Clean cars look better, they’re worth more money, and they even seem to run
better. Now, many of you may be doing it the old fashioned way with a bucket and the wash mitt,
but a lot of folks are changing over to the more modern convenience products. These do more
than one thing at a time, they’re quick, they’re convenient, and they do a good job. But, if you
want the very best protection for your vehicle, you probably want to go to the old standby, the
Mequiar’s three-step system, which starts out with a cleaner that removes embedded particles
from the surface of the paint. That’s followed by a polish. The polish brings out the shine in the
paint, and finally we have the wax to protect the paint from the elements.

But let’s not forget some of the newest products. These are Nano products.  Like these
Eagle Ones that we see here.  And one of them we’re going to discuss is a protectant. Now, Nano
technology, what that amounts to is that the particles in the product itself are so small they can
actually enter the pores of whatever you’re working on. They do a good job.

Now, inside the car, you want to clean it up, you want to detail it. One of the things you
want to pay attention to are all the little cracks and crevices, and everything in the dash, including
the diffusers for the air system. And you simply use a swab to go in there and clean
all of those out. It makes a world of difference.

After everything is cleaned and detailed, well, the next thing that you want to do is put a
protectant on the dash. But never use a shiny protectant, it must be low sheen. The shiny
protectant, well, that can reflect in the windshield, and that is dangerous.

If you have leather, only use leather products. Anything else can damage your leather.

And don’t forget microfiber cloths. That’s how you apply and remove all of these
products. But read the tag on it. Most of them are going to tell you to remove the tag. And if you
don’t do that, well, you’re going to scratch your paint. You’re going to do just the opposite of
what you had hoped to accomplish.

Motorcycles, they need lots of care. And of the things that you have to be aware of is that
chrome and stainless steel react to the oils in your hands. So whenever you touch one of
these things, you want to use an alcohol swab to wipe it down, then follow that with a microfiber
cloth to remove the alcohol residue. This will keep the chrome and the stainless steel from
staining.

And after you’ve washed your motorcycle or you car, but especially motorcycles, you’ll
find there are areas where water sits, like in socket head screws. You need to get rid of that
water or you’re going to have rust.

All right, now, this is a Metro Blow and Vac.  This uses air,
under pressure, not only to blow the water away, but to dry the motorcycle or the car. It’s really
something you ought to look into. It does a great job.

If you have a question or comment, write to me.
The address is MotorWeek, Owings Mills, MD, 21117.