A great variety of different preparations are produced for caring for the body and interior, giving shine and radiance to both old and new cars. In movies and TV shows, you can often see how good-natured Americans or Europeans carefully rub their pets to a mirror shine.
With our dirt on the roads, especially in the off-season, it would seem unreasonable to spend money on special shampoos and polishes and polish in order to stain the car again in five minutes. Let's try to prove that we need car cosmetics not less, but even more than in other countries. If only because it is not only radiant purity, it is, first of all, protection from external harmful influences, of which there are plenty in our climatic zone: large temperature drops, "salt cocktail" in winter, dust, sand, scratching the paint, like an emery cloth, stones, leaving small cracks in the enamel - in the summer. Add to this the acid rain that has already become a reality, ultraviolet radiation that burns out color pigments from the paintwork and makes your car faded and dull, the poor quality of painting domestic cars.
No one doubts the need for anti-corrosion treatment of the bottom and thresholds. And if you want to keep the appearance of the body and interior in its original form, you can’t do without autocosmetics. This is especially true for new foreign cars. Enamels on some of them are made on a water basis - such a composition is less harmful in production (environmental requirement). However, they are not as strong as conventional synthetic ones, which means they are more vulnerable. Car processing begins with washing. Just plain water is unlikely to remove all ingrained dirt, oil stains or traces of wood resin, although it is still worth rinsing with water to wash away small stones and sand that can scratch the paint. What to wash? Never use washing powder, baking soda or household detergents, such as for cleaning tiles or dishes. They are dirty "eat up" excellent, but at the same time they destroy the paint no less actively and, penetrating through cracks, cause corrosion of the metal. So, "bathe" your pet needs only car shampoo and always a special finely porous sponge that traps grains of sand, preventing scratches on the surface of the body.
Remember, gentlemen, remember.
Car shampoos sold on the market can be divided into two groups: with a low and high wax content. The former contain dissolved surfactants, "pulling" (extracting) dirt from the surface. The shampoo rinses off easily with water, leaving a thin layer of wax. In the latter, the detergent composition includes a solvent, and the content of wax and polymers is an order of magnitude higher. Basically it's a shampoo and conditioner "in one vial". Such preparations are very popular in the Scandinavian countries, they are especially convenient to use in late autumn, winter and early spring, when it is difficult to apply a highly thickened polish due to low temperatures - the car has been washed and the body has already been processed. However, ease of use is inevitably reflected in the price - such a shampoo is usually 2-5 times more expensive than usual.
To prevent the formation of stains during uneven drying and to polish the wax, it is recommended to wipe the body with a soft cloth, and best of all with artificial suede, which is sold separately in a plastic case. It will serve you for more than one year. After washing, you can start processing the paintwork. If the car has not been treated for several years or never at all, then it probably makes sense to apply the so-called color restorer. The fact is that as the enamel ages, the top unprotected layer of paint softens and fades under the influence of the external environment. The color restorers contain a finely dispersed abrasive powder with a cleansing composition that gently removes the appearance "dead" layer and at the same time slightly levels the surface, helping to clean old stains of stubborn dirt.
If, having finally washed the body, you suddenly find traces of incipient corrosion, do not despair: small spots are easily removed with rust converters. They interact with rust, leaving a film resistant to further corrosion, they passivate the metal and, as a rule, do not require special surface preparation. Although the transformation process takes place right before our eyes, it all depends on the size of the spot and the depth of penetration of corrosion. For large stains, the treatment will have to be repeated several times with short breaks. After treatment, the damaged area will need to be touched up.
Now that the body is fully prepared, you can apply polish to give more shine to the car, and most importantly, to protect the body from aggressive external environment. What to polish? The question is quite complicated, since this part of cosmetics for cars is the most widely represented. Polishes for bodywork, plastic trims and bumpers, for chrome and rims, colorless and with a coloring effect, liquid and pasty, with and without abrasives - for every taste and wallet size. There are, of course, universal polishes that give shine to painted panels, bumpers, chrome parts, glass, and even tires. They are more likely to interest people who care primarily about the appearance of the car and their image. But the protective abilities of such preparations cannot be very high, because the surface properties of different materials vary greatly. Every material needs to be treated for perfect protection "their" a certain composition.
So the body. For new or nearly new cars, colorless polishes are ideal, they are relatively cheap and easy to use. Some of them contain Teflon and super slip polymers, which after polishing form very smooth surfaces that prevent dirt from sticking. If the car looked like a lot and its paint is dotted with scratches from sand and stones or improper washing, colored polishes are preferable. They are thicker, they are a little more difficult to apply than colorless ones, but they fill well and mask small scratches and scuffs on the enamel. However, do not forget that the polish is not paint and, in the case of deep and wide scratches, cannot replace it. Polishes enter into an electrochemical reaction with the paintwork, for their complete "hardening" it takes about a day, so they are applied in the garage or in the open air in warm weather and, of course, not in the rain.
And more about the usefulness of cosmetics in our harsh conditions. Agree, dirty, cloudy after winter, worn out "janitors" glass against the backdrop of a shining body look like "thorn in the eye", and besides, driving with such glasses is unsafe: the road is hard to see through them, especially at night or when driving towards the sun. One thorough washing will not remove the countless scratches left by sand, windshield wipers, and when raising and lowering side windows. Waxes and silicones found in conventional polishes can cloud, so it's best to use a special glass cleaner with a polishing and protective effect. It cleans the surface well and at the same time smooths out small scratches, making the glasses more transparent. Well, if you treat the outer surface with a preparation from the series "anti-rain", and splash an all-weather cleaner into the washer reservoir, the outside world from the car’s interior will appear in a completely different light.
There are other details that change their original appearance over time and spoil the appearance of the car, such as bumpers and wheels. Black plastic bumpers soon turn gray, dirt easily penetrates the porous surface of the plastic, and no shampoo can get it out of there. Especially for such cases, a cleaner is produced that returns the bumper "native" black color and at the same time covering it with a protective film.
For chrome and aluminum parts, products containing a small amount of abrasives and polishing compounds are sold to add shine. Wheels can also be processed with them, although their own preparations have been developed for them. For special fans, there are even tire care products.
Starting such "general cleaning", it’s a sin not to take care of the cabin, because we don’t drive on, but inside the car. One vacuum cleaner and a wet rag can achieve significant results, but everything has its limits. For example, the front panel, like black bumpers, tends to fade and fade in the sun and simply needs to be treated with some kind of polish. Washing fabric seats and fleecy upholstery with water and washing powder is possible, of course, if you have time and the opportunity to wait a few days until they dry without using the car. Aerosol upholstery cleaners are a good alternative. White foam is instantly absorbed, cleans the fabric and dries very quickly, leaving a transparent protective layer - it is enough to simply wipe up any spilled liquid. Perhaps the only drawback is the high consumption of funds and, accordingly, the high cost of processing.
At the end of the provocative question - is it worth it? Maybe that will do? Fortunately, the traffic police do not find fault with the appearance, and the cleanliness of the car has little effect on the technical parameters. But imagine that the car will have to be sold. What will the buyer pay attention to first of all? That's right, he will look at the appearance like the body - not "rotten" whether? It is worth spending 10-20 dollars a year on auto cosmetics so as not to worry at least about this, and, you see, driving in a clean, sparkling car is much more pleasant. By the way, according to statistics, such cars are less likely to have an accident. Why - I do not know, but the fact remains.