Tips to Maintain your Car's Shine

MANILA: Every car owner adores his car, whether its juts a modest hatchback instead of a swanky supercar. Irrespective of its size, scale or price tag, we go great lengths to ensure it's always like new. And who likes to travel in a dull, hideous looking car. However, due to scorching heat, chemicals in the air and dirt from the road can make your glittering ride appear old and appalling. But if you are among those crazy car fanatics who would like to see their decade-old car, shining and shimmering like a brand new ride, this one is for you. Turn the clock back and make your car glitter like it's fresh out of a showroom. By following CarBay's simple four-stage procedures, you can turn a dull looking car into a real head-turner on the road.

Wash In Wash Out:

Washing your car is the most important step of the whole process. If you want your car to look like a million dollar, make sure you wash it once in every 15 days. A high-pressure wash removes all dirt, dust, water stains and salt deposits, especially from the areas like behind the moulding, inside the wheel arches, under the bumpers, etc. Before going through with the next steps, ensure you remove all muck from the surface of the car, otherwise ugly looking scratches appears on the car's body if a dusty surface is buffed. For washing, use premium washing detergent and clean the door frames and door sills by hand. Make sure to get rid of fungus deposits, on the floor as it may cause scratches on the paint. After washing, hand dry your car instead or leaving it for air-dry as by doing so you can avoid water spots from appearing on the freshly washed body.

Claying:

Even after a thorough wash, some dust particles or spots can remain on the body of your car. To remove those, detailing clay comes in very handy. The rough surfaces of the car have strongly bonded contaminants in it, which are hard to remove from a water wash. For such issues, detailing clay can be used which helps wiping out every dirt particle and filling in the minute imperfections on the car’s body, resulting in an utterly smooth, ready-to-polish surface and maximising the effects of the wax-and-polish session that usually follows.

Polishing:

After washing and claying, your car does look clean but lacks shine and luster. To bring back the same shine it once adorned, polishing works like a charm. Polishing is the process of using abrasive substances to remove an extremely thin film of the top layer of paint, which is usually the most damaged. This process of polishing allows the underneath shinning layer to appear on top, making your car looks like a million bucks. With polishing kits available in the market, you can perform this task easily at home. But if you require a professional touch using a buffing machine, we suggest you to take your car to a professional. If polishing at home, we would suggest you to go with three coats of polishing:

• First an aggressive polishing to get rid of deep scratches in rough surfaces.
• Second finer polish with a medium strength to help remove the fine scratches and imperfections.
• Lastly, you need to use a very fine and soft polish that is only meant to accentuate the shimmer obtained so far by the entire polishing process.

Waxing:

Polishing helps brings out that glowing skin of your paint and make your car look brand new, but to keep this paint job intact for a long duration, waxing is a must. The sole purpose of waxing is to form a protective covering over the car’s well-polished, glittering surface and shield its shine from getting demeaned due to factors like exposure to direct sun rays, deposition of dust and grime, scratches, rains and snow amongst others. You can easily find waxing at any automobile store, but avoid using “2in1” products that claim to serve a dual purpose of polish as well as wax, we would suggest you to avoid it and stick to two different products. Also, rather than keeping the wax applied on the surface for too long, wipe it off after few minutes as it will require much less effort and results in much fewer streaks.