ajdipao

Thanks for the advice!

I have noticed some detailers use different processes on cleaning an engine bay. Some procedures may be more controversial than others. I have been detailing my own cars and customers cars for about a year and a half now. I don’t clean the engine bay every wash. From my experience, it only needs to be cleaned once or twice a year. If it isn’t neglected, it only takes a few minutes to clean up. My process changes from car to car and especially the age of the car. The process I use for most modern cars involves a pressure washer, an all-purpose cleaner (APC), and a few brushes. First, I take a look at the engine for anything that may need to be covered. Parts such as air intakes and battery terminals need to be covered with a towel. Next, wash off the engine, degrease with APC and agitate with brushes. In most modern engine bays, everything can get wet and the car will function okay. However, this is the most controversial process. Lots of people cringe at the fact of using a pressure washer on the engine. In my experience, I have found no issues with this. A more comfortable process some may use is hose water, all-purpose cleaner and brushes. On an older vehicle, such as my 1991 Jeep Wrangler, this is what I will do. Some older vehicles have a distributer cap, an air intake, and exposed wires or weak wire harnesses. These should not be pressure washed or hit with water in general. What I would do is be careful with the hose water and cover up these parts with a towel. The last process I may use involves only all-purpose cleaner, brushes and towels. This would be a dry engine bay cleaning (meaning no water involved). If an engine bay just needs a touch up, this works best. There is no need to use water. After letting the water drip out or drying it off, I use a product to shine it up. Adams Polishes In & Out spray works well on plastics to leave a satin black finish. Another product I use is CarPro Perl diluted with water 3:1. I spray this on the entire engine bay and let it sit, this also leaves a satin black finish. I will include some before and after pictures of an engine bay I did on a truck. My question to you is, what is your engine bay cleaning process? Do you use a combination of what I do or do you use an entirely different process? Thanks for reading!

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks!

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for sharing your process!

Thanks for the suggestion!

Winter seems to be rapidly approaching, which can only mean one thing for detailing. Cold hands and dealing with frozen water on paint! I live in the northeast region of the US and winter can be pretty harsh here. Salt, rocks and other road grime attach themselves to my cars and frustrate me! Maintaining my vehicles in the winter always seems to be more of a chore rather than enjoyable like the rest of the year. This is only my second winter as a somewhat real detailer. I am now looking to explore different methods for performing my winter washes. In the past, I washed my cars the same way I would perform a normal maintenance wash. I needed to look at the weather in advance to make sure it was above freezing temperatures in order to do a full wash. About half of the time this didn’t work out exactly as planned. The sun wouldn’t hit the cars, or clouds were in the way and water froze. Doing a full wash is the safest way for the cars paint, but the conditions often make it difficult to do this! Another method I may explore is a rinseless wash. All that would be necessary is a single bucket of warm water, Adams Polishes rinseless wash, and a bunch of clean towels. I would go through cleaning one panel at a time gently and then dry immediately after. My worries with this process are scratching the paint and doing a comprehensive job. My last option is to go to a self-serve pay and spray car wash using their warm water pressure washer. However, we all know their brushes and chemicals are harsh and terrible for a car. I would need to bring my own soap and bucket of water. It is also slightly more difficult to dry because of being respectful and moving out of the wash bay. I would need to pull over and dry it in the sun. My question to you is, what process do you use for detailing in the winter? What are the positives and negatives of each process?