Obviously, when you purchase your new or second hand car it will look good enough to pass an initial inspection, because most of us would go for the clean respectable looking car, rather than a dirty one but exactly just HOW clean is your car?

When you look in further detail you may find all is not what it seems, as you will find out further down this page.

Quick Tips

A quick and handy tip is to keep a pack of Dashboard Wipes to hand in your car. These can be used for removing hidden germs and bacteria that can build up. Also, they can be used for removing smaller dirty marks and dust on your dashboard or door trim. Also, another handy tip is to keep a soft microfibre cloth handy as this can be used for removing dust build up, the results can be quite impressive for very little effort, obviously this is a quick, convenient method and can be done there and then, in between regular thorough cleaning. the best results were obtained from the items below.

Interior

It is difficult to get your car completely "showroom" clean, and even harder to keep it that way. There are tips in each section of the site that will hopefully help. What we did discover in many second hand cars were all manner of disgusting things that were left behind from a so called full valet, these included finger nails, dead skin, blood, mucus, etc. I dont want to be too gross, but believe me there even worse deposits left in some cases. These things are bad enough if they are yours or your family's but when they belong to someone you have never met then it can be a little disturbing.I suggest a thorough clean using quite powerful detergents and disinfectants on carpets and seats (beware not to use bleach based products as these will discolour your upholstery.) Once you have "disinfected" your car you can get on with the job of making it look good.

There are "hard to get at" areas along with the hidden places like under or between the seats, underneath the dashboard, etc that need special attention because most people like to clean the places you can see, to make it

Exterior

Try to clean your car from top to bottom if possible. If you go the other way you may pick up grit deposits that can scratch the rest of your paintwok. Also your water will become dirtier quicker. be careful not to use water that is too dirty as you may be doing more harm than good, change your water 2 or 3 times if possible. If you can hose down the paintwork as you clean the better results you will get.

During the summer months or in good weather you will find an extraordinary number of flies and bugs glued to the front of your car. If left too long they can begin to cause stains, try to treat with a recomended bug remover spray but be sure to clean it off thoroughly.

Bird droppings can also be a major problem to the paintwork of your car because some of it, if left too long can again cause staining to the paintwork. Dont be tempted to scrub the offending item off for obvious reasons but try to clean off between washes if possible, the less time it has in contact with your paintwork, the less damage it can do.

Carpets can be the harbourer of all kinds of bugs and germs, similarly to the carpets in your house, but you would vacuum your house carpets quite regularly, and most probably remove your shoes upon entering the house. However, with a car you would never remove your shoes so whatever you have picked up will be transferred to the carpets in your car. You will find in most cases that the carpets in a car are usually quite dark, obviously to hide the dirt. But the dirt you can see is not as much of a problem as the dirt and germs you can't. So try to thoroughly clean your carpets at least once a month with a reputable carpet cleaner, like MICHELIN Eco-friendly car fabric cleaner. This product is effective and kinder to the environment.

See section "wash your car" for more details on cleaning the exterior of you car. 

In this section we will try to deal with cleaning the engine compartment, whilst giving a little advice on general maintainence to your car engine, please note that we are not car mechanics so if you are experiencing engine problems please see your dealer or your local garage.

What you tend to find with most cars (not all), is a very dirty engine compartment, dont get me wrong there is a very good reason that this part of your car is dirty but there are certain things you can and tips to show you how to clean your car engine.

Firstly, please note that if you are thinking of steam cleaning your cars engine bay please be careful because a lot of important components can get damaged, for instance if you have an injection system take extra care. Also as a note of caution ensure the engine has cooled down sufficently so as not to scold or burn yourself when trying to clean.

As a general tip, which should be quite obvious to most people, ensure that your car is serviced regularly and the oil and filter are changed. Try to use an engine cleaning system in your petrol or diesel tank, some of the better ones are shown below. Check your oil levels at regular intervals and please be careful when topping up the engine oil as a slight spill can spread to all parts of the engine bay and make it look filthy, also oil and rubber does not mix well so if your rubber hoses or gromets are constantly getting drenched in oil they can become worn.

