Looking back at your car and seeing no imperfections is the best feeling in the world. Nothing will beat when you have to double take your car because it has an amazing shine that stands apart from anything in the parking lot. (Don’t worry your not alone, we all double take our cars)

Over time you may begin to notice maintaining this shine can be hard and there isn’t much that you can do in order to keep it from going away. You’ve tried washing it consistently and avoiding any contaminants that could affect the paint but still you’ve had no luck from preventing the shine form slipping away, is there anything you can do to prevent this at all?

Preventative measures can be applying some ceramic pro or glassparency onto your car, you can also throw PPF into the mix for a double layer of protection. For many car owners they don’t have the budget to do this and in that case the best tool at your disposal is to visit a Calgary detailing company to complete a wash and restore on your cars paint. You can even learn how to clean your car back into its best shape by reading our comprehensive detailing guide.

So why should consider visiting a Calgary car detailing company or taking matters into your own hand by completing an automobile? In this article we will cover the quick simple steps that will allow you to repair and help hold your cars shine over time.

Complete an Exterior Car Wash

Washing your car before anything is an excellent choice, It is a simple step that can make the restoration process much easier. You can begin by spraying your car down with water through a high pressure hose and applying soap through a high pressured sprayer as well. 

When washing we recommend making the least amount of contact with your car in order to prevent you from rubbing any contaminants into the paint which can lead to scratches and swirls (you don’t need to worry about this if you have ceramic, PPF and glassparency).

Completing this wash will allow you to breakdown and remove any surface level debris such as dirt, removing these surface level contaminants will allow you to speed up the clay-barring and waxing process which ultimately leave the largest effect on your paint.

After the wash has been completed you can grab your reliable microfibre clothes or an air blower to dry your cars paint, the next steps require us to have a dry vehicle to work on. When drying your car be sure to remove any tags from clothes and to switch out clothes so you aren’t spreading any left over dirt on your car. Following the right steps to a car wash can really help you in the coming steps.

Clay Bar Your Car 

Most people believe a car wash is all that’s needed to restore your car back to its original shine and many people believe that applying a wax is the secret kept by detailers. Both of these answers are incomplete without a clay bar which is the true detailers secret.

A clay bar is used to remove any contaminants that become attached to your cars paint. Completing a car wash will not remove the embedded contaminants and applying a wax prematurely can lead to the contaminants causing further damage by being rubbed into your paint. In order to correctly bring back that quality shine to your car you first need to remove the contaminants using a clay bar.

Begins by completing a thorough wash on your car, be sure to apply soap and ensure all troublesome areas have been washed. Clay barring requires your car to be dry so you want to complete a wipe down or use a blower to completely dry your car. Once your car is dry you can park it in some shade before beginning the decontamination process.

Take a piece of clay, grab the lubricant provided with the the box and section off a panel of your car that you can easily reach, we recommend  a 2foot by 3foot section. Apply the lubricant then begin sliding the bar back and forth with some pressure to remove contaminants trapped in the paint. In the beginning you will feel some resistance, this is good because it is your clay removing the contaminants. Once the resistance is close to nothing you can move onto another section on your car until it’s complete. Be sure to remove all the lubricant form your car before continuing onto a wax.

For a more in-depth guide on how to complete a clay bar on your car you can visit our complete clay bar guide

Apply Quality Wax

The most common solution our clients think of when shining their cars is to apply wax. As you have probably come to understood this alone will not get your car the shine it deserves, combined with the following two initial steps is what will really make your wax work.

In order to apply wax effectively you want to ensure your car is parked in the shade, allowed to come to a cool temperature and of course having implemented the previous two steps. Once this has all been completed you can choose whether you want to use spray wax or solid wax, the benefits of both of these waxes can be found in this article. Once your type of wax has been chosen apply it carefully by not allowing it to dry up on your car during the application price.

Congratulations you’ve now understood some of the more important basic steps that can be implemented to ensure and prolong a quality shine for your car. It can be tempting to skip over one of the steps but we highly recommend following them all, it may take more time in the begging but will pay off several times over. If you have any questions you can contact our Calgary detailing group at anytime or book now!