Earth Day 2009 at Atlantic Station

Smart Wash recently had a booth at Atlantic Station's first annual earth day event! We had a blast and met tons of interesting people. We hope to see you there next year!

Smart Wash in the News!

Many thanks to Corinna Allen and the staff at CBS46 Atlanta for coming out and taping us and then putting us on the news! Great video and we had a great time doing it!

*Note: It's crazy how much video they take of you and how they edit it down to be so small and concise...pretty cool stuff.

smart washing your car at home

Current regulations prohibit traditional car washing at home, but that doesn’t mean you can’t smart wash it! This can be accomplished for the most part with supplies and cleaners you can find around the house, with a few exceptions.

Here is a list of supplies you will need to gather:

Bucket

Clean, soft towels (microfiber if possible)

Soft brushes (old [sanitized] toothbrushes are a detailer’s best friend!)

Iron with steam setting or clothes steamer

All purpose biodegradable cleaner

Spray bottle with tap water in it.

Window cleaner (you can also use plain tap water mixed 4:1 with rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle)

Waterless car wash product (can be purchased online at our website or at local retailers such as Sam’s Club or Whole Foods)

Vacuum Cleaner (a wet/dry vac works best)

Cleaning the exterior:

Cleaning your vehicle’s exterior in a sustainable way is a simple process when you have the right supplies! There are a wide variety of waterless car wash products available for purchase online, including the Smart Wax One we have available for purchase at our website. Sam’s Club also sells a waterless car wash product in their automotive care section.

Other than the waterless car wash, you will want to grab your bucket with some water in it, a soft wheel brush, some towels and your all purpose biodegradable cleaner.

Now, just follow these steps to clean your paint and rims:

1. Start with the paint by spraying a section of your car’s paint with the waterless car wash. Now, while that is starting to work, you can spray some product on your microfiber towel to wet it before wiping all the dirt away. Having a damp towel to start with helps relieve the surface tension and prevent scratching.
2. Start at the top of the panel and work your way down in an “s” pattern (you want to avoid a back and forth pattern)
3. Make sure to be thorough and wipe all surfaces from top to bottom, wringing out your towel as you go when it gets completely saturated.
4. Take another dry microfiber towel and dry panel to a shine.
5. Repeat steps 1-4 for all the panels of your car. Don’t forget the roof!
6. If you have any streaks, you can use the spray bottle of water* to mist a little on the paint and then buff to a shine.
7. Next you are going to clean the wheels and tires. Get your all purpose cleaner, diluted according to the instructions on the bottle for heavy duty cleaning, and your bucket/brush ready.
8. Spray the tire (the black rubber part) as well as the wheel itself thoroughly with cleaner and use your wheel brush to break up the brake dust and dirt from the surface of the tire and wheel.
9. Take another towel and wipe the tire and wheel clean and dry, making sure to get the surfaces from all angles.
10. Repeat steps 8-9 for all four tires.

*You can pick up a final detailer product from wal-mart or an auto parts store with shine enhancers to get an even better shine on this step, or you can order some Smart Detail from our website

Cleaning the Interior:

Now that your exterior is clean and shiny you can move on to the interior, your home away from home. On the way inside, take a sec to wipe the door jambs with one of your towels left over from wiping the paint dry. The towel should be slightly damp already, but if you need additional cleaner for extra dirty door jambs you can spray them with your all purpose cleaner first.

You’ll need the following supplies for the interior: clean dry towels, that old (sanitized) toothbrush, steam iron filled with water or clothes steamer, all purpose biodegradable cleaner (diluted according to the instructions on the bottle for general cleaning), vacuum cleaner and spray bottle with water.

Follow these steps:

1. De-trash the interior (make sure you recycle!) and vacuum entire interior including floors and seats.
2. Mist some all purpose cleaner on your towel and dust all interior surfaces including dash, center console, steering wheel, door panels, seats and cup holders. It’s important that you do one section at a time for two reasons: a. you are less likely to miss something if you move in a organized fashion around the interior -and- b. if the cleaner dries on the plastic, vinyl or leather it can discolor and damage it.
3. For cleaning your carpets and upholstery you’ll want to make sure your iron or steamer is warmed up and ready to go, then mist the area you are about to clean with your all purpose cleaner.
4. Take a clean towel and mist it with water and cleaner and place over the area (or specific stain you are trying to target) Place the iron or steamer over the towel and steam for 30 seconds at a time, moving the iron around the whole time. The steam releases the stain, and often time lifts it completely out into the towel. If you still have stain or residue left over you can take your towel and gently rub the area after steaming it.
5. Repeat step 4 throughout your entire upholstered interior until all surfaces are clean and sanitized to your satisfaction.
6. You may want to re-vac the interior at this point to get any debris left over from the initial clean.
7. Now just check everything over and clean the windows.

Congrats! You just smart washed your car!

