How to Wash Your Jaguar

It would seem that something as simple as washing a car would not even require a second thought. Most people would either just take their automobile to the local car wash, or spray some water on it and rub it down with a sponge and some soap. But for proper, long term car care, this is not the case. In fact, the aforementioned steps are the two worse things you can do to an automobile's finish, especially if you want to preserve the new look of your paint's finish and/or want to show your Jaguar in a car show or concours.

Automotive paint is a lot like human skin. Most women understand this in the care of their skin, and are careful to follow regular steps to maintain it's youthful look and beauty. Not surprisingly, the exact four same steps; deep clean, exfoliate, moisturize, and apply makeup, are required for paint care just as for skin care.

This article will briefly cover the first two of these four steps in enough detail to start giving your Jaguar the "spa" treatment it deserves, and in following these techniques, preserve the beauty and finish of your Jaguar for years to come. A follow up article will show how to moisturize, polish, and wax your Jaguar to bring the surface to better than new condition.

Step1: Deep Clean

Start by a good hosing down with a steady but voluminous amount of water to wash away surface mud, dirt and dust. Never use a strong direct spray as the pressure combined with surface dirt can scratch the surface. If you are a parent, would you treat your baby's dirty rear end the same way? Of course not! Like skin, paint is delicate and should be treated as such.

To get your Jaguar as clean as possible, start by removing the surface wax and the road tars using a bucket of hot water and Dawn [brand] dishwashing detergent. This is an excellent soapy cleaner that will handily remove the wax and most of the road film and tar on the paint's surface.

A boar's head car washing brush [available from Griott's Garage or the Eastwood Company] is by far the best method to regularly wash your Jaguar. Mitts and sponges tend to pick up sand and grit and rubbing with them will add scratches to the surface, whereas the brush will lift and whisk the dirt away. For especially dirty surfaces, dip the brush in the soapy solution, apply to a surface area and rinse with a strong stream of water from the hose to clear the brush of contaminants. Start on the roof, working your way down to the windows, hood, trunk, and sides, saving the lower extremities for last. If the soapy water is getting dirty, empty and refill with fresh hot water and soap.

For weekly cleanings, use the same techniques but warm or cold water and a good car wash soap. Rain-X and Xymol [brands] are both excellent for their cleaning and water shedding properties.

For stubborn dirty spots, you can result to a perfectly clean soapy sponge. A little rubbing goes a long way, but be careful to rinse with water and redip into the soap as needed. Never ever wash with a sponge you've dropped on the ground as minute particles of dirt and sand will scratch the paint. Rinse soap off an area as you go to rinse away residual dirt.

Now that the paint is clean, it is time to treat the tires and rims, both of which can be cleansed more vigorously. Hot water and Dawn are always recommended here every time you wash your Jaguar, as the rubber and aluminum wheels are magnets for road grime, brake dust, and other nasty dirt. A medium stiff brush is excellent for cleaning most alloy wheels, and once clean, a sponge to remove the stubborn bits works beautifully. Tires should be cleaned with a stiff brush, and while Dawn is fairly effective, saddle soap is better for pulling out all the deep impurities impregnated into the rubber. Keep scrubbing until there is no more brown foam coming off the brush. Rinse thoroughly; a strong water stream is ok to use on tires and wheels.

If you are really ambitious, properly jack up and remove and clean the front and back of the tires and rims one at a time using these techniques. It's the extra steps like this that really set your Jaguar off from the rest on the show field or at the Valet parking. Don't neglect the wheel wells or brake calipers while you have the wheels off the car. You'll most likely need carburetor cleaner or brake dust cleaner to adequately remove the baked on asbestos dust on the caliper assemblies. Follow up with hot soapy water, using separate sponges then used for the paint.

Drying is almost important as washing, and removing standing water as fast as possible is imperative as air drying causes water spots. It is also preferable to wash and dry in diffused light or in the shade instead of direct sunlight as a hot surface and water beads will more quickly cause water spots.

The best method is to get an automotive water squeegee made of a super soft surgical gel. Scrape the water off, starting at the roof following closely behind each swipe with a 100% cotton towel. Although chrome and glass will be covered in a subsequent article, be sure to dry these quickly as water spots are stubborn to remove on these. Two to four large fluffy towels should be enough for a typical sedan, and having a partner to follow behind the squeegee will make the job easier. If not, start with one towel and use a second dryer towel to wipe the spots the first towel missed. When the lead towel gets saturated, move the second towel into the lead and replace with a second dry towel.

Not everyone has access to really clean, mineral free water, but this is the #1 source of water spots. If you have or can afford a water filter system, results are optimized

Step #2 Exfoliate

Skin care professionals use an apricot pit scrub or louffa to remove dead skin, but for paint care, you'll need to start with a good cleaner wax like Mequires to get into the pores of the paint to remove embedded dirt that washing alone can not remove. Follow the directions on the bottle using a terry (not foam) applicator, changing sides and applicators when they get loaded up with product and residue.

If you have the time and energy, follow up this procedure using a clay bar to really get deeper into the surface. A clay bar, like the name applies, is a tougher clay then Play-Dough which is rubbed against the surface like a pencil's eraser, softly scrapping the dirt out of the smallest indentations in the paint's surface. Mothers [brand] makes an excellent product. Follow the directions on the package and be patient. Claying will typically take 1-2 hours on a sedan, depending on the condition of the surface.

One of my most important mantras of auto detailing is that "You can clean without detailing, but you can not detail without cleaning." Even though your Jaguar's paint is now cleaner then it perhaps has ever been, now is the time to go the last 3% and carefully examine literally every square inch of the paint surface. Despite the previous steps, there will still be the odd tar, sap, or bird dropping pin point 'speck' that will only come off by putting on your reading glasses, and picking off with a fingernail, aided by a little cleaner wax . It's this kind of detail that really prepares the paint for the following two steps of remoisturizing and final waxing. Ladies know that you don't apply makeup over a blemish, you need to remove the blemish first. Same technique here--and patience is key. A rewash using hot water as above is good to remove the contaminants that have just been extracted using both the above methods.

Your steed is now ready for the final two steps. Like car washing, this is not hard, but optimal techniques are not obvious to obtain optimal results.

NEXT MONTH: Poilishing, Waxing, and Other Details