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Taking care of your car is just as important as picking the right car. The last thing you’ll want is to spend tens of thousands of dollars for a car that falls apart since it wasn’t taken care of. In this guide, we’ll tell you what products you need in order to take care of your car.
What is a Car Care Product?
It’s a product that helps you take care of your car. This could refer to the interior or exterior of your car. For the most part, it has to do with keeping things clean and protected from the environment. You won’t be taking apart your engine with these products.
Storing Car Care Products
The best place to store these products is right in your garage. You want to avoid keeping them in your car because some of the liquids are temperature-sensitive and can burst in your trunk.
For the sake of cleanliness, you might want to grab a shelf in your garage and throw all of these products. Alternatively, a basement or closet will suffice if you don’t have a garage.
Why Do Car Care Products Matter?
Car care matters every season of the year. In winter, you’ll have nasty salt and snow eating away at your car. Summer brings bird droppings and dirt. Spring will coat your car with pollen and tree sap. In fall, you’ll have leaves all over your car.
Taking care of your car will extend its life. It might seem strange, but cleaning off the nuisances we just listed can help you avoid rust, body rust, and lasting damages to your car. Not only does this improve the resale value of your car, but it also ensures that you get the longest life possible out of your vehicle.
Besides that, car care will make your vehicle shine. After a quick cleaning, you’ll be ready for a car show or to get some stares of admiration as you drive around town. A clean car says a lot about the person driving it.
Car Care Products You Need to Have
So, let’s talk about the products that you need. You can pick up any or all of these products, depending on your preference and your vehicle’s needs. We’ll include a convenient link for each product that you can follow and buy directly through Amazon.
Chemical Guys Snow Foam Car Wash Soap
High-quality soap for your car will transform how your car looks. We always suggest doing your own washing so you can ensure the job gets done right. Plus, you get an excuse to stare at your car and caress it for an hour without any dirty glances.
The reason why this soap is our go-to is because it does an exceptional job of cleaning dirt and grime, and it’s really inexpensive. It is pH-optimized so the surfaces of your car won’t degrade as you keep washing it over time. For reference, your kitchen’s dish soap has a pH to it that will actually hurt your car.
This soap foams well and smells nice too, so it makes it easy and enjoyable to wash your car.
Chemical Guys Premium Microfiber Wash Mitt
What good is car wash soap without a nice microfiber towel to wash with? In this case, we highly recommend a wash mitt. If you’re unfamiliar, this is a textured towel that fits over your hand like an oven mitt and lets you get to work.
We love this product because it helps you wash your car with precision. On top of that, sometimes a large towel is unwieldy and annoying to use. This mitt uses microfiber strands that gently wash in the soap without scratching or damaging your car’s body. The material is also super absorbable which means fewer dunks into the bucket of soapy water.
Turtle Wax Microfiber Wash Variety Pack
Maybe you’re not sure if a wash mitt is right for you – for that matter, you might not even know what options are available for you on the market. This is why we love the wash variety pack from Turtle Wax.
It comes with 12 pieces and includes 9 unique rag options. You can try them out and see which one works best for you. Since it comes in a single pack, the price is really reasonable and can save you a lot of money rather than buying individual items.
Grit Guard Wash Bucket
Speaking of buckets of soapy water, how do you currently hold your water for a car wash? If you’re using an old dirty bucket, the dirt can make its way onto the towel you use and scratch your car. A scratched car plus water equals rust damage to your car’s body.
We suggest using a wash bucket that has a grit guard in it. What is that? Well, it’s like a little filter that gets rid of dirt, grit, and nastiness. It ensures that junk stays in your bucket and doesn’t get picked up in your towel and transferred to your car.
This one has a removable grit guard and does a surprisingly great job of keeping dirt out despite its low price. Since the bucket is dedicated to washing your car, you can even use it as a storage container to put all of your car washing goodies inside of between washes.
303 Touchless Sealant
If you’ve ever tried waxing your car with traditional paste, you know how painful and annoying the process is. It takes way too long.
