The ultimate list of car-cleaning products for your car

By Stuart Johnston

Washing and polishing a car is a job that should be set aside for a Saturday afternoon, right? We would have thought so, until we chatted to Bilaal Mia, who runs a car detailing service out in Alrode, south of Johannesburg.

“We do valet jobs and detailing here at our premises, and we also sell DIY valet and detailing kits to our customers who want to do the work themselves.

“For me, a starting point is to get the car clean. And that involves plenty of time. When my first-time customers are ready to leave with one of our cleaning kits and ask me what about a polishing kit, I normally tell them to first tackle the cleaning. Then if they have enough energy after spending an entire weekend cleaning their cars – because that’s how long it takes – then they should call me to talk about polishing. That’s a whole subject all to itself.”

As a starting point

Bilaal says that to simplify matters he has assembled a kit of cleaning products made by a company called Gyeon Quartz. These cover basic cleaning fluids as well as the tools of the trade, such as  brushes and wash mitts.

Wash mitts? Whatever happened to sponges or rags torn from old T-shirts?

“Wash mitts make life so much easier, when you use  dedicated mitts to clean your car.”

General Rules

* Always  clean the wheels and tyres first

* Use separate buckets and cleaning mitts for wheels and tyres

* The buckets should be fitted with a grit guard

* When washing the car body, start with the roof and wash from top to bottom

Clean the car in the shade, with a cool body surface

Don’t ever let the cleaning fluids dry until you rinse off. They can cause sports on the paint that are difficult to remove.

The wheels and tyres must be cleaned separately, and done first

“Start off with a good high-pressure spray to give a basic rinse  to the wheels and tyres. Then use a mag wheel cleaner to clean the wheels.

“To get at the difficult spots between and behind the spokes, you  get special brushes to get into the crevices. I suggest using  a wheel woolly, which is a soft texture brush that won’t scratch the surface of a polished alloy wheel. Rinse off this cleaner and then wash the wheels using a good shampoo.

For the car body

“Always wash a car in the shade, The surface temperature of the body needs to be nice and cool.

Start off by giving the car a good spray using a hose with reasonable pressure. If you can afford it, invest in a good pressure washer, as it makes life so much easier than using a conventional garden hose.

Iron and fall-out removers should be used for cars with bad road stains

“Gyeon makes a special iron and fall-out remover spray to remove oily spots  that can be picked up when driving in areas where there is lots of commercial vehicle traffic, or in areas where the air is really dirty. When using the fall-out remover, keep it fluid at all times and don’t let them dry or use this on a hot surface. Then rinse off.

Next, use a pre-wash foam

“Once you’ve sprayed off the surface again, apply a pre-wash foam, that softens the dirt. I use Gyoen for this, but there are other good products available. This foam should be left on the car to soften the dirt for a couple of minutes.  But don’t let it dry out. Then you rinse this off with a hose and begin washing the car with a two bucket system. The one bucket is for your shampoo and the other is for your rinsing water.

The basic wash technique

“You begin the wash-proper using the two-bucket system , one for shampoo and the other for rinsing. I use Gyeon shampoo as a rule, but there are more expensive options which are excellent, as well as cheaper options which are also good.

“The buckets  used  for your cleaning foam and rinsing water should be fitted with grit guards. When you rinse off your wash mitt, the dirt particles fall down to the bottom of the bucket, and with a grit guard these particles remain at the bottom of the bucket.

Rinse off with a hose with good pressure

“Once you’ve shampooed the whole car, rinse off with a high pressure hose, and then dry the car off with a soft cloth.  Make sure you dry off the car thoroughly to get rid of any small water spots. Chamois cloths can also be good for the drying process.

“As an aid to drying properly, it is worth investing in a small electric garden blower, to get rid of all the water in the crevices. A small compressor can also do a good job here.

Polishing? That’s for another day!

“As for polishing, that is a subject for another day. As I said, a good clean could take the whole weekend, if you really do it properly, getting into the wheel arches and the valances.”