Quarterly Cleaning Regime. Just my regime from 35+ years of cleaning cars.
Firstly, this is a car cleaning not a detailing thread, that's a whole different ball game altogether.
Your chosen products are just that, your choice. Some follow one brand and range, some mix and match and some just buy what's on offer, no right or wrong.
Cars are best washed in cool weather, not in direct sunlight and with cool wheels and engine. If you wash in direct sunlight the shampoo/water dries out quickly and will leave soap spots which are difficult to remove. Polish and Wax can bake on and be difficult to buff off by hand.
Cleaning Kit - Engine bay cleaner, wheel cleaner and wheel Wax. Roof cleaner and protector, Snow foam, shampoo, paint decontam agent, polish and wax. Window cleaner, external black plastic rejuvinator and tyre gell/shine. Metal/chrome polish and rubber seal rejuvinator (Gummifledge)
Cleaning tools - Buckets x 2 with grit guards if using the 2 bucket method, a good quality fibre mitt, polish and Wax applicators, roof cleaning sponge, fibre cloths (take the tag off as it can cause Marks when buffing), fibre towel and chamois. Soft paint brushes for the engine bay, wheels and other tight areas such as door jams. You can buy bespoke detailing brushes but a 1 inch and 2 inch paint brush will do just fine
Pressure washer and associated tools (jet/spray nozzles and under car applicator), snowfoam applicator (don't buy cheap, they don't apply the Snowfoam very well)
Washing
Engine bay first. Apply engine cleaner liberally all over the engine bay, agitate with a brush and rinse thoroughly with a low flow hose on spray (mind the air box) mop up any pools such as turret struts and spray your shine spray liberally, shut the bonnet and leave.
Wheels
Spray your wheel cleaner liberally and leave for a couple of minutes to loosen pollution, agitate with a brush and rinse thoroughly. 1 wheel at a time. If you're really keen you can take the wheels to get to both sides. I have winter and summer tyrs/wheels so this is done in November and April.
Underneath
If you have an under car pressure washer, carry out a full rinse underneath concentrating around the arches/suspension (you'll be surprised at the amount of dirt that washes off)
Bodywork
Apply Snowfoam onto dry paint in a logical fashion to reduce waste, bottom up front to back as an example (not the roof as that's to be cleaned later). Leave for several minutes to loosen dirt then rinse/jet wash off bottom to top.
Roof
Damp down with a fine spray, apply cleaning agent as per instructions, agitate with provided applicator (normally a coarse sponge), rinse thoroughly with a low flow hose on fine spray and pat down with a chamois to remove water. Once dry, add roof protection after the paintwork wash stage taking care to cover the paintwork if spraying on, I paint on to avoid cross contamination on the windows/paintwork, moreso if it's windy.
Put in the recommended amount of car Shampoo into the bucket and fill your bucket with tepid/warm water (all sorts of "expert" advice about only use cold water etc), it's cold in winter so warm it is, for me. Fill a separate bucket with just water to rinse your fibre mitt between each pass. Windows first (don't forget the wiper blades) then in a logical manner, front to back/top to bottom rinsing your fibre mitt after each panel. Do the areas that are likely to be most heavily contaminated last to avoid cross contamination from your mitt. Bumpers, sills and wheel arches last. Rinse thoroughly.
Decontamination
Spray on your decontamination product to one panel at a time, leave for a minute then using a different fibre mitt in a clean bucket of warm water and shampoo, wash one panel at a time, rinsing your fibre mitt after each panel. This is a "must" step if using a clay bar to ensure all contamination is removed to prevent marking your paint later in the process. Rinse thoroughly.
Pat down the roof with a chamois if required then towel the car dry in the same method of washing. Fold in mirrors to dry out the hex heads and let water from the mirror drip out. Open doors, bonnet, boot and roof (just open enough to see the seals), wash, rinse and dry door shuts and the bottom of the doors. Using a fibre towel, catch all water from the doors, bonnet, boot and dry all seals with a chamois. Run the chamois through all shut lines, light clusters bonnet gills etc to prevent runs marking the paint. Buff the engine bay with a fibre cloth.
Treat all under bonnet seals, roof seals, door seals and boot seals with Gummifledge to ensure they remain as designed and don't get brittle and/or crack.
Last walk around the car with a fibre towel to catch any drips.
Polish
Using either a bespoke polish applicator or fibre cloth apply the polish as per instructions (this may be one panel at a time or the whole car. If it's hot, one panel at a time is better as it's easier to buff off). Buff off polish with a clean fibre cloth turning regularly (if you see polish dust after buffing off you've put too much polish on). Apply wax in the same format.
Boot
Remove the carpets and tools and clean accordingly. For those with a space saver, remove and clean the wheel both sides and tyre. Check frame carrier for corrosion. Check pressure, clean the tray and replace.
