Keeping Your Paint Prime: The Real Deal on Exterior Care

Always wash your wheels first. If you wash the car then the wheels, you'll splash brake dust and grime back onto your clean paint. Use a separate bucket for wheels only.

Put your hand on the bonnet. If it's hot enough to fry an egg, it's too hot to wash. Hose it down with cool water for a few minutes first to bring the panel temp down.

Chuck any leaves or twigs out of the cowl (that area under the wipers). If these get wet and sit there, they rot and clog your drains.

Give the whole car a heavy rinse with just water. You want to knock off as much loose Aussie dust and grit as possible before you touch the paint with a mitt.

Fill one bucket with water and your shampoo, and the other with just plain water. This is the Two-Bucket Method. It's the gold standard.

Spray your wheel cleaner on cold rims. Let it dwell for a minute, then scrub the tyres with a stiff brush and the rims with a soft brush or dedicated wheel mitt. Rinse thoroughly.

If you've got a foam cannon, cover the car in suds. Let it sit for 5 minutes (don't let it dry!). This breaks down the surface tension of the dirt.

Blast the foam off. You'll see a lot of brown gunk running off, that's dirt you didn't have to rub into your paint.

Dunk your mitt in the soapy bucket, then start at the roof. Work your way down. Use very light pressure, the soap does the work, not your muscles.

After every panel, dunk the dirty mitt in the 'rinse' bucket, scrub it against the grit guard, wring it out, then go back to the soapy bucket.

While the car is soapy, use a small detailing brush to go around the fuel cap, window seals, and badges. A lot of red dust hides here.

Rinse the whole car from the top down. Use a 'sheeting' motion with the hose (take the nozzle off if you can) to let the water roll off in sheets.

If you haven't done it in a while, spray an iron remover on the paint. It'll turn purple as it dissolves embedded brake dust. Rinse well after 2-3 minutes.

If the paint feels rough, use a clay bar with plenty of lubricant. This pulls out tree sap and industrial fallout. Do this once or twice a year.

Lay your large drying towel flat on a panel and pull it towards you. Don't 'scrub' the car dry. Use a leaf blower if you have one to get water out of the mirrors and lights.

Apply your sealant or wax. If using a spray sealant, do one panel at a time, spray on, wipe off with a fresh microfibre.

Use a dedicated glass cleaner. Pro tip: wipe vertically on the inside and horizontally on the outside. That way, if there's a streak, you know which side it's on.

Apply your tyre shine. Don't go overboard; you don't want it spraying down the side of the car when you drive off to the shops.

Apply a UV protectant to any black plastic trim. This stops it from turning that nasty grey colour that Aussie sun causes.

Open the doors and wipe down the sills. It's the mark of a pro job, and the missus will appreciate not getting her skirt dirty when she gets in.