If you have any specific questions about any of these steps, products or procedures please don’t hesitate to shoot us a question at www.smartwashusa.com

The New Website

Hello all! After many sleepless nights of coding, design work, phone conversations with web guys much smarter than I and a little beating my head against the wall the new website is finally up! It features a sleek new design that fits the Smart Wash brand much better and has a more modern feel to it. It addition, it contains some pretty cool stuff:

*New Scheduling Interface will help us and you keep better track of appointments, cancellations and updates. No more scheduling conflicts!

*All new Customer Lounge page where you can go listen to music from Pandora, watch Hulu, play a game of Pong, download Smart Wash Desktop backgrounds (more coming soon), learn about our rewards program, download coupons, and educate yourself about commute alternatives.

*New Multi-Media page for pictures, videos, and flash photos of our services, locations and downright awesomeness.

*We now have products for sale as well on the Products page.

*The blog is now contained within the site itself.

Too freakin' cool! We are very excited about what is happening this year at Smart Wash!

Smart Wash Video

Have you seen our video? No, you say? Well then...here it is!

How Often Should I Wax My Car?

Hand waxing or orbital waxing - both leave great results!

I am often asked by my clients how often they should have their car waxed, and in talking with them more about it I learn that their is quite a bit of misinformation about this topic. What I'd like to talk about in this posting is how often you should get your car waxed when presented with different types of waxes.

Not all wax jobs are created equal. One key element that should be part of any wax job is the clay treatment. If your detailer isn't using detailer's clay to prep your vehicle's surface before the wax application process, then you may want to consider either telling him you require that treatment or taking your vehicle to a place where they will clay before waxing. Waxing without claying first is like painting without priming. So, your first consideration should be to make sure your car is getting a full body clay treatment*.

Once you've determined that your detailer is using clay it is important for you to know what kind of wax you are paying for. I don't mean what kind of brand is being used but instead what kind of wax it is. Waxes come in at least 4 varieties: carnauba spray, carnauba lotion/paste, polymer sealants and carnauba show glazes**. So, what kind of wax is your detailer using? How this question is answered will depend on how often you should have your car waxed. It is with that idea in mind that we can begin our discussion. In this post I will cover the first of the wax categories and will discuss the other three in upcoming blogs.

CARNAUBA SPRAY WAX

Although this kind of wax has gotten a bad rap over the years as being a cover up wax or a shine enhancer that characterization is no longer accurate. It is now the case with the application of nano technology to auto detail chemical manufacturing that these spray waxes can be a very good alternative for people who have their cars washed so often that spending extra money on a lotion wax makes little sense.

If the vehicle is clayed properly, a spray wax like the one that is used at Smart Wash (Smart One or Smart UV) will last 45 to 60 days in our Georgia/South East climate. Other spray waxes like Turtle Wax Ice also provide great protection although I can't vouch for their friendliness to our environment. These kinds of waxes lasted for only two weeks some years ago but as I said before with the application of newer technologies to the manufacturing process the longevity and effectiveness of these waxes has increased dramatically. So, if you get your car cleaned pretty regularly paying anywhere from $35 to $50 for a premium spray wax may be worth it. You'll probably need to get it done 6 times per year. You average yearly cost is $255 plus the cost of your regular washes.




* At Smart Wash we clay every vehicle that gets a wax job.
** Yes, there are many other kinds of waxes, as many different kinds as there are detailers it seems but for our purposes here let's stick to these as they are the most prevalent.

The Benefits of Automotive Clay

Part of doing a good detail job on a car is making sure that you clay the car's paint thoroughly. Not only does the clay leave a better finish, remove many harmful surface contaminants from your paint, but it also allows your wax job to last longer.

But, what is clay? People ask me this all the time and understandably so. I mean, clay is something that auto enthusiast (you know, those people who love their cars so much that it boarders on insanity...like me for example when I had my MINI) have used for years. Clay is a piece of puddy that when rubbed on the painted surface of a car it removes any contaminants that have gotten into the pores of the paint.

That blue stuff is clay. It feels like silly puddy...and no it doesn't bounce!

You see, paint is porous like your skin and like your skin sometimes you need to use those Bio re pore strips to get all the junk that's in your pores out before you have a gnarley zit breakout! Well, that's kind of how clay works. Or think of it as a way of exfoliating paint - once you've clayed the car the paint is ultra smooth and ready for protection like when you exfoliate your skin it makes your skin soft and ready to get all lotioned up with Suave or CoCo Butter or whatever! :)

Check out these diagrams of vehicle paint before and after clay:

So, as you can see, clay really makes a huge difference! But making the surface smooth and clean is not the only benefit. In addition to allowing the wax to adhere better to the painted surface, clay also causes your car to look shinier and glossier when the wax is added. The gloss is much deeper and more rich and that is due to the fact that the wax has been applied to paint and not to paint embedded with dirt, grime, industrial fallout etc. I guess a good example would be that when you get your nails done the glossy clear they add at the end is much shinier because they polished your nails before hand rather than just slapping some clear gloss on your nails and that's it.

So, that is what clay is and that is what it does. Pretty cool stuff, huh? The Japanese invented it...I guess it makes up for their invention of Hello Kitty and Japan-imations! :)