Can I Detail a Car Myself?

If you’re a car owner, you may struggle on keeping your car nice and tidy. So, you may try to find solutions on how to clean your car in the best way possible. If you come across car detailing, you ask yourself the question “Can I detail a car myself?” instead of booking with a professional. Well…

Yes you can!

There are plenty of ways to clean your car and many articles describing how to. However, DIY car detailing may be tougher than expected. Let’s talk about the benefits and struggles of doing your own car detailing!

How can I detail my car?

Detailing is a lot more than just a spray-wax and a vacuum. There are meticulous steps and many intricate areas of your beautiful car. But, you don’t need to know the entire in-and-out of your vehicle. You just need to know how to do it!

You want to start off by researching the supplies and steps (which I mention a bit later in this article). Once you do that, figure out a budget that works for you because car detailing can be slightly expensive! Then, buy or rent machines such as a carpet extractor or power washer. If you don’t already have a vacuum, usually you can go to a car wash and use one of theirs for free! Finally, once you have all the supplies bought and steps learned, find a few hours of free time and get to work on that car!

Reasons for a DIY Car Detailing

Here are some reasons why YOU can do the detail yourself:

1. Save Money – Professional Detailing can cost from $50-300 on average. This is because you’re paying them not only for professional cleaning, but the labor endured. If you’d learn DIY car detailing yourself, you won’t be paying someone else to do it. That means that money stays in your pocket!

2. Save the Drive – When you drop your car off at a detailers garage, you have to make the drive. have someone take you back, and have someone bring you when it’s done, it’s a lot! However, when you have a DIY detail, the car is just a few feet away ready to get cleaned. If you’d rather have a professional detailer, however, there are mobile detailers who come to you!

3. Do it in Your Own time – Usually, you must book with a car detailing business. Sometimes, their schedules are busy, and you have to wait weeks! Sometimes, they have certain business hours that may not work with your schedule. Doing your own detail means no rough scheduling, just finding a time that agrees with yourself!

4. Flexibility – The process detailers use is a process that you don’t need to follow at all! You just need to know the basics so you can focus on the aspects of your car you want clean. You’re even flexible to where you can do a vacuum one day and the exterior wash another. You know your car best and don’t have to explain any embarrassing spill stories to your detailer if you do it yourself.

5. Self Satisfaction and Accomplishment – If you’ve ever cleaned your room or any other space, you understand the feeling of “ahh, finally done”. The same thing happens when you learn how to detail a car! Just like rooms, cars get dirty, and it can be very satisfying once YOU clean that space and feel accomplished. Instead of tipping a job well done, you can pat your own back!

6. Reuse Products – Once you buy it, it’s yours! Anything you spent on supplies for your own detail may substitute the price you spent to have a professional do it. And, you get to use those tools again for the multiple DIY details to come! If you’re willing to put in the work to learn, it’s something that sticks with you for life.

Supplies and Steps

I could write hundreds of articles on the different supplies and steps in car detailing, but it will be simpler for me to summarize it:

Supplies:

The main tools you need for an interior detail are:

• Vacuum

• Detailing brushes

• Microfiber towels

• All purpose cleaner

• Glass cleaner

• Air refresher (as a cherry on top)

Sounds simple but there are also tools that can help get a deeper cleaning. Those include: a carpet extractor, steam cleaner, air gun, drill brushes (with a drill), carpet stain remover, crevice tools, magic erasers, and whatever fancy new tool that can help the process be more efficient!

The main tools you need for an exterior detail are:

• Hose or preferably a pressure washer

• Wash mitts

• Bristle brushes

• Buckets

• Car wash soap

• Tire and wheel cleaner

• Wash and wax

• Glass cleaner

• Microfiber towels and drying towel

• 
  

It’s simple as well but other tools to help may include: foam cannon, tire shine, bug remover, clay bar, and a trim cleaner

We won’t talk about ceramic coating or paint correction tools because those are more professional services.

