5 tips on how to care for your freshly detailed vehicle

By: Justin Petrillo V.P. Pride Auto Detailing

It always stinks to spend hard earned dollars on a detail only to have it undone in a day or two! It seems like everything is out to make your car dirty again; whether the rain, snow, children, dogs, or even yourself.

So here are a few simple steps to keep your vehicle looking fresher…longer! Yes, I get it. If I teach you how to make your detail last, we may not see you as much.  Our goal is to educate our community and serve them the best way we know how.  This is not about money, it never has been. Money is nice, don’t get me wrong. But we wrote this article to help you save those hard-earned dollars not convince you to spend more of them!

I won’t sugar coat it, this starts with you. Most of these tips are about behavior and repetition, but just like your home, a few minutes a day prevents hours of work later…or even DAYS!

First, let’s talk trash and clutter!

Whether it’s straw wrappers, plastic bottles, fast food bags, or boogie filled Kleenexes, every time you are near a trash can, gather some of it up and throw it away. I know this sounds simple, but this is habitual behavior. You must force yourself into the habit of tidying up whenever the opportunity arises; the gas station, your home, work, etc.!

Second let’s talk prevention!

If you have dogs, simply laying an old blanket down before letting them in the car could save you hours of vacuuming. Let’s not forget about the smell too! There are many doggie car seats covers out there.  Any of them would work, the goal is to provide a simple barrier to prevent the dog hair from weaving into the fabric.

Have a few rug rats? Me too!

Children can be like the Tasmanian devil! Wreaking havoc all over your freshly detailed vehicle.  I understand it’s hard to drive and keep constant focus on what your children are doing. Especially if you have more than one kid. This is going to be hard and I know I’m asking a lot, but not feeding your kids in the car will help A TON! Trust me, my daughter is not allowed to eat or drink in the car (exceptions have been made because I am a Daddy after all and she owns my heart)! A few stores sell seat protectors for the backs of your front seats! These are a GODSEND! Those little feet will put footprints all over your seat backs, it’s unavoidable, but these covers WORK!

Wax Sealants and Coatings!

I cannot stress enough how much damage a vehicle endures from just the Sun alone! Ultraviolet light will cause fading and oxidation which will make the exterior of your vehicle dull. Whether a simple wax, sealant or a ceramic coating, you must keep something on the paint. After a long period of time your paint can start to peel and fail, especially on dark colored vehicles! It is not the easiest task to wax a vehicle, but technology has helped a significant amount.  Spray sealants have come along way and will save you many hours of Mr. Miyagi’s “Wax on, Wax off”!

Finally, Weekly touching!

If you can, I know we are busy with our children, work, and hobbies, but once a week vacuum your vehicle and wash it. I recommend carrying a few micro fiber towels with you! But, either by hand or machine, spend a few minutes really getting in there! (STAY CLEAR OF TOUCH AUTOMATIC WASHES!) This will help make that detail last and last! Sure, if you aren’t feeling up to it give us a call 417-763-7626, we are here to help you keep  that “Pride in Your Ride”!

Stay cool and stay humble,

-Justin

Vinyl can be polished!!! Check out our vinyl restoration project!

Searching online I had found that no one had ever had any experience with polishing vinyl. So we had to try it out. One of my close friends Scion TC had a wrap installed two years ago and it was severely oxidized and swirled. So we performed this experiment to learn the effects of polishing surfaces like vinyl. 

Enjoy

Best Cloth seat cleaning technique Video

For extremely dirty cloth seats the combination of the all purpose cleaner, a brush, and an extractor. In this video we show how simple and effective results this technique achieves especially combined with the low cost of the Bissel Little Green Pro Heat. 

How to Clean Your Vehicle's Interior!

Since I started this business the number one request for my clients is a thorough cleaning of the interior. Interior details are at least 65 percent of the details that I do. Because of this I wanted to teach you at home how you can clean your interior to a professional level with very little financial and time investment on this 2006 Mazda Tribute.

It doesn't take many supplies to clean your interior. The two main products you need are an all purpose cleaner, and a dressing/protectant. I am using Meguiar's All Purpose cleaner (grey bottle) and Meguiar's Quik Detail spray as the dressing. I use the APC diluted down 1:10. There are many options out there but I like the results I get with these two products. Other then that you need a handful of microfiber towels. These are just basic low pile microfibers that can be bought at Walmart. The interior dusting brush, vent brushes and carpet brushes aren't absolutely necessary, but they make getting into tight spaces much easier. A shop vac isn't shown but is critical for vacuuming purposes

I generally start with the door jams. For me, the door jams are part of the interior of the car rather then the exterior. I count the exterior as anything I can clean without opening the doors.

Sorry about the blurry picture. This is where the brush comes in handy. You could probably squeeze your hand in there with a microfiber but the brush makes it super easy. I do a couple sprays of APC directly on the brush to avoid making a mess on the area I am cleaning.

Good as new!

Now onto the weather seals. The weather seals always collect dust and dirt. A quick vacuum picks up most of the debris.

After vacuuming I use the hand detailing brush with a spray of APC to get the rest of the dirt. Clean weather seals will last years longer and give you a better seal around your door meaning less road noise.

All Clean!!

Now onto the doors. Areas we touch with our hands or rest our arms on  get much dirtier than other areas.

A few sprays of APC and the brush work wonders at agitating and removing the dirt.

The same method is applied to the window switches

All Clean!!

Looks good as new!!

The side of the seat can get pretty dirty. A spray or 2 of the APC and a wipe down with a microfiber cloth works great at getting tough stains/grime.

Blurry foamed up picture.

Good as New!!!

Vents love to collect dust and dirt

After spraying with APC the brush and microfiber are great for getting into air vents.

Here I twist the tip of the microfiber and thread it into those hard to reach areas.

Looking good!

For the steering wheel i simply spray a few drops of APC on the brush head and work it into the wheel.

All Clean!!

Center consoles are havens for dirt and it is easy to let it get out of hand. This vehicle was not so bad but there were a few water marks and dirt trapped in the crevices. 

APC and the brush working its magic. Are you beginning to see a theme?

This crevice tool is excellent at getting out the dust that gets trapped deep in the crevices.

Much Better!!

Good as new!!

Now onto the dashboard. Simply spray some APC onto the microfiber and wipe all the dirt. Once that is done come back with the protectant and wipe the dash again leaving a clean, UV protected surface.

Excellent Result

The pedals obviously get pretty dirty.

The APC and the crevice tool is great for removing all the dirt from the pedals.

Clean pedals!!!

Now the ENTIRE interior is vacuumed. Care should be taken to get those spots under and between the seats as they usually collect the most dirt.

After vacuuming you can see there are a few stains in the floor mats. How do we get those out? Just liberally spray the APC on the floor mat and agitate the dirt with the carpet brush.

The carpet brush helps lift the stains out of the carpet and into the APC foam.

Now that it is clean use a microfiber cloth to mop up the foam

Use the vacuum again to remove some more of the water. You will be left with clean shampooed carpets without having to use heavy machinery such as a steam cleaner or hot water extractor.

Now I will show you how to shampoo your seats. As you can see there are a few stains and spots in what would be otherwise clean seats.

Using our APC we liberally spray the seats applying extra sprays to those pesky stains.

Now with a interior carpet brush work the APC into the seat to get the stains from the seat to the foam.

Then mop up the foam.

MUCH BETTER!!

This is a good time to spray your interior smell good of choice. I use OZIUM air sanitizer as it is a neutral smell and works to remove odors without leaving a strong smell clients might not like.

Here's our finished product. Total time about 3 hours.

Thanks for viewing!!!