What is it? - Pre-washing is often carried out in multiple stages and is essential if you want to minimise damage to the car before washing. Layers of traffic film, grit, dust and dirt are all sitting on top of your cars paint (clear coat) and if dragged across the paints surface can cause marring, swirling and even deep scratches in one wash and will only get worse with more washes carried out unsafely. 

Why take the extra time? - This will affect not only how your car looks but also its resale value in future. A professional detailer will charge anywhere from a few hundred right up to a thousand pounds or more to carry out paint correction services and your car only has a limited amount of clear coat that can be abraded down to correct the damage. Basically the more damage done to the car, the more clear coat will need to be removed to restore it to its former glory and the higher the likelihood will be of an even more costly respray in future if you want to keep your pride and joy looking its best.

How it's done - Lots of people will swear by their own method, at Monstershine Car Care we prefer to spend a few extra minutes carrying out a detailed pre-wash routine to minimise damage.

1. First fully rinse all loose dirt and debris off the car with the pressure washer. Keep the pressure washer a safe distance away and make sure to cover all areas with the jet of water.
2. Use our Citrus Wash in a spray bottle or our Pro HD snow foam lance and spray all over the car allowing to dwell for a few minutes.
3. Walk around the car with a detailing brush and a bottle of Citrus Wash diluted and ready to spray anywhere with any excessive deposits of dirt or moss etc while using the detailing brush to agitate the product into the gaps between lights, doors and badges to loosen anything trapped there that would otherwise be dragged out later by your wash mitt.
4. Repeat step 1 - Thoroughly rinse with your pressure washer. Working bottom to top, panel by panel will help you ensure you don't miss any areas.
5. Use our Pro HD snow foam lance and snow foam (Cyclone snow foam is a customer favourite) to blanket the car in foam that will soften and loosen the remaining dirt and allow to dwell for 5-15 minutes.
6. Repeat step 1 - Thoroughly rinse with your pressure washer. Working bottom to top, panel by panel will help you ensure you don't miss any areas.

Your car should now be ready for a 2 bucket wash.

It's important to remember that no products should be allowed to dry on the car, it's always better to rinse off and reapply than allow the sun to bake them on. So wherever possible when detailing, avoid direct sunlight and use on cool panels - avoid washing immediately after driving. 

This may sound like a lot of extra time but with a little practice it can actually be very quick and simple...and who doesn't like a tea break when cleaning the car?