Anyway, back to job in hand of cleaning the engine bay. If you do spill oil when topping up or it is done at the garage try to clean it up immediately as oil can spread very quickly and what looked like a drop can soon become a small pool. Use an absorbant cloth initially to absorb the excess, then clean with a strong detergent to remove any burnt on oil residue.

Years ago when the inner wings were made from tissue paper it was recommended to spread oil over them to try and prevent rust. This is not required now as the material is much stronger and is rust proofed. I dont think it is advisable to start putting your hands into hard to get at areas under the bonnet, there are hazzards including hot areas if the engine has been running,sharp areas where the metal parts will have been left exposed, and also wires and connections that may be disturbed if the cleaning becomes too vigorous. So try to stick to the parts you can see. It is no real detrement to yor car if you have a little bit of dirt and grime under the bonnet, it is after all an engine bay.

There are no hard and fast rules on how to wash your car, but there are a few handy hints that can save a little time and improve the overall finish.

It is always best to clean the inside first, so as not to trail dirt in from the outside where it will be wet, also dust first, that way when you vacuum or polish you are not disturbing more dust.

When cleaning the outside of your car, you must thoroughly rinse the paintwork first, either by hosing down or by simply throwing a couple of buckets of water all over the car, that way you dislodge a lot of the loose grit and dirt that may scratch the surface when you start to sponge down (acting a little bit like sand paper). Once you have removed the loose dirt and grit it is time to use a good quality car shampoo, we recommend AutoGlym Bodywork Shampoo Conditioner , work from the top down, as the car is generally cleaner the higher up you go so this way you are keeping the water cleaner for longer, use a decent sponge or cloth, this can be very imortant.

Take care to wash thoroughtly around the wing mirrors, under or behind door handles, if you are washing during good weather you will find all manner of bugs and flies stuck to your windsreen, mirror backs and bumper, it is a good idea to treat with a bug removal spray, The best by far in our tests was Auto Glym 500ml Active Insect Remover take care to read the instructions as you will find if you leave this kind of material on your paintwork for too long it can dull or damage the finish, so rinse off after required time usually no more than a couple of minutes.

When you get further down the body of the car be careful to wash the cills and around the mudguards on each wheel, if you have use of a pressure washer it is advisable to blast away the build up of mud and dirt under the wheel arches, if not you can usually find an attachment for the end of the hose pipe to direct the spray with a little more force.

If you have alloy wheels you can use the same cloth to clean these as you use on your bodywork although if possible it is advisable to keep a seperate cloth mainly because you will get a certain amount of brake dust which you dont really want to be spreading around the rest of your car. Once you have washed the wheels there are many alloy wheel cleaners on the market, the best in our test was Autoglym Clean Wheels 500ml Trigger Alloy Wheel Cleaner,  but with all of them again please follow the instructions bacause a) if you leave these things on for too long they can damage the alloy and    b) you dont want to rub too hard with and abrasive cloth. There is a balancing act to consider with the specialist alloy wheel cleaners because although they are effective they can result in the "dulling" of the alloy if over used, but this has to balanced with the fact that if you allow the brake dust to build up and attach itself to the alloy it can be very difficult to remove. So use sparingly but try to clean with the car shampoo regularly. In my opinion dirty or discoloured alloy wheels can be the undoing of a car. One last point when cleaning alloys, I have found that using a cloth is much better than using a brush, even though there are so called specialist brushes on the market, the cloth will remove and also add a little gloss to the alloy whilst cleaning, whereas a brush can sometimes leave a residue behind.

Please try to pay particular attention to the cills and wheel arch rims as most people dont, but they can sometmes take away from the overall look of the car, but they usually are particularly dirty as they catch all the gunk thrown up bt the wheels.

