How We Wash Our Cars at Home

Since we started using Nakabayashi Kogyo’s body cover, the number of times we wash the car has drastically decreased (my husband says it’s about one-fifth to one-tenth as often), but he never uses hand-wash services at gas stations and always washes the car himself. Whether it’s a hot summer day or a cold winter day, he diligently washes the car, sweating and even getting bitten by mosquitoes.

So today, I’d like to share how we wash our cars at home.

Step 1: Remove Dirt with a High-Pressure Washer

At home, we use a Kärcher high-pressure washer to first rinse off dirt from the entire body.

He says that rinsing the wheels with the Kärcher also makes them almost completely clean. After that, he just wipes off any remaining dirt that didn’t come off during rinsing.

If there’s dirt that won’t come off with just this, or if there’s fine iron powder stuck on, he uses a clay cleaner for car washing to remove those spots. About this, my husband said:

When you put on cellophane—like the kind that wraps cigarette or snack boxes—and touch the car, you can really feel the roughness.

By the way, I used to know nothing about washing cars and thought “You just have to wipe it.” So I tried wiping dirt off with a dry cloth without even rinsing with water first, which actually caused fine scratches on the body. My husband gave me a strict warning (oops). Sorry about that…

Step 2: Blow Off Water Drops with a Blower

Next, he uses a blower to blow off water droplets. At home, we use a Ryobi blower.

Blowing off the water droplets greatly shortens the drying time and makes the process much easier. In other words, he’s doing the same process as an automatic car wash at a gas station: “powerfully spraying water to remove dirt, then blowing off the water droplets with air pressure.”

Step 3: Wipe with Coating Agent

After that, he sprays on a coating agent (we use the SurLuster Zero Drop coating agent) and carefully wipes it off with a car wash towel (cloth). Our Porsche already has body coating, so we don’t use wax with compounds or detergents—it’s more than enough.

At this point, the car is already very clean, but…

Step 4: Dry Wipe with a Dry Towel

My husband always finishes by dry wiping. Doing this or not makes a huge difference. This final touch makes the body shine brilliantly and feel silky smooth, and the cleanliness lasts longer.

Honestly, I think washing a Panamera alone is tough (I mean, help out, will you?), and whenever we go to a gas station, I often see Mercedes-Benz S-Class and Panamera owners getting hand washes there. So I asked my husband, “Wouldn’t it be easier to just rely on hand-wash services at gas stations?” He replied:

No matter how much money I make to afford expensive luxury cars and can easily pay for gas station hand washes, I want to keep the spirit of “never forget your beginner’s mindset.” I don’t want to forget the days when I had no money and washed cars by hand at night. Also, washing the car myself feels like I’m communicating with it, and I get a good sense of its condition. Knowing the car’s condition greatly affects how it drives, so as someone who loves cars, I want to wash it with my own hands.

I see…

Then he added:

One of my personal mottos is “A man who polishes his beloved car also polishes himself.”

So that’s how it is… his mind really is all about cars, huh? lol