5 Tips for Detailing Your Muscle Car to Preserve the Life and Shine

When it comes to your muscle car, you’ll want to ensure that it’s kept clean and shiny without needing to use tons of water and soap. Excess water can result in the rush of your car’s parts if not taken care of correctly. Your best bet is to use detailing secrets that are recommended by professionals. First, begin on the interior of your car and work your way to the exterior. Here’s a quick guide to making sure your muscle car is clean, shiny, and ready to hit the streets:

1. Scrub the Floor Mats
With an air compressor, blow dust and dirt into the middle of the carpet so it can be vacuumed. Or, find the right attachment that will let you get into your vehicle’s hard-to-reach places. When the crumbs are gone, use a stiff brush to scrub the carpet and release the dirt that is embedded in the fibers. This is a good time to shampoo the carpet if there are stains. You can use a 303® Multi-Surface Cleaner to remove stubborn stains like oil or grease from the carpet or upholstery. Spray the cleaner liberally onto the stain, scrub with a soft brush and wipe away with a damp cloth. You might need to rinse the cloth in clean water repeatedly to remove excess cleaner. For stubborn stains, reach for 303 Spot Cleaner.

2. Interior Surfaces and Vents
To keep the car smelling wonderful, you’ll need to be sure that you don’t have dust and dirt gathering in the vents. Aim the vacuum at the corners of the vents to remove the dust there. After removing dust from the vents, it’s time to tackle the surfaces inside the vehicle. Over time, the sun can cause your vinyl surfaces to become dry and cracked. A protectant like 303 Automotive Protectant will provide a layer of UV protection while leaving a dust-repellent, matte, and non-greasy protective coating. It can be used on the dashboard, consoles and door panels.

Like the dashboard, the leather seats can become dry or faded over time when they are exposed to the sun. When they become dry, they can crack. Use 303 3-in-1 Complete Leather Care for the seats as well as the vinyl surfaces in your muscle car. Simply spray the leather cleaner onto the surface of the seats and wipe.

303 Stain Guard for Auto Fabrics & Carpets helps prevent stains and repels liquids caused by hot coffee, soda spills, food, pet stains, and everyday dirt and mud.  It is safe to use on your fabric seats, as well as the carpets/fabric floor mats of your vehicle.

3. Wheels and Paint
Once the interior is vacuumed and the surfaces are conditioned, it’s time to move to the exterior of the vehicle. You can start with the wheels or the paint. This is often a choice based on personal preference. Some people like to work from top to bottom, which would mean doing the roof to the wheels. It’s important to use a product that won’t strip the residue from tires or cause the rims to become pitted.

Brake dust and oil will need to be treated with a degreaser-type solution. 303 Tire and Rubber Cleaner is perfect for the tires and rims that will need a solution that removes soils. Make sure that the degreaser doesn’t get onto the car’s paint. This is why many people like to wash the tires first, so they can make sure that any cleaning solution is not sitting on the paint.

4. Wash and Wax
When you need to remove dirt, mud or salt from the car, use a hand spray to wash the exterior of the vehicle, but ensure that you have control of the spray and can dry the exterior completely to avoid rust.

Once clean use 303 Speed Detailer for instant shine and protection on the exterior paint. Simply mist on and wipe off.

If you want a quick wax, 303 has your back. First, you’ll need to make sure that the paint is free of contaminants before applying new wax to the surface. Many detailers use a small block of paint-cleaning clay along with a liquid cleaner to remove the old wax and clean the paint. This leaves a smooth surface for applying a new layer of wax. Mist on 303 Spray Wax, spread, and buff dry with a separate microfiber towel and you’ll be all set.

5. Windows
The last surfaces to wash are the windows. This is an often overlooked step but it’s one that can give your car an extra sparkle.

For extra-clean windows, add 303 Instant Windshield Washer Tablets to a gallon of water to tackle all the windows in your vehicle. This solution will remove pollutants as well as bugs from the glass. When doing the side windows, don’t forget to roll them down slightly to get the very tops of the window.

There’s a lot of satisfaction to be had from cleaning and detailing your muscle car by yourself. With help from the 303 Automotive line, it’s simpler than you might have expected.