Steps:

Usually it’s better to start with an interior since it’s getting the hardest part out the way! So a few steps to help with the interior are

1. Remove trash, belongings, and floors mats

2. Vacuum and clean off the dust

3. Clean the seats and carpets with an brush or extractor (Deep Cleaning)

4. Clean the plastic surfaces and doors with all purpose cleaner and detail brushes

5. Wash the floor mats

6. Use glass cleaner to clean glass (wet one towel and dry with another)

7. Spray/add a car refresher.

After the interiors done you can start making the outside shine! Those steps include:

1. Rinse off debris and dirt with hose/pressure washer

2. Clean wheels and tire wells with brushes and rinse

3. Fill a clean bucket with soap and dirty bucket with water

4. Use a wash mitt to clean entire car body

5. Rinse off the soap

6. Dry off with a drying towel

7. Apply a wash and wax spray

8. Use glass cleaner to clean glass (wet one towel and dry with another)

   
   

Here are our own personal steps that we use for our customers! :

Interior Car Detailing:

Trash Removal and Prep: We start by removing bigger trash that our vacuum won’t be able to pick up and give the interior a wipe down of all dust 

Thorough Vacuum: We use our shop-vac to find ALL the dirty spots (even between and under seats) to make sure that there is no old trash causing smells and remove any surface level “crumbs”

Carpet Extraction: Here we use our hot water extractor to shampoo the carpets and extract all left-over dirt. Also, we focus on stains in this step for our pristine interior clean

 Clean and Detail all Surfaces: We get out our scrub-pads and detail brushes to hit all plastics and surfaces, remove any gunk, and restore it’s fresh interior

Windows and Door Jambs: A detail isn’t complete without being able to see clearly out of your interior windows. We also get that dirty “in between” of the car doors so you can open the door to a shiny interior

Re-vacuum and Re-check: We finish off by clearing off any fallen dirt and checking every spot around the whole interior to make sure it’s clean. Then we make sure your ride looks good to leave you satisfied!

Exterior Car Wash:

Spray Off the Ugly Dirt: We start by using our pressure washer to pre-rinse the vehicle and get off any dirt that will come off with our sprayer

Thorough Tire Cleaning: The tires and wheel wells can be some of the dirtiest spots on your car. So, we rinse it off and spray them with our tire cleaner, give it a good scrub, and finish off with tire shine at the end

Foam Cannon and Bucket Wash: The foam cannon helps by sticking on the car and wiping dirt off as we spray. Then we get our mitts and hit any remaining areas

Dry Off, Wax On, Glass Cleaned, and Final Touches: Our final step is the best part. We get it all dry and add a wax to make it shine. Then we make sure to get all the window streaks so you can see clearly. Finally, a recheck and we’ll be finished

Is Car Detailing Hard to Do?

I’ll be honest, when me and my partner started our car detailing business, we thought it was simple and easy-to-follow. We bought the tools and sprays assuming that was the hard part. However, when we first did my car we took FIVE HOURS just on the interior. And, my car didn’t even feel clean. Our basic interior would only take us one hour today. But back then, detailing was time-consuming and taxing to a point where we felt like shutting down the business straight away. But we didn’t.

After the first time, like most processes, it becomes a routine and less straining. You’ll learn the inside and outside of your car, and know how to properly clean those parts. Experience is gained so that detailing becomes a hilltop to climb instead of a mountain.

So the short answer is: Yes, detailing is a very labor extensive and strenuous task that without any proper preparation can feel very overwhelming. However, after the first few times it becomes natural and rewarding when you clean your own car. It is your decision to push through those first times or just let the professionals do it!

Is Doing My Own Car Detailing Worth it?

There are many pros and cons to car detailing. Therefore, the decision of it’s worthiness comes from if you want to spend time and energy that goes into learning the intricate parts of your car and the time-consuming steps of detailing. Just remember that after the first time, it gets dramatically easier. 

Again, it is a difficult process which is why there many professionals who want to be the solution to this problem! Detailers have been through this process many times, so it’s not as tough on them. They know the process and will clean it better than first-timers. And, they love to satisfy their customers with a freshly detailed car. However, if you have the time and prefer to do things independently, then shoot for it! Experience the reward of a magnificently cleaned car after you detailed it yourself!

Hopefully we helped you decide this question! After learning from this article, you’re on the next step to be able to do a DIY car detailing!