If you want to save time and get the same great results, we suggest trying the touchless sealant by 303. No, this isn’t a song from 3OH!3, it’s a high-quality sealant that provides a wax-like shine and protection in a few minutes.
It uses silicon dioxide which is a scientific way to make your car hydrophobic while giving it a layer of UV protection. Our favorite part? You can be really lazy with this spray. You can put it on your windows, wheels, and grill as well as your car’s body.
We suggest this one over the other guys’ because it works longer and yields the best result.
Brush Hero Rim Brush
Next up is a tool that a lot of people don’t know about – a rim brush. This little contraption will attach to the end of your garden hose with no special equipment required. Water will stream out of the front and rotate the firm bristles, letting them get to work.
It’s used to get the deep grime and crud from your tire’s rims. When you’re done using this tool, your rims will shine like never before.
Super Clean Degreaser
This product works like a general degreaser around your kitchen does. The only difference is that it’s gentle enough on your car and doesn’t do any damage. We like using the aerosol can because the application is a lot easier.
When you have deep grease that won’t come off, grab this spray. It can even be used under the hood to clean up stubborn oil and grease. As these materials linger, they do more damage to every surface they’re in contact with. This degreaser will get rid of these nuisances and enhance the life of your car.
Mother’s California Gold Instant Detailer
Here’s a kit that can work wonders around your car. Sometimes a car wash isn’t enough to detail your car to the level you want. Leftover tree sap or pollen might hold on for dear life and refuse to leave after a wash. This is where this kit comes in handy.
This kit comes with clay bars, detailer spray, and a microfiber cloth. You start by spraying the mixture onto the stain, then you use the clay bar against the car where you just sprayed. This results in a level of cleanliness that you haven’t seen before with soap and water alone.
The little rag is a nice touch, and we suggest only using it with this mixture (don’t use it to clean your car).
Zymol Z503 Cleaner Wax Original Formula, 20 Ounce
If you’re looking for a true wax without applying a goopy traditional product, try the wax from Zymol. It doesn’t use chemical solvents so it’s a natural way to get a great shine. It is a thin product that applies a lot like soap.
This is one of the easiest ways to wax your car without using a paste, and we can’t say enough good things about it.
Zymöl Original Leather Conditioner – 8 oz
If you have any leather in the interior of your car, you need to use a conditioner from Zymol. These are the same guys that provide the high-quality wax that we just talked about, and this is another one of their knock-out products.
This will keep your leather in its original color and add a protective barrier against scratches and minor damages. This is a must-have product for your car.
It applies just like wax does to the exterior of your car. Routinely using this product will keep your car’s interior looking brand-new at all times.
Armor All Extreme Tire Shine
One quick way to make your car look like it belongs on the show floor is with a quick tire shine. ArmorAll makes a convenient spray bottle that works like magic. You spray the foam all over the face of your tires and wait a few minutes before hosing it off.
The result? Tires that shine for weeks and look better than brand new. We didn’t know that the tires themselves could be so shiny until we gave this product a try. After seeing what it can do, we refuse to let our tires get dull.
Turtle Wax Headlight Cleaner
Here’s another product that people don’t realize they need until they try it. This kit is for cleaning your headlights and it works unlike any other product on the market. Older cars have a nasty tendency of having glazed-over headlights.
As your headlights build up with grime and dirt, your visibility at night becomes worse. A quick polish with this headlight cleaner from Turtle Wax will restore your headlights, improve your visibility, and give your car a glistening shine from the front.
California Car Duster
The last product that you should consider is a well-made duster. Just like how your home needs a dusting from time to time, so does your car. It saves you a lot of time by avoiding a full wash, and this duster does a good job of cleaning off your car.
It lifts dust in one pass and lets you get back on your way. This is the ideal product when you notice annoying dust but don’t have a lot of time to spend.
Conclusion
Having the right car care products can make your car last longer. This list of products will help your car sparkle, look brand-new, and avoid rust forever. Use any or all of the products that we recommended to improve your car-owning experience.
