Vehicle maintenance – Washing the outside of your car

Transcription

(Musical background throughout the video. The video begins with text on a blue background featuring the CAA-Quebec logo.)  

Vehicle maintenance do it YOURSELF   

Washing the outside of your car     

(Our Automotive Expert, Jesse Caron, stands in a garage where he walks alongside a white vehicle, from back to front, talking.) 

It’s important to wash your car regularly, in summer and winter, because salt and grime are the ideal breeding ground for rust, especially on damaged or unpainted metal surfaces. 

When it’s too cold in winter, you can go to a car wash at a gas station. But, if you want to start washing your vehicle yourself, here are some tips to do the job right. 

(Close-up on a bottle of NAPA car wash and wax. The camera pulls back and Jesse, crouching in front of the vehicle, holds it in his hands. A blue banner with Jesse’s name and title appears at the bottom of the screen: Jesse Caron, CAA-Quebec Automotive Expert). 

CAA-Quebec recommends always using a soap specially designed for washing cars. You can find this at big-box stores or auto parts retailers, affordably priced. 

First, dilute the product in a bucket of warm water. 

(Two black buckets of water are shown on camera. The second shot shows Jessie’s hand coming out with a car wash mitt, which he wrings with his other hand to squeeze out the water.) 

Then, fill a second bucket for rinsing, so that you don’t scratch the paint with loose debris. 

(Jesse now stands to the right of the vehicle, with a pressure hose in his hand.) 

For rinsing, we have the luxury of professional equipment here. You can use a pressure sprayer from a big-box store, but a good old garden hose works fine as well. 

(Jesse hoses the car thoroughly, from the roof down.) 

The key is to wash from the top down, to make sure the dirt runs off and to prevent streaking. 

(Jesse is back on the left side of the vehicle, two wash mitts in his hands, one yellow and the other white.) 

You can use specially designed car sash mitts, 

(Back on the right side of the vehicle, with the two black buckets in front of him, Jesse washes the bottom of the vehicle with his yellow mitt.) 

which work much better than a kitchen washcloth. 

(A close-up of the gloved hand rubbing the hood is shown. Back on the left side of the vehicle, Jesse reaches for a chamois on the roof, where he also picks up a microfibre cloth to show it to us.) 

Once you’ve washed the whole car in small sections, you want to wipe it down to ensure a nice finish. You can use a genuine sheepskin chamois or a microfibre drying towel. 

(Close-up of 4 bottles of wax and polishing liquids.) 

Once the car is clean and dry, it’s a good idea to protect the finish with a fast-acting wax product like this one. 

(Jessie now crouched at the front of the vehicle, a bottle of wax in hand.) 

You’ll have fewer bugs sticking to the car, and your next wash will be made easier. 

(A text on a blue background appears on the screen with the CAA-Quebec logo underneath.)   

Vehicle maintenance do it YOURSELF  

For more details, go to caaquebec.com    

(End of music and video.)