NorthWest Auto Salon

Between details, cars need to be properly taken care of in order to keep their finish as scratch free as possible. Automatic car washes use harsh chemicals and dirty brushes to “clean” your vehicles finish often leaving scratches and chemical burns that can only be removed by another detail. The way to prevent this sort of damage is to bring your vehicle in for a full service car wash done by hand. Our hand washes are done with freshly cleaned microfiber wash mitts and we only use washing soaps that are safe for your vehicles finish. Car washes are never “one size fits all” so our washes are tailored to each specific to insure they are as clean as possible when they leave.

Our hand wash is thorough and we insure that no spot is missed. The full service car wash typically does not need an appointment and can be done while you wait. A bi-monthly recommendation for our repeat customers in order to maintain the vehicles scratch-free look even longer. Here is what goes into our 24 step full service car wash here at NorthWest Auto Salon.

Step 1: Cleaning of the wheels and exhaust tips

The vehicle is wet down

First come the faces of the wheels

Then the brake calipers and barrels

Next the exhaust tips are cleaned with a polishing soap designed especially for cleaning soiled tailpipes

Both are then rinsed

Step 2: The Body Wash

The wash is a 3 step process in and of itself and is divided into 5 sections. First the entire vehicle is wet down with our temperature controlled pressure washer. Next, the roof and other horizontal panels like the trunk, front and rear glass and hood make up step 1. In straight line motions, we wash from the roof to the windshield to the trunk and then finishing with the hood. The next step is the upper half of the vertical body panels such as the upper parts of the front bumper and doors above body lines. The final step is washing everything below the body line and the lower parts of the front bumper. The vehicle is then rinsed a final time. It is done in this order because we want to wash the cleanest parts of the vehicle first in order to keep from dragging dirt from lower panels to the clearer uppers. Between each step, the body is rinsed to keep the washing soap from trying to the vehicle.

Step 3: Drying the Vehicle

The next step is to dry the vehicle in the steps as it was washed. That means the top parts are dried first followed by the sides above the body line and then the sides below the body line. This is to make sure that if there is any stubborn dirt left over from the wash on the lower panels, it wont wont be dragged across the clearer upper sections.

After all the body panels have been dried off, it is then time to dry off the wheels, door jambs, gas cap cover and finally dress the tires with a non oily, non splatter tire dressing.

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