Keeping Your Ride Mint: The Ultimate Monthly Deep Clean Checklist (Feb 2026)

Never, ever wash a car in direct February sun. The water will spot, the chemicals will flash dry, and you'll end up with a mess. If you don't have a carport, get up at sparrow's fart or wait until the sun is low in the arvo.

Touch the bonnet. If it's hot enough to fry an egg, it's too hot to wash. Spray the panels with cool water first to bring the temperature down.

Before you get the fancy soaps out, get under the wheel arches with the pressure washer. Get all that dried mud and salt out of the lips of the fenders.

Empty the rubbish, take out the floor mats, and clear the boot. You can't deep clean around a pile of old Maccas bags and kids' toys.

Fill your buckets. One with soapy water, one with clean rinse water. Get your brushes laid out. Being organised saves you twenty minutes of walking back and forth to the garage.

Clean the dirtiest part of the car first. Use an iron remover on the rims and a stiff brush on the tyre sidewalls. If you do this last, you'll splash dirty water onto your clean paint.

Before getting anything wet, vacuum the interior. Use a soft brush to agitate dust out of the vents while holding the vacuum nozzle nearby. It prevents the dust from turning into mud when you wipe it later.

Cover the whole car in a thick layer of foam. Let it dwell for 5 minutes (don't let it dry!). This softens up the bugs and red dust so they slide off without scratching.

While the foam is on the car, go around with a soft detailing brush and hit the badges, window seals, and fuel door. These areas hold onto dirt that a mitt can't reach.

Blast the foam off from the top down. Pay attention to the door gaps and the bottom of the windscreen where leaves pile up.

Wash one panel at a time using your mitt. Dip in soap, wipe the panel, rinse the mitt in the clean water bucket, and repeat. Use straight lines, not circles.

Spray an iron remover on the lower half of the car. If you see purple bleeding, that's the chemical reacting with metal particles from your brakes. Rinse it off well.

Use a clay mitt with plenty of soapy water as lube. Run it over the paint until it feels smooth as glass. This removes the 'grit' you can feel with your fingernails.

Give it one last thorough spray to make sure all the clay lube and loosened dirt are gone.

Lay your large microfibre towel across the flat surfaces and pull it towards you. Don't rub. Use a leaf blower if you have one to get water out of the mirrors and lights.

Use your APC and a fresh microfibre to wipe every surface. Don't forget the steering wheel and the gear shifter, they're the filthiest parts of the car.

Apply your interior protectant to the dash and door cards. This is your sunscreen for the car. I've seen too many cracked Hilux dashes because people skipped this.

Two-towel method: Spray the glass, wipe with one towel, then 'buff' with a second dry towel to ensure no streaks. Do the inside and the outside.

Apply a spray sealant or wax. In this heat, I reckon a ceramic spray sealant like Gtechniq C2V3 is the go. It's way easier than old-school paste wax and lasts longer in the sun.

Apply a water-based tyre shine. Avoid the oily ones that fling off onto your paint the second you drive down the road. Keep it matte or satin for a factory look.