls for 3 to 4 gallons of water. I'll include some links to articles I've written with before and after pictures of water beading from using ONLY this car wash.

The Car Washing Towels - Flat Weave and Edgeless

Instead of using ONE wash mitt to wash your car you use MULTIPLE microfiber towels. The genius behind this is you swap to a clean, fresh towel for each new body panel instead of using a single wash mitt, which by default will put swirls and scratches into your car's paint via dirt transfer. These are called Forrest Green Edgeless Towels. They are available in other colors but the key point is this style of towel is a FLAT WEAVE towel so it's less likely to become contaminated over time and thus less likely to put swirls and scratches into your car's paint.

The Drying Towels

The drying towels are 20" by 40" Guzzler Waffle Weave microfiber drying towels. Because they have a FLAT WEAVE - it's pretty much impossible for them to become contaminated and thus scratch your car's paint. It's all about using things that touch your car's paint that don't scratch it.

Grit Guard Inserts

These are basically plastic grills with vanes under them that position the top of the grill about 1" off the bottom of the bucket. You don't have to have them but dirt and other sharp pokey things build-up on the bottom of your buckets and the Grit Guard Inserts simply keep the things that touch your car's paint away from the sharp pokey things. NOTE: You should be washing and wiping your buckets CLEAN after each use so they are not filthy in the first place - the Grit Guard Inserts are just a little extra scratch prevention and peace-of-mind.

The Clean Dirty Towel Bucket

This is a bucket that you keep CLEAN.

After you use a towel to wash a body panel, for example the roof, after you wash the roof this towel is DONE being used. Now you place it into this CLEAN bucket so it remains off the ground or anywhere else where it can become contaminated. Maintaining a scratch-free, swirl fee finish is all about keeping the things that TOUCH your car's paint CLEAN and UNCONTAMINATED. It's really this simple.

Wash Your Towels

After you wash your car, immediately take your bucket of wet microfiber car wash towels to your washing machine and dump them in. Wash, dry, inspect, fold and then put away.

BONUS

While I originally intended to just show the above, the part about washing the CAR - you also need to wash your car's wheels and tires. GREAT brushes make the job of washing your wheels as fast as possible while making the work as easy as possible. Just the opposite can be said about junky brushes.

You need all three People always ask me which brush they should get out of the three pictures and here's the deal - you need all three.

Speed Master Brush - This brush is flexible and you can reach behind the spokes of your wheel and also get around the brake CALIPERS.

Speed Master Wheel Woolies Brush - This is for the wheel BARRELS. It's super strong and tough and you NEED it when trying to clean wheels that have baked-on brake dust on the inner barrel.

Wheel Woolies Wheel Face Brush - This is a MUST-HAVE wheel cleaning brush for the FACE of the wheel. Buy it and thank me later.

Wheel and Tire Bucket

Here's the deal, it never feels good or feels right to take a DRY wheel brush to a wheel. You've sprayed-on your wheel cleaner and next you want to agitate the cleaner and you want to use a wet, soapy brush. You CANNOT place your wheel brushes in the same bucket that you use to wash clearcoated body panels so you need a dedicated, separate bucket. Use any soap but the Wolfgang Uber SiO2 would be a good choice as it will coat your wheels each time you use it.

That's about as simple as I can keep this article and the least amount of things you really need to wash and dry your car and do a great job.