How to wash your vehicle properly (techniques, accessories)?

Manual washing is the most important step to master perfectly so as not to damage your varnish with poor techniques or poor accessories. It is mostly during this phase that micro-scratches and other defects of all kinds are created.

It is therefore essential to perfectly master the right techniques but also to equip yourself with quality materials.

We will see that before washing your vehicle manually, it is often also advisable to carry out a pre-wash in order to best prepare the base.


How to judge the need to pre-wash a vehicle?



A pre-wash is not necessarily required before every wash. Several parameters come into play when judging whether a foam pre-wash is necessary or not: the level of dirt on the car, whether the vehicle is treated or not, the outside weather, etc.

A pre-wash does not wash a vehicle. This misconception needs to be dispelled. A pre-wash is only meant to knock off the bulk of road grease or soften external contaminants (bird droppings, insect film) to make cleaning them easier without having to scrub hard.
However, it does not replace a genuine manual wash with mechanical action. Only the latter will be capable of removing all external deposits.

It is therefore important to judge whether a vehicle needs to be pre-washed before manually washing it. If it is visibly dirty (thick mud, salt, bird droppings or heavy insect film...) then a pre-wash will be essential to remove the vast majority of surface dirt.
If, on the other hand, the vehicle is lightly soiled and is moreover protected with a wax or ceramic coating, then a simple rinse before washing may be sufficient.


What are the different types of pre-washes?

There are 3 types of pre-washes, depending on the pH of the product used and the type of pre-wash to be carried out. There are thus acid-based pre-washes to remove encrusted limescale deposits in particular, pH-neutral pre-washes for maintaining natural, synthetic or ceramic protections, and alkaline pre-washes for very dirty vehicles, whether protected or not.

An acid-based shampoo pre-wash should be favored on a vehicle showing heavy limescale buildup or oxidation marks on the surface. Mix your acid-based shampoo (e.g. CARPRO Descale) with a neutral cleaning and foaming agent (e.g. LABOCOSMETICA Neve) according to the manufacturers' recommendations. Leave it to work for a few minutes at most, giving the solution time to act deeply on these marks.
Rinse thoroughly afterwards.

A pH-neutral shampoo or pre-wash agent will be sufficient for routine maintenance of treated and regularly serviced vehicles. The cleaning capacity will be very limited, which further confirms the necessity of then manually washing the vehicle.
Excellent references such as the Q2M Foam by GYEON, the FOAMULA1 by VALET PRO or the SF by ALCHIMY7 are warmly recommended.

Finally, an alkaline-based shampoo pre-wash should be used for any dirty to very dirty vehicle, protected with a synthetic protective wax or not. The potash (soda)-based formulation will effectively remove sticky residues. The highly alkaline pH (generally between 12–14) will not be compatible with a natural wax but will not remove ceramic coatings. It is possible to maintain a synthetic protective coating regularly with a neutral pH and very occasionally with an alkaline pH at the end of each season, for example. The excellent M7 by ALCHIMY7 is highly recommended.

Which accessory should you use for a pre-wash?

The ideal choice is undoubtedly the foam cannon, also known as a "foam lance", which attaches to your pressure washer lance. This will generate the maximum foaming film of solution and evenly coat the bodywork.

There are also other solutions if you don't have access to a pressure washer. These are called a foam gun or garden hose gun. You simply connect this gun to your domestic garden hose. Convenient, but the pre-wash solution generated will produce less foam than with a pressure washer.



Finally, there is a third solution for carrying out a pre-wash: a manual pre-pressure sprayer, battery-powered or rechargeable with compressed air. Requiring less logistics and more portable as a solution, it is often recommended for those who clean their car at a pressure wash center.
The excellent brand specialized in sprayers, IK SPRAYER, is perfect, particularly with its IK Foam Pro 2 model.



How to carry out a manual wash by the book?

Once your pre-wash is done, and after rinsing the vehicle thoroughly one last time, you can move on to the manual wash of your car.

The two-bucket technique remains the safest technique to minimize the risk of micro-scratches as much as possible. As its name suggests, it involves using two different buckets: the first for washing and the second for rinsing the wash mitt(s).

In the first bucket, dilute your shampoo according to the manufacturer's recommendations and top up with water. Ideally, place a filter grid at the bottom of the bucket (grit guard) to prevent any deposits from rising back into the clean water above.
In the second bucket, simply fill with clean, ideally warm water. This bucket will be used to clean the wash mitts, and must have a filter grid at the bottom.
The buckets from the brand FALKO Tools F-Ocean models are really well thought out: sturdy, with a watertight lid you can sit on, graduated and translucent so you can see the fill level. They come fitted with filter grids at the bottom.



