Every car owners have the responsibility to take care of their cars as long as they have them. And yes, we love to drive our cars and these machines get us from point A to point B.
But with this convenience and luxury, comes a big responsibility of maintaining the cleanliness of our cars. So do you know which parts of your car truly needs your cleaning attention?
Here are ten areas in your car that you should prioritize cleaning.
Brake System
Most car owners who truly love their cars knows the benefits of having clean brakes. But not all.
So if you are one of those car enthusiasts that just know how to drive but don’t know anything about brakes, then you better start learning on how to maintain them.
Why? Because your life depends on your car’s braking system. A dirty brakes can cause erosion to the brake components, leading to squeaky noise, less stopping efficiency and whole lot more.
There are two types of brakes – disc brake and the more popular drum brakes. Either type works the same way, to stop you car!
So go buy yourself a brake cleaner, one or two sandpapers, metal brushes and some wrenches and start working on your brakes. Remember, maintenance starts with cleaning!
Vehicle Glass Areas
Glass areas of your car include the windshield (front), side windows and the rear windshield (rear window). As the saying goes, “you can see the soul through the eyes”, the same goes with the glass parts of your car. People can determine your personality just by looking on your car’s windshield and windows.
So a shiny, spot-free vehicle glass don’t just give you that good reputation, but also helps increase your vision when driving.
Here are all you need to start super cleaning your windshield and other glass parts of you car – glass cleaner, clay bar, car wax, spray bottle and some clean rags.
The video below will show you how to detail and clean your car windshield, the right way!
Headlight and Rear Brake Lights
Another important part of your car that is commonly neglected by most people. A car’s headlights is your eyes on the road especially at night where you need enhance visibility.
The brake light meanwhile serves the same purpose. It let other cars behind you to know that you are stepping on the braking pedal. So unclean, blurry and dead bulbs on your headlights and rear brake lights can spell disaster to your car and to your life as well.
What are the things to help clean and restore your headlights to its original state? Well there are dozens of headlight cleaners in the market that you can use.
Try this headlight restoration kit that I found online, it may help restore your blurry headlight!
Air Conditioning System
Your AC system is another part of your car that you shouldn’t overlook and neglect to clean. This system has quite a number of components that you need to take care off in a regular basis.
This include your AC’s condenser, AUX fan, cabin filter, blower fan motor and the evaporator. These components are very delicate and should be clean at all times. Just imagine how many times you clean your split type AC in your home in a year. The same applies to your car’s AC.
Car Interior
I bet you see this coming? You car interior is also important as any part of your car. Why?
A clean interior can help prolong the serviceable life of various components such your infotainment (electronics), plastics, leathers and many others. Plus, it helps keep insects from invading your car, which I know you don’t want to occur right?
So grab your dashboard cleaner, vacuum and leather restoring kit and start cleaning your car interior.
Engine Bay
You probably think that your engine bay don’t need your attention right? Believe it or not, even some car dealers here in Manila are not recommending their clients to clean their engine bay due to possible short circuit of electronics and other possible damage it can bring to the engine.
While this is partially true, most engines can be cleaned even by water and soap. You just have to follow some safety measures before you soak your beloved car for engine thorough cleaning.
Yes, your engine is almost 100% water-proof, including some electronic plugs that are water resistant as well. So how do you clean your engine bay? The video below will help show you how.
Windshield Drainage Cover
Windshield drainage is another area that most owners overlook because most of them thought that it is not necessary to open or clean.
This drainage area can be clogged from various debris accumulation such as leaves, branches and even plastic candy wraps.
And when this drainage clogs, expect your windshield to overflow water inside your cabin or your engine bay when you drive in a rainy day. So it is important to clean this area too.
All you need is a vacuum strong enough to suck those debris and a wet rag to wipe off thick dusts. Here is the video example of what I did on my Hyundai Accent’s windshield drain cover.
Air Intake System
Is your car stalling? Lost power perhaps? Or, do your car fumes too black and stinks? If these sounds like your car, then before you think of overhauling your car, you might only need a total air intake cleaning instead.
Air intake system includes your air filter, mass airflow sensor (MAF), and the intake manifold. Sometimes, you can also include the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) to this system as well.
Air first goes into your engine via the air intake where the filter is located. Air is then calculated by the mass airflow sensor to manage how much air is needed by the engine.
Then the air (along with oil vapor) exits the engine as a result of engine blow by, then goes to the intake manifold and EGR.
So why do you need to know this cycle? Well, once the air reaches your engine, it will go pass to the said components along with some “oil”, which will be accumulated and become gunk or more known as carbon deposits.
So these carbon deposits can impede your engines performance if you don’t get rid of them by cleaning your intake system. Ok, I admit that not all of us don’t know how to disassemble engine parts right, it is already a mechanics job.
But you can also do it by yourself as these parts are just plug-and-play components. Here is an example of how I cleaned my Montero Sports’ intake manifold.
Body Paint
Of course, you don’t want to ignore your paint would you? After all, all owners know how they can take good care of their body paint to help them last longer.
So this part is a no brainer! If you have a car, I bet you know how to clean your own car’s pain and how to maintain that shiny look. So lets go over our last area of your car that needs cleaning attention!
Undercarriage and Wheel Wells
Your car’s undercarriage including the wheel wells are designed to withstand all types of dirt, mud, water even stones and other debris. But it doesn’t mean that you won’t bother cleaning them.
Why? Because if you don’t clean these parts, rust will eat your precious iron that will eventually make your car useless. Now grab your degreaser, undercoat paint, gel cleaner and many others and start cleaning!
If you want a complete undercarriage cleaning and restoration, bring your car to an auto shop that provides these services.
Summary
Our cars is like our very own child, we pamper them as much as possible. So now that you know the critical areas of you car that needs to be cleaned regularly, take note of this article and plan your cleaning program right now!
