Keeping Your Paint Alive: The Reality of Exterior Car Care in Australia

Never wash a car in direct Australian sun. The water and chemicals will dry too fast, leaving nasty spots. If you don't have a carport, do it at 7am or after 5pm.

Put your hand on the bonnet. If it's too hot to touch comfortably, it's too hot to wash. Spray it down with cool water first to drop the temp.

Fill one with soapy water and one with plain rinse water. This is the 'Two Bucket Method', the only method I trust for scratch-free washing.

Blast out the wheel arches and underbody first. If you've been on a beach or a dusty track, you want that grit gone before you touch anything else.

Take off your watch and rings. I've seen too many 'mystery scratches' caused by a wedding ring or a G-Shock hitting the door panel.

Always start with the wheels. They're the dirtiest part. If you do them last, you'll splash brake dust onto your clean paint. Use a dedicated brush to get into the barrels.

Spray an iron remover on the wheels and lower body panels. It'll turn purple as it reacts. Rinse it off thoroughly after 2-3 minutes, don't let it dry!

If you have a foam cannon, coat the whole car. Let it dwell for 5 minutes. This softens up the bug guts and dust so they slide off during the rinse.

Rinse from the top down. Be careful around old window seals or chipped paint, don't get the nozzle too close.

Using your two buckets, wash one panel at a time using the microfibre mitt. Wipe in straight lines, not circles. Circles cause those ugly swirl marks you see at the servo car wash.

After every panel, dunk the mitt in the 'rinse' bucket, scrub it against the grit guard, then back into the soapy bucket. Keeps the dirt away from the car.

Give it a good flood rinse. Use the hose without a nozzle for the final pass, the water will 'sheet' off, leaving less to dry.

While the car is still wet, use a clay bar with plenty of lubricant (soapy water works fine). Glide it over the paint until it feels smooth as glass. This picks up the tiny bits of red dust and rail dust stuck in the pores.

Lay your large drying towel flat across the bonnet and pull it towards you. Don't 'scrub' the car dry. Use a leaf blower for the mirrors and door handles if you want to be fancy.

Clean the windows inside and out. Use two towels, one to wipe the product on, one to buff it off. No streaks that way.

Apply your sealant or wax. In 2026, ceramic sprays are the way to go. They handle the UV much better than old-school carnauba wax, which melts at about 60 degrees (bonnet temps get much hotter than that).

Apply a thin layer of tyre dressing to the sidewalls. Wipe off any excess so it doesn't flick up onto your clean doors when you drive off.