The technique involves dipping the mitt into the wash water, then scrubbing each panel in a straight-line motion one after another. Simply rinse the mitt in the rinse bucket, rub it against the grid at the bottom, and wring it out while keeping the dirty water in the rinse bucket. Then repeat the process for the next panels.
This way you keep your wash water uncontaminated and minimize as much as possible the risk of micro-scratching the car during washing (wash-marring).

Using a good wash mitt is essential as it is in direct contact with your bodywork. It is mostly this accessory that causes swirl marks. There are several types: chenille, microfiber, wool, etc.
You should absolutely avoid traditional washing sponges, which have no fibrous structure and tend to push dirt along the surface rather than absorbing it deep down.
Some essential references for cleaning your bodywork properly: ALCHIMY7 Hybrid Mitt, GYEON Smoothie Evo, CARPRO Merino Wool Wash Mitt




The choice of shampoo is also very important. There is a wide variety available and you will need to choose the right shampoo based on the type of wash to be carried out (gentle or heavy-duty), and depending on the type of protection present on your car (ceramic, PPF, natural wax, etc.)
This will help preserve the properties of the protection.

You can find shampoos loaded with carnauba wax to best recharge the layer, and especially pH-neutral ones so as not to remove this very fragile protection that cannot withstand pH imbalances. A great example is the excellent Wax Bubble - 208 by Fictech.

If your vehicle has a ceramic coating, you will need to use a shampoo loaded with SiO2 so as not to grease the treatment and to stay on the same molecule. An excellent reference to recommend would be the Reset by Carpro.

If your vehicle is fitted with a paint protection film (PPF), then choose a non-waxing shampoo with no added ceramic treatment. The PPF Shampoo & Co by Alchimy7 is the optimal choice.

You should also make sure to carefully follow the dosages recommended by the manufacturers. Don't think that adding more shampoo will clean more or better. On the contrary, overdosing shampoo can cause streaks when drying, poorer rinsability, or cause the shampoo to dry faster on the surface in high outdoor temperatures.



We will finish with the absolute necessity of drying your vehicle after washing. Whether you have a highly hydrophobic surface treatment (ceramic, graphene, teflon...) or not, you must dry your car especially in summer during high heat to avoid "spotting" (formation of dried water droplets on the treatments).

To do so, two types of drying exist: using a blower (contactless) or a drying microfiber. Or both at the same time.


The blower, corded or battery-powered, has the advantage of requiring no mechanical action on the varnish surface and therefore reducing the risk of micro-scratches to zero. However, this drying method can quickly become time-consuming on untreated vehicles, whereas a drying microfiber used first allows you to save time. On the other hand, on a treated vehicle, especially one with a freshly applied and particularly hydrophobic treatment, the trend reverses. A good blower quickly pushes water off the surface.

Our advice remains to combine both: microfiber drying first by gently blotting the varnish, then finishing with the blower. Remember to use the blower on hard-to-reach areas (door seals, mirrors, wheel nuts, etc.)

We recommend an excellent braided mesh drying microfiber (twisted loops) such as the B-52 by Cocktail Microfibers, paired with the blower from Falko Tools F-Wind ST

Conclusion:

Correctly washing a vehicle is an extremely important process that requires time and good products and accessories. Knowing how to wash and even pre-wash a vehicle properly makes it possible to avoid damaging a varnish as much as possible (fine swirl marks). The vast majority of paint defects come from poorly executed techniques, poor materials or repeated roller washes.

It should be remembered that a simple pre-wash does not allow you to wash a vehicle properly, but rather to rough-clean it in order to then manually wash it in the best possible conditions.

We have seen the importance of good washing accessories (mitt, shampoo, etc.). Say goodbye to builder's sponges, chamois leathers and dish soap. You will damage your varnish more than anything else.

It cannot be said often enough: always make sure to wash your car out of direct sunlight and on cold surfaces as well, because even with quality products, you risk leaving marks.

The more regularly you wash your vehicle, the less time it will take, especially if it is treated.

Always remember to dry your vehicle, treated or not, in order to achieve a perfect finish.

Overall, the technologies in washing products and accessories have really evolved in recent years with detailing. The goal being to offer an ever more rewarding and satisfying experience for the user.

Advantages of a manual wash:

- Much more effective than a simple pre-wash, or waterless wash.

- Gives the car a like-new appearance.

- Respects varnish to the maximum (compared to roller washes, poorly executed waterless washes).

- Satisfying.

Disadvantages of a manual wash:

- Must be done in an authorized area (car wash station).

- Time-consuming

- Requires investing in equipment (mitt, buckets, grids, shampoo, drying microfibers, etc.)