My brother-in-law has just bought a new car, and I watched him industriously cleaning the vehicle with a new owner’s enthusiastic zeal. My sister showed me the small suitcase size car cleaning kit that came with the vehicle, and the ‘car cleaning ethos’ manual, almost the length of ‘War and Peace’, that accompanied it. Whoever wrote this tome must have had their tongue firmly in cheek, in my opinion. Both my sister and I had a much needed laugh when we read it. One of the best bits was entitled, ‘Before You Start’.
Dirt will accumulate inside a car however careful you are. Much of it is brought in driver and passengers, but traffic fumes and air-borne dirt enters through the ventilation system.
Start by emptying all the contents of the car into a handy container. This includes contents of the glove box, door bins and foot wells. After cleaning, just put back what you need.
Remove all the mats. You may find a variety of fixings, some need a coin to undo (leave a 2p in the ashtray in future) and others just a twist. Bang out the mats to loosen the dirt.
Do the same with the boot. Carefully remove the spare wheel, tools, mats etc. If your car is a hatchback remove the parcel shelf as it is easier to clean this out of the car.
Before using a bucket, make sure it is clean and not full of gritty dirt from the last wash- a car’s worst enemy. Change your water regularly-it’s the cheapest cleaner you can get!
To prevent chapped/dry hands use barrier cream before you start. For messy jobs, thick grade rubber gloves are a must.
If you have space available, try and separate the various cleaning jobs into wet and dry tasks. Once you have finished the washing and drying, drive the car around the block, to blow out any standing water and then park the car in a dry spot prior to polishing!
There were many more chapters dealing with each aspect of car cleaning, in minute detail, one was devoted to cleaning the engine!
When my brother-in-law had finished this marathon car pampering ordeal, hours later, he looked exhausted. My sister commented, with some asperity, that she reckoned the car would be taken to the car wash next time it was in need of cleaning!
