A few car care tips you can do at home

Correct car care is a process that requires the use of the right materials and techniques – and goes much further than simply using the right chemical. But what a lot don’t realize is car detailing also requires a lot of honest to goodness elbow grease, a lot of sweat, and a ton of effort.  These, plus a ton of chemicals. All these makes car detailing a bit expensive.

Now that we have tons of time to spare, you can probably do it by yourself.  If you don’t have the cleaning chemicals, I can give you some homemade cleaning formulas that I have proven to be effective in cleaning cars. Trust me, cleaning cars is my weekend therapy.  The best part of this exercise is, its affordable and does not contain harmful chemicals.  I’m sure some of the ingredients and tools are already in your homes.

Here are a few DIY cleaning you can do in your garage.

Cleaning Windshield Wipers

You can clean and restore the rubber blades of your car’s wiper with denatured alcohol and some silicone oil.  First, clean the wiper blades with soap and water then let dry.  Apply denatured alcohol to a cloth and wipe the wiper blades, pitching your way from edge to edge. Finish it off with Silicone Oil Spray to restore its elasticity.

Dashboard Cleaning

First, we have to make the cleaning solution.   You will need a liter of water, a 100ml of white vinegar(preferably Heinz, not Datu Puti), half the sachet of dishwashing liquid(Joy Lemon is Better), one lemon, 25ml of baby oil, an old, soft toothbrush, an old cotton shirt, a clean microfiber cloth, cotton buds and a sprayer.  Add all the ingredients into a container and squeeze the lemon into the mix.  After mixing it thoroughly, pour some of the mix into the sprayer. 

Spray the mix to the dashboard by portion, making sure to use the old toothbrush to scrub on the crevices of the dashboard.  Follow up with the old t-shirt rag.  You can also apply it to the airconditioning louvers and the trims using cotton buds. Finish the job by wiping the whole dashboard with the microfiber. The baby oil will leave a subtle luster on the surface while the lemon will give it a fresh scent.

Tired-looking Plastic Headlight Lens Restoration

You will need a sheet of 1000 and 2000 grit sandpaper, masking tape, auto polishing compound, an old cotton shirt and a clean microfiber cloth.

This job needs a lot of elbow grease as we will need to sand those tired looking headlights.  First, we use the 1000 grit sandpaper, making sure we mask the surrounding areas of the headlight with tape.  Sand the headlights with water until it feels smooth.  Then use the 2000 grit sandpaper with water to further sand to smoothen the headlight.  The idea is to sand away the old yellowish layer of the headlight.

Feel the surface of the lens by hand.  If it feels smooth enough, we are now ready to polish.  Apply few amounts of polishing compound to the lens and rub it with the old cotton shirt.  Polish it by portion, making sure the polishing compound is sparingly spread out to the lens surface.

Used the microfiber cloth to further polish and clean the headlight lenses.

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