*Note. Don't forget to polish and Wax the inner painted lips of the wheel arches and sills for additional protection.
*Note. Do not use a white polish such as SRP on the underside of the outer sills as it has additional corrosion application, is rippled and is a pain to get out. Colour magic or Car Gods 54 Black Wax Car Polish or similar.
Windows
Apply your window cleaner to a fibre cloth and clean one window at a time, buff clean with a separate fibre cloth. The rear plastic window can be cleaned with a variety of plastic polishes, I use greygate plastic polish. Plenty of stuff out there.
External Plastics
Using a small soft sponge, apply your gell product sparingly and apply it to the plastic. Number Plate surrounds, scuttle, door handles if not chrome and wiper arms. If you have a Vinyl wrap on your Posts do that also, comes up great.
Tyres
Using a clean soft sponge apply your tyre Gell to each tyre (if using spray apply it to a clean cloth/sponge and apply). Do all 4 tyres and either leave for a shine or buff for a dull clean effect. You can repeat once dry for extra shine.
Wheels
Wax your wheels with your chosen wax and applicator then buff up. This makes cleaning easier and helps reduce brake dust on your wheels.
Exhaust
Apply your metal/chrome cleaner to your applicator and clean as per instruction then buff up.
Interior
Take out the floor mats and empty car of all detritus, hoover the carpets and rear shelf. Hoover the roof interior, seats, dash and vents with a soft brush attachments. Apply leather cleaner to the seats with the appropriate applicator or a micro fibre cloth then apply a leather balm using the same method (same for handbrake/gear stick gators/door cards/steering wheel etc) allow to dry then buff (this process takes 24-48hrs to establish itself dependant on weather conditions).
Apply plastic interior cleaner to all internal plastics and wipe clean with a clean micro fibre cloth. Clean interior windows as per exterior (inc rear view mirror).
Shampoo carpets with your chosen product, hoover when dry. Do the same to the floor mats.
*Note. Check headlight leveling roller post polishing to ensure it's in the correct position.
Top tip.
Your micro fibre cloths are probably a range of colours. Use one colour for each process and when you wash them do not use fabric softener.
Thoroughly clean your fibre mitts, chamois and associated cleaning products thoroughly after each use.
This process is carried out quarterly to maintain the condition of the car. Wash frequently as above for Bodywork and apply a top up spray wax for additional protection and shine between the quarterly process.
Stand back, admire, take loads of pics.
Firstly, this is a car cleaning not a detailing thread, that's a whole different ball game altogether.
Your chosen products are just that, your choice. Some follow one brand and range, some mix and match and some just buy what's on offer, no right or wrong.
Cars are best washed in cool weather, not in direct sunlight and with cool wheels and engine. If you wash in direct sunlight the shampoo/water dries out quickly and will leave soap spots which are difficult to remove. Polish and Wax can bake on and be difficult to buff off by hand.
Cleaning Kit - Engine bay cleaner, wheel cleaner and wheel Wax. Roof cleaner and protector, Snow foam, shampoo, paint decontam agent, polish and wax. Window cleaner, external black plastic rejuvinator and tyre gell/shine. Metal/chrome polish and rubber seal rejuvinator (Gummifledge)
Cleaning tools - Buckets x 2 with grit guards if using the 2 bucket method, a good quality fibre mitt, polish and Wax applicators, roof cleaning sponge, fibre cloths (take the tag off as it can cause Marks when buffing), fibre towel and chamois. Soft paint brushes for the engine bay, wheels and other tight areas such as door jams. You can buy bespoke detailing brushes but a 1 inch and 2 inch paint brush will do just fine
Pressure washer and associated tools (jet/spray nozzles and under car applicator), snowfoam applicator (don't buy cheap, they don't apply the Snowfoam very well)
Washing
Engine bay first. Apply engine cleaner liberally all over the engine bay, agitate with a brush and rinse thoroughly with a low flow hose on spray (mind the air box) mop up any pools such as turret struts and spray your shine spray liberally, shut the bonnet and leave.
Wheels
Spray your wheel cleaner liberally and leave for a couple of minutes to loosen pollution, agitate with a brush and rinse thoroughly. 1 wheel at a time. If you're really keen you can take the wheels to get to both sides. I have winter and summer tyrs/wheels so this is done in November and April.
Underneath
If you have an under car pressure washer, carry out a full rinse underneath concentrating around the arches/suspension (you'll be surprised at the amount of dirt that washes off)
Bodywork
Apply Snowfoam onto dry paint in a logical fashion to reduce waste, bottom up front to back as an example (not the roof as that's to be cleaned later). Leave for several minutes to loosen dirt then rinse/jet wash off bottom to top.
