When you are the proud owner of an affluent car, you will be curious as to what are some effective luxury car cleaning tips you can apply to your prized asset. Whether you are a DIY’er or if you use professional detailers to get the job done, it helps to understand a bit of what goes into how they handle that responsibility to meet your expectations.

With a deluxe car, the superior quality of its oftentimes handcrafted exteriors, interiors and finishing needs to be handled with extra care and attention to bring out its innate qualities. If it is a show car to boot, its trophy magnets – tires, paintwork, upholstery, chrome and even engine sections – have to be detailed as close as possible to its original finish, condition and color.

As with most automotive cleaning projects, you must use protective cleaning gear and begin the process with the dirtiest sections before progressing to the less soiled sections. The more contaminants you clear at the start, the cleaner the area you have to deal with.

Luxury Car Cleaning Tips – The Grimy Sections

Tires

We recommend using a wheel brush, scrapers and wire brushes to help loosen any caked dirt, dust and larger particles lodged in the rims, tires and wheels. This is to prevent them from causing scratches when you start your actual cleaning process with an alloy wheel cleaner compatible with your wheel type, be it aluminum or chrome. Steam cleaning is a good luxury car cleaning technique to use to give your wheel rims a thorough clean. Simultaneously, it avoids water splashes that are prone to get into places that are hard to reach and dry like vents, lending them vulnerable to rust.

Engine

Along with your preferred engine degreaser, keep a stiff bristle brush and scrub brush handy to help clean this section, ensure you have good overhead lighting too. Also, you can use duct tape to cover up any openings or holes to prevent unwanted particles getting into them. After you scrub off any lodged bits with your brushes, a spray degreaser helps to cut into the more stubborn grease and stains on the engine. Let it sit and foam up for a few minutes before using a gentle stream of hose water or steam cleaner to remove the dislodged bits.

Luxury Car Cleaning Tips – The Less Grimy Sections

With the paintwork, upholstery and chrome trims, the work is very much hands on and has to be done with focused care.

Paintwork

For the paintwork, after you have done the washing and drying, go easy on the polishing and buffing. This is especially so in areas where it is usually the thinnest for example, the hood and the top of fenders. Or else, it will cut through the primer and expose the metal under layers.

Upholstery

The interiors comprise of a variety of materials including leather, vinyls and fabrics. Each of these materials’ finish, condition and color dictates how to approach the job and what products you should select to use on them. One primary task is to start by giving it a good vacuum down to remove its arch nemesis, the dust. Be careful to keep the vacuum head slightly away from the surfaces, especially leather, to avoid scratching it.

Chrome Trims

For the chrome trimmings, the best way to work them is in small sections. If you try to take on too big an area, the chances of stain marks from your cleaning compound, water or polish will be that much higher. Like dust, they can cause scratching on your chrome. Moreover, tackling the task in small sections ensures a more even, consistent and polished finish. For more on this topic, head on over here.

Bear in mind that detailing is as more an art than it is a science. It takes passion and a lot of hands on experience to build up the skills of a well-versed enthusiast and detailer, who knows instinctively how to bring the best out of a luxury car. For more on luxury car cleaning, conditioning and deodorizing, click into this post.