Aftercare · For Every Car, Coated or Not
Exactly how we would wash your car — whether it is wearing PPF, a ceramic coating, or nothing at all.
Thanks for trusting Auto Attention with protecting your new car. Whether it is in paint protection film or ceramic coating, these tips are suitable for all — even cars we have never touched.
Here is the uncomfortable truth of this industry: most of the damage we correct out of paint was not caused by the road. It was caused by the wash. Swirl marks, wash marring, that hazy look under servo lights — almost all of it comes from grit being dragged across a panel by a mitt, a sponge, or an automatic car wash brush.
Which means the way you wash your car matters more than what you spend on the products. Get the technique right and cheap shampoo will do a decent job. Get it wrong and the best coating money can buy will still end up looking tired.
The process below is the one we use. It is not complicated and it does not need a workshop — a hose, two buckets and an hour on a Sunday will do it.
We recommend all products by ENVOKE at Detail Central, manufactured right here in Melbourne. Daniel at Detail Central has been pivotal to our company for the last 10 years, and we would not put our name to the range if we did not use it ourselves every day.
Fill up two buckets: one with plain water, one with soap and water. Park in the shade if you possibly can. Then work through these in order.
An old video now, albeit one where nothing about the process has changed. Here it is live.
The wash is the same. What changes is the handful of things worth knowing about your particular finish.
Leave it a week after installation before the first wash. Keep the pressure washer around 30cm back and never fire it straight at a film edge. Light scuffs self-heal — warm water or a day in the sun speeds that along. Never polish or wax film unless it is a product made for it, and get bugs and droppings off promptly.
A coating makes washing easier, not unnecessary. Wash every one to two weeks, skip the wax, and top it with a compatible ceramic spray instead. Avoid harsh degreasers and anything acidic. If the water stops beading the way it used to, the coating is usually not dead — it is just dirty.
Exactly the same process — and technique matters even more, because there is no sacrificial layer between your mitt and the clear coat. Finish with a spray sealant every wash so the paint has something protecting it, and consider a proper coating when you are next due a correction.
Almost every car that comes to us for correction has been damaged by at least one of these.
| Avoid | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Automatic and brush car washes | Rotating brushes hold grit from every car before yours. They put in swirl marks and can catch PPF edges. |
| Washing in direct sunlight | Product and water dry on the panel before you can rinse them, leaving water spots that can etch into the clear coat. |
| One bucket, or a bucket with no grit guard | You reload the mitt with the dirt you just removed and drag it back across the paint. |
| Dish soap and household detergent | Designed to strip oils and residue — which is exactly what your sealant, wax or coating is. |
| Acidic wheel cleaners | Can stain and permanently damage wheel finishes, and will shorten the life of any coating on the wheel. Non-acid only. |
| Sponges, chamois and old towels | A sponge traps grit against the paint. Cheap or contaminated microfibre does the same. If a mitt or towel hits the ground, it is finished. |
| Leaving bird droppings, bugs or tree sap | All three are acidic and all three etch clear coat if left in the sun. Deal with them the day you notice them. |
| Scrubbing a dry panel | Wiping dust off a dry car with a dry cloth is how most day-to-day scratches happen. Always wet, always lubricated. |
Bug splatter and bird droppings are acidic, and a hot panel accelerates the damage enormously. What would take a fortnight to mark paint in July can etch in a day or two in February. Keep a bottle of quick detailer and a clean microfibre in the boot and deal with them the day you notice.
Wet roads throw far more contamination at the lower half of the car, and brake dust builds up faster. Do not stretch the wash interval just because it keeps raining — rain is not a wash, it is dirty water drying on your paint.
If the car lives outside, UV is working on it every day of the year. A coating and a decent car cover for the driveway do more for a street-parked car than anything else you can buy.
Salt air down the peninsula and dust up the highway both want rinsing off sooner rather than later, particularly out of the wheel arches and underbody where you cannot see it working.
If the paint has already picked up swirls, water spotting or etching, washing it better from here will stop it getting worse but it will not undo it. That is a paint correction job. Bring the car to Richmond and we will take depth readings and give you a straight answer on what is worth doing — including, sometimes, nothing.
Bring the car to 51 Appleton St, Richmond. We'll take a proper look at the paint and tell you honestly what it needs — and what it doesn't.
Tell us about your car and how it is used and we'll come back with honest advice — usually within one business day. No question is too basic.
Prefer to talk? Call 1300 758 403 or email [email protected].
Every one to two weeks is a good rhythm for a car that lives outside, and monthly is usually fine for a garaged weekend car. A coating makes washing easier — it does not make it optional. Contamination left sitting on a coating still bonds to it.
Please don't. Spinning brushes are the single fastest way to put swirl marks into paint, and they can catch and lift film edges. A touchless wash is less damaging but usually relies on strong chemicals. Hand washing with two buckets beats both.
One bucket holds clean soapy water and the other holds plain rinse water. You rinse the dirt out of the mitt into the plain bucket instead of dropping it back into your soap. With one bucket you are effectively washing the car with the grit you just took off it, which is where most swirl marks come from.
No. Traditional wax on top of a coating just sits there and can dull it. If you want to top the car up, use a compatible ceramic spray — we like the Envoke one, diluted across two bottles.
Yes, with sense. Keep the nozzle around 30cm away, use a fan tip rather than a pencil jet, and never aim directly at a film edge or seam at close range. That is the one habit that lifts an otherwise perfect install.
Get them off quickly. Both are acidic and in Melbourne summer heat they can etch clear coat in a day or two. Soak with a damp microfibre for thirty seconds to soften them, then lift — never scrub them off dry.
We use and recommend ENVOKE, made here in Melbourne and available through Detail Central. The short list is the Reboot descaling shampoo, a non-acid wheel and tyre cleaner, ceramic glass cleaner, Snow Pro and the Envoke ceramic spray.
That is fine — plenty of our clients would rather hand the car over. Get in touch and tell us about the car and how it is used, and we will let you know what it actually needs.