If we are serious about keeping our car clean we need to know the best way of cleaning car seats, as this can be a stage of the cleaning process that is either missed out altogether or at best is a quick vacuum as an after thought when cleaning your car carpets.

Car seats do not always look like they need cleaning, unlike the exterior or the dashboard for instance, because the dirt can be ground in to the fabric (obviously the dirt is easier to see on leather upholstery). The problem can be compounded because if it doesn't look dirty we may not think it needs cleaning. A quick test is to use a wet wipe and rub a small area of the seat or back rest and see if it lifts any dirt and nine times out of ten it will.

So, where do we start? Well the first thing is to vacuum the seats to remove loose dirt, crumbs, etc. Secondly you need a decent upholstery cleaner. In our recent tests we found the following came out on top, both value for money and sheer effectiveness when used. The top performing product was Armor All 31600EN 600ml Multi-Purpose Foaming Cleaner we found that we needed very little elbow grease to obtain optimum results. A close second though was Comma Interior Clean 750ml all interior types which again achieved great results. Please read the instructions for each product, but one common rule with all is not to leave the product too long before sponging or wiping off (especially on a hot day), as this can cause staining of the seats.

What we need to be mindful about is using a product that is too harsh or something that contains bleach as these products can achieve an instant clean but unfortunately it not only removes the dirty marks, it removes the fabric colours also. Pay attaention to the back rests and headrests, as these areas are quite often missed. The headrest area can become particularly freasy from our hair or hair products.

Once you have cleaned the seat and back, make sure you clean the sides as these areas tend to be left also, they dont tend to get quite as dirty but it can spoil the look of the car if you open the door and there are great dirty marks down the side

Another point to mindful about when cleaning car seats, is not to be too aggresive with the sponge, brush or cloth because it can cause "bobbling" on seats made from material and scratching on the leather. You will find if you use the above named products correctly you will not have to be too agrresive to produce a clean seat.

Sometimes it is an idea to cover the seats but a lot of car seats are insightly or uncomfortable so I suggest avoiding this, however if you have a particularly dirty job or you happen to have have really filthy clothes on for whatever reason, (you may have slipped and fallen in some mud or worse), try to keep a blanket in the boot or trunk of your car to place over the seat. Avoiding really soiled in marks can make the job of cleaning car seats uch easier

Cleaning your Dashboard

When you begin to clean your car interior try to remove the excess dust first with a dry microfibre cloth because if you try to remove it with any other water based cleaning items you will find that you are simply spreading it around the surface of your dashboard, thus making it more difficult to remove. Also, vacuum the carpets so as not to create dust later when you have polished your dashboard, 2 simple steps that will make your job easier. If possible try to use a silicone free dashboard cleaner as some of the silicone based products can be very difficult to apply properly

One of the first things you should buy for your new car is a new set of car mats. They protect the carpet, not just from general wear and tear but they help to avoid ground in dirt and germs. The mats should be cleaned properly at regular intervals i.e it is ok to vacuum them but if they are rubber try to wash them with soap and water at least once a month or if they are carpet again try to use carpet cleaner at the same sort of intervals – if you use a scented cleaner it can act as an air freshener as it get deep into the carpet fibres.

When attempting to remove dog hairs from seats or carpet you must remember that they can go deep into the material. If you have vacuumed thouroghly it may look like the hairs are gone but 2 – 3 days later they can reappear as if by magic, this is because the hairs have burrowed deep into the fibres of the material, then the gentle massaging of the seats by our bodies in general use brings these deep set hairs to the surface, so you have to again deep clean and vacuum to try to release these. You may think, why bother with all this repeated hard work when you can quickly drop it in at your nearest car valeters and they will do it for you, well in my experience they will not spend endless time teasing the dog hairs out of your upholstery, so your car may return clean but will still have the thousands of hairs you hoped would be gone