#carcare

One of the biggest battles in keeping vehicles clean has to do with their wheels.

Chemical Guys has substantial Cyber Monday discounts on a range of products—some are marked down by as much as 70%.

Car vacuums are often very affordable, they list cool features and have great reviews. Then they usually don’t work. The best car vacuum promises to make car cleaning easy: Just plug it into your 12V port or pick it up off the charger, and in just a few seconds you can clean up your seats, floor mats, cupholders, and console. Your actual experience is likely to be a lot more disappointing: When we started testing, we were surprised by just how bad they were. After testing, we didn’t find any 12V car vacuums we thought were worth your money. Struggling to remove dust, crumbs, and dirt, and absolutely failing against pet hair.

Gas and diesel engines still power most vehicles and look poised to be with us for some time to come, even if their dominance is waning. Any engine that develops its power from burning fuel depends on vast amounts of air for the combustion process and efficient operation.

Routine washing of your car is great for keeping your paint looking shiny and new, but occasionally, you’ll want to put in some serious elbow grease to ensure your paint remains protected. You’ve likely heard of polishing and waxing your car to restore some of its lost shine, but to really keep your paint finish pristine, you’ll want to use a clay bar.

There’s a good chance you frequently give your car a nice wash. But how often are you devoting attention to your car’s interior? As you can imagine, the seats, floor mats, and carpet of your car experience plenty of daily abuse. From dust and dirt to mud and grime, thorough interior detailing can go a long way in preserving its resale value. If you often travel with children or pets, you’ll want a bottle of quality upholstery cleaner.

Here are the best car waxes you can buy that will give you great results and help protect your paint.

Not everyone has the time to wax their car regularly. Traditional paste wax can take over an hour to apply, with a thorough process of rubbing, buffing, and cleaning up afterward. If you’re looking for an easy and efficient way to give your car’s finish a layer of wax protection, consider spray waxes. While spray waxes don’t last as long as traditional paste wax, they can be applied in as little as 15 minutes, depending on the size of your car. Spray waxes are designed to offer a good level of protection with less effort; they work better if your car already has a layer of existing wax protection.

All passenger vehicles in North America have had polycarbonate plastic headlights for decades, and they all have one thing in common: They are constantly exposed to the elements and over time they turn dull, yellowed, or foggy. Not only does this look bad, but it can cut down the amount of light dramatically. Fortunately, headlight restoration kits can restore almost all old headlights, or at least bring make them bright enough to be safe again.

We included this McCulloch steamer in our Best Steam Cleaners article based on over 11,000 positive reviews. As it’s the best selling canister steamer on Amazon (and probably the world), and tied for best-rated on our list at 84%, we bought one to find out not only if it’s as good fans of the model say, but how useful a steamer really is for both interior and exterior automotive cleaning.

All plastics eventually fade when exposed to the environment, but if your car’s trim is starting to look gray and sad, the best trim restorers can help to revive it. This weathering is a complicated process driven by UV light, and ultimately can’t be stopped, but you will be happy to hear that not all hope is lost, and you can actually bring some of that shine back to your plastic and trim pieces by using a high-quality plastic restorer. 

There’s a long list of reasons to own a good pressure washer. For us car fans, a pressure washer means more effective, efficient car washing – akin to having a coin-operated car wash stall at home. For homeowners, pressure washers offer even more utility, from power-cleaning decks, driveways, and siding, to spraying out gutters and scrubbing down grills.

No matter how carefully you drive and park, it’s almost impossible to avoid getting a scratch on your car or truck. But if it’s not through the clearcoat and into the paint, one of the best car scratch removers can save you a trip to the body shop. Most light scratches are only on the surface of your finish, and there are car scratch repair products that can make them disappear. 

You may have an image of washing a car in a driveway with a hose and a bucket of suds, but the best foam cannons are a much easier way to do it. Not do they take less time and water, they also takes out some of the risk of rubbing grit into your finish. Even if you’re not that passionate about detailing or washing your car, owning a pressure washer and a foam cannon to use with makes the job a lot faster, easier, and can give you better results.

Every car owner should include one of the best tire pressure gauges in their toolkit. Keeping your tires properly inflated ensures they wear evenly, and that you’re getting the best possible gas mileage. It’s a small investment that will keep you from having to replace your expensive tires too soon, and save money on every fill up.