A great deal of people detail or clean their car for aesthetic reasons and that is all very well, but there are far more essential reasons for detailing one's car. Most people spend roughly the same percentage of their money on a car. I mean that as they get a better career, they tend to buy a better car. Therefore a car is a sizable investment for most drivers.
It makes sense to preserve one's investments and even if you cannot make your car increase in value, you can at least take every measure in your power to slow the speed of its depreciation. One of the foremost ways of doing this is by regular maintenance and detailing a car ought to be seen as part of your regular maintenance programme.
Car detailing as part of a maintenance programme also has a safety aspect. You assume that if your brakes are not serviced in the correct manner that there is a greater chance that they may fail one day and you ought to expect that if you do not take proper care of your car's bodywork that it might rust and be less protective in case of a crash.
So having said that here are a couple of tips to help you protect your investment and maybe even your life.
Windscreen wipers should be kept clean and unworn at all times. Have you ever sat in a car with bad windscreen wipers while it is raining? It is very frightening. If it has not rained for a while, then you might not have noticed the dust and grit building up under the windscreen wiper blades.
This coarse dirt will soon scratch your windscreen, especially if someone accidentally switches them on if it is not raining. A scratched windscreen is bad enough, but if the blades are worn, they will not clear the rain adequately for you to see clearly either.
You should make a point or regularly lifting the blades from the windscreen and checking and cleaning them. You will soon see if the rubber is starting to perish or fray and you will also notice a line of solidified dust (or worse) on the glass. Wet both the wipers and the glass before attempting to clean them in order to soften up the dirt.
Use a sponge or chamois leather on the glass, but use an old rag on the rubber blades, because they can devastate a new sponge or costly chamois leather. Use this rag for cleaning other abrasive parts of the car like the wheels, number plates and bumpers.
While you are cleaning the windows of your car, it is a good idea to get into the practice of finishing the cleaning of the outside with vertical wipes and the inside with horizontal ones (or vice versa, if you want). This way you will know which side those annoying, and often distracting, streaks are.
While we are on the topic, it is not a good idea to hinder your view by having furry dice or anything else hanging from your rear-view mirror. These symbols are intended to bring good luck and protection, but they are the precise opposite. Likewise nodding dogs and big speakers on the rear shelf are obstructive and window stickers of any size are silly. Transparent glass is meant to be seen through not looked at.
It makes sense to preserve one's investments and even if you cannot make your car increase in value, you can at least take every measure in your power to slow the speed of its depreciation. One of the foremost ways of doing this is by regular maintenance and detailing a car ought to be seen as part of your regular maintenance programme.
Car detailing as part of a maintenance programme also has a safety aspect. You assume that if your brakes are not serviced in the correct manner that there is a greater chance that they may fail one day and you ought to expect that if you do not take proper care of your car's bodywork that it might rust and be less protective in case of a crash.
So having said that here are a couple of tips to help you protect your investment and maybe even your life.
Windscreen wipers should be kept clean and unworn at all times. Have you ever sat in a car with bad windscreen wipers while it is raining? It is very frightening. If it has not rained for a while, then you might not have noticed the dust and grit building up under the windscreen wiper blades.
This coarse dirt will soon scratch your windscreen, especially if someone accidentally switches them on if it is not raining. A scratched windscreen is bad enough, but if the blades are worn, they will not clear the rain adequately for you to see clearly either.
You should make a point or regularly lifting the blades from the windscreen and checking and cleaning them. You will soon see if the rubber is starting to perish or fray and you will also notice a line of solidified dust (or worse) on the glass. Wet both the wipers and the glass before attempting to clean them in order to soften up the dirt.
Use a sponge or chamois leather on the glass, but use an old rag on the rubber blades, because they can devastate a new sponge or costly chamois leather. Use this rag for cleaning other abrasive parts of the car like the wheels, number plates and bumpers.
While you are cleaning the windows of your car, it is a good idea to get into the practice of finishing the cleaning of the outside with vertical wipes and the inside with horizontal ones (or vice versa, if you want). This way you will know which side those annoying, and often distracting, streaks are.
While we are on the topic, it is not a good idea to hinder your view by having furry dice or anything else hanging from your rear-view mirror. These symbols are intended to bring good luck and protection, but they are the precise opposite. Likewise nodding dogs and big speakers on the rear shelf are obstructive and window stickers of any size are silly. Transparent glass is meant to be seen through not looked at.
About the Author:
Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many topics, but is at present concerned with auto interior detailing. If you want some tips on detailing cars come over to our website now at Detailing Car Interiors.