Roof
Damp down with a fine spray, apply cleaning agent as per instructions, agitate with provided applicator (normally a coarse sponge), rinse thoroughly with a low flow hose on fine spray and pat down with a chamois to remove water. Once dry, add roof protection after the paintwork wash stage taking care to cover the paintwork if spraying on, I paint on to avoid cross contamination on the windows/paintwork, moreso if it's windy.
Put in the recommended amount of car Shampoo into the bucket and fill your bucket with tepid/warm water (all sorts of "expert" advice about only use cold water etc), it's cold in winter so warm it is, for me. Fill a separate bucket with just water to rinse your fibre mitt between each pass. Windows first (don't forget the wiper blades) then in a logical manner, front to back/top to bottom rinsing your fibre mitt after each panel. Do the areas that are likely to be most heavily contaminated last to avoid cross contamination from your mitt. Bumpers, sills and wheel arches last. Rinse thoroughly.
Decontamination
Spray on your decontamination product to one panel at a time, leave for a minute then using a different fibre mitt in a clean bucket of warm water and shampoo, wash one panel at a time, rinsing your fibre mitt after each panel. This is a "must" step if using a clay bar to ensure all contamination is removed to prevent marking your paint later in the process. Rinse thoroughly.
Pat down the roof with a chamois if required then towel the car dry in the same method of washing. Fold in mirrors to dry out the hex heads and let water from the mirror drip out. Open doors, bonnet, boot and roof (just open enough to see the seals), wash, rinse and dry door shuts and the bottom of the doors. Using a fibre towel, catch all water from the doors, bonnet, boot and dry all seals with a chamois. Run the chamois through all shut lines, light clusters bonnet gills etc to prevent runs marking the paint. Buff the engine bay with a fibre cloth.
Treat all under bonnet seals, roof seals, door seals and boot seals with Gummifledge to ensure they remain as designed and don't get brittle and/or crack.
Last walk around the car with a fibre towel to catch any drips.
Polish
Using either a bespoke polish applicator or fibre cloth apply the polish as per instructions (this may be one panel at a time or the whole car. If it's hot, one panel at a time is better as it's easier to buff off). Buff off polish with a clean fibre cloth turning regularly (if you see polish dust after buffing off you've put too much polish on). Apply wax in the same format.
Boot
Remove the carpets and tools and clean accordingly. For those with a space saver, remove and clean the wheel both sides and tyre. Check frame carrier for corrosion. Check pressure, clean the tray and replace.
*Note. Don't forget to polish and Wax the inner painted lips of the wheel arches and sills for additional protection.
*Note. Do not use a white polish such as SRP on the underside of the outer sills as it has additional corrosion application, is rippled and is a pain to get out. Colour magic or Car Gods 54 Black Wax Car Polish or similar.
Windows
Apply your window cleaner to a fibre cloth and clean one window at a time, buff clean with a separate fibre cloth. The rear plastic window can be cleaned with a variety of plastic polishes, I use greygate plastic polish. Plenty of stuff out there.
External Plastics
Using a small soft sponge, apply your gell product sparingly and apply it to the plastic. Number Plate surrounds, scuttle, door handles if not chrome and wiper arms. If you have a Vinyl wrap on your Posts do that also, comes up great.
Tyres
Using a clean soft sponge apply your tyre Gell to each tyre (if using spray apply it to a clean cloth/sponge and apply). Do all 4 tyres and either leave for a shine or buff for a dull clean effect. You can repeat once dry for extra shine.
Wheels
Wax your wheels with your chosen wax and applicator then buff up. This makes cleaning easier and helps reduce brake dust on your wheels.
Exhaust
Apply your metal/chrome cleaner to your applicator and clean as per instruction then buff up.
Interior
Take out the floor mats and empty car of all detritus, hoover the carpets and rear shelf. Hoover the roof interior, seats, dash and vents with a soft brush attachments. Apply leather cleaner to the seats with the appropriate applicator or a micro fibre cloth then apply a leather balm using the same method (same for handbrake/gear stick gators/door cards/steering wheel etc) allow to dry then buff (this process takes 24-48hrs to establish itself dependant on weather conditions).
Apply plastic interior cleaner to all internal plastics and wipe clean with a clean micro fibre cloth. Clean interior windows as per exterior (inc rear view mirror).
Shampoo carpets with your chosen product, hoover when dry. Do the same to the floor mats.
*Note. Check headlight leveling roller post polishing to ensure it's in the correct position.
Top tip.
Your micro fibre cloths are probably a range of colours. Use one colour for each process and when you wash them do not use fabric softener.
Thoroughly clean your fibre mitts, chamois and associated cleaning products thoroughly after each use.
This process is carried out quarterly to maintain the condition of the car. Wash frequently as above for Bodywork and apply a top up spray wax for additional protection and shine between the quarterly process.
Stand back, admire, take loads of pics.
not just 10 pumps worth. And you've turned it into a dakar zed.