Whether your Mercedes-Benz came from Mercedes-Benz of Plano, or elsewhere, you have invested no small sum in your vehicle and you want to keep it looking nice. The most common way for your car to look less than nice is when it’s dirty. There are plenty of places around town where you can pay to have your car washed, and the cars coming out certainly look clean, but that really isn’t the best way to wash your Mercedes-Benz.
In your typical conveyor-type car wash, the materials that come in contact with your car just cleaned the dirt off the car in front, the one before that, and so on. Not all dirt is water soluble. Sometimes it is gritty, and the grit gets caught in materials that are now whipping across your paint job at a high rate of speed. Your car will come out cleaner, but possibly with micro-abrasions on your finish.
If you need a quick wash, seek out a non-touch facility that showers your vehicle with detergents, a rinse, and blow-dry. Sometimes the jets may miss a spot, but they will leave no damage to your finish. Still, the best way to wash your car is with a hand wash but there are definite dos and don'ts with this as well.
Use a Soap Specifically for Car Surfaces
Dish soap may seem appropriate, but its problem is that it is specifically formulated to remove grease and oil. Not only is that rarely what makes up the dirt on your car, but the soap can act as a solvent for your wax finish and possibly dull the paint’s clear coat. Unless your intention is specifically to remove the wax to apply a fresh coat, always use a soap formulated for cars. These are fairly inexpensive and easy to find at any auto parts store.
Don’t Wash in Direct Sunlight
A bright warm sunny day may feel like the best time to wash your car, but a proper car wash keeps the exterior wet until it’s time for it to be properly and thoroughly dried. The sun can act quickly on your car’s metal surfaces, drying soap on your finish that a subsequent rise may not remove. Find a shady area if you can, or wait until the sun is lower in the sky and the power of its light is diminished.
Use a Two-Bucket Method
Set up one bucket with your soap and water mixture. The second bucket is for rinsing out what you just wiped from your car. Again dirt can be gritty so you need to always take precautions against applying it to your finish. Rinse your cloth or mitt thoroughly in the second bucket before entering it back into the soap solution bucket. This also keeps the soap solution cleaner. If washing more than one car, always empty both buckets and start anew.
Use a Clean Microfiber Cloth for Cleaning
Normal household towels or old shirts made of cotton or polyester are too abrasive to be rubbed across your paint finish. Instead, use cloth or wash mitts made of microfiber which is gentle on your finish. That is if they are clean, so always wash them in a clothes washer between use. If a cloth gets dropped on the ground, it’s done for today. Don’t use it until it has been through the washing machine.
Microfiber is the Best Material for Drying
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For the same reasons stated above, never use household towels to dry your car. There are pros and cons to microfiber towels versus a chamois, but generally, microfiber emerges on top. It is very absorbent, gentle on your finish, easy to use, and easily washed. However, you will probably need several of them, possibly using one for each section of the car. And never use a cloth on the wheels and then apply it on your vehicle surface.
Chamois is the second-best option. They are applied to your car wet and dragged across the surface to absorb the water on the surface. If any dirt has remained from the wash, it will be dragged across your car’s surface. On the other hand, a single chamois should be enough to dry your whole car’s surface, though we still don’t recommend using it on your wheels. It will also last a long time, but if it gets dirty, possibly from a less than thoroughly washed surface being dried, the dirt can be difficult to remove.
Unsurprisingly, we wash and detail Mercedes-Benz vehicles all the time at Mercedes-Benz of Plano so our car care professionals are likely to be able to answer any further questions you may have on both cleaning and protecting your car.
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