Category: Vehicle Cleaning Tips

General Information

Chrome is a mixture of metals, primarily Chromium and Nickel. It is a very resilient and brillant finish that can last a lifetime if properly maintained.

Tools & Technique

To clean and polish chrome, try using a mild detergent to remove dirt and grease.
If there is still residue, try using a polishing paste or commercially available metal polish.
Once the chrome is clean, polish with a cotton rag. Old cloth diapers are the best, but any thick cotton cloth that has been previously washed will polish without leaving lint.
Never use caustic cleaners such as oven cleaner or abrasive cleansers like comet on chrome, as surface damage will result in rapid deterioration.
To maintain the luster of chrome, try applying a coat of automotive wax.

Your car windshield will be much cleaner if you add 2 caps full of house hold ammonia to your windshield washer fluid.

General Info:
Convertible tops for the most part are made out of vinyl or vinyl-like material, usually with some sort of texture. Treat it as you would any vinyl surface.
Tools & Chemicals:
Mild Detergent, Water, Cleaning Cloth, Soft-Bristle Brush, Ammonia, Vinyl Cleaner.

Technique:

• For regular cleaning use mild detergent, water and a soft cloth or sponge. Vinyl is quite tough and can take a lot of cleanings which will keep the top looking good.
• If dirt and grime is heavier use a soft-bristle brush to loosen from deeper in the textured surface.
• You can also use a solution of ammonia and water applied with a sponge. Keep the solution mild and rinse off with clean water. Only do this once or twice a year.
• Of course, there are many commercial products that will clean and condition vinyl tops such as “Armor All”

Precautions:
Vinyl has plasticizers which keep it supple. Excess oils, harsh detergents and solvents will harden and crack vinyl surfaces

This question was received from Nellie: How do you remove cooked on egg off of the front of a car? Sorry that this has taken so incredibley long, but we don’t often use our vehicles as griddles for cooking omlettes, so the pro’s we consulted had never really come accross anything like this.

So, we took an egg, cracked it, (beat it a little) and poured it on one of our cars and sat it under a 500 watt halogen construction light for a couple hours. Are we dedicated or what? We didn’t let it sit for days on end in 100 degree heat, but it did get pretty cooked on. Brushes didn’t work as effectively as we thought they might, but we eventually took a heavy terry wash towel and soaked it in a 50/50 mixture of warm water and white vinegar. We put the towel over the scrambled egg remains, and let it sit for about 10 minutes.

With that the egg scraped off easily with a finger nail, and then a brush. You may want to let the vinegar mixture sit longer. As well the car we did it to was waxed a few months back, and still has a very smooth, shiney finish on it. This may have made it a bit easier to remove.

General Information:
Exterior automotive windows are subject to many foul byproducts of travel. Emmissions, dirt, grime from other vehicles, bugs, small animals all leave a film that detracts from the overall apperance of the vehicle and is a safety consideration.

Tools & Technique
To clean exterior automotive windows use a regular commercially available window cleaner and cotton rags. Old cloth diapers are the best, but any thick cotton cloth that has been previously washed will clean without leaving lint.
The secret is to wash the window twice. The first wash will remove dust, dirt, and road grime. On the second washing use only a limited amount of spray, and polish the window until all of the streaks are gone.

Tips:
There are also a number of excellent products available that will treat the windows so water will sheet off. These products need reapplying as often as monthly, depending on the amount of driving you do in the rain. Although inexpensive, the treatments take time to apply, but the added safety and convenience are worth while for many drivers.

Here is a question from Panda.

How can I clean dried on, very hard water from windows, both house and car ?

The professional auto detailer on our forum suggests that you use super fine steel wool and water to remove the stain itself, and then clean the window as you normally would with glass cleaner.

Hard water stains are removed using acidic cleaners as well.  CLR® or products sold as soap scum or rust removers are typically acidic.

Here are a few home remedies to try:

Use pure white vinegar in a spray bottle to work on hard water stains on glass doors. Many people use vinegar to clean coffee makers

Cut a lemon in half, or use pure lemon juice to remove hard water stains.

How can I safely clean off some tree sap that is on my car’s exterior? It has been on there for a while and seems to be stuck like glue. It must have fallen on my car when I was parked under some pine trees last autumn.

Tree Sap
Removing tree sap from a car’s finish is a bit more difficult than tar, as hardened sap can scratch your paint. I’ve found that by hand-rubbing the sap spots with mineral spirits or denatured alcohol, I’m able to easily remove the sap without damaging the finish. Mineral spirits and denatured alcohol acts as a solvent to break up and dissolve the sap.

If there is a large amount of sap on the car, or if the sap has been left on the finish for an extended period of time, it can be a lot of work to remove. For these cases, I discovered that hitting the affected areas with a light-duty buffing compound removes the hardened surface on the sap spots. Then I can hit the sap with the mineral spirits to remove it. The light duty buffing compound softens the sap so the mineral spirits or denatured alcohol can do its job. The goal is to use the least pressure possible to reduce the risk of scratching the paint. After removing heavy sap, I always buff the treated areas with a good polish to clean up any marks created during hand-rubbing with solvent. The treated area must also be re-waxed.

We have also had good success using orange based solvents and children’s plasticine (molding clay). Apply a bit of the solvent and rub with the clay – it is abrasive enough to scrub off the sap which has been broken down by the solvent.

All of the chemicals used to remove the aforementioned road stains also remove your wax or sealants. After removing tar, sap or bugs, plan to spot wax or re-wax your vehicle. If you don’t have time to wax right away, use a quick detailing spray that contains wax. Eagle One’s Wet Spray Wax, a quick spray wax, is great for this kind of spot waxing, too.

Information provided by www.Autopia-carcare.com