Car Detailing Checklist

How to use this

This is in dependency order, not importance order. Each block assumes the one above it is done, and the sequence is designed so nothing you clean gets dirtied again by a later step. Work down it and you will not find yourself re-rinsing a panel because wheel cleaner drifted onto it, or chasing wax overspray off glass you already did.

Lines marked (deep only) belong to a full detail and can be skipped on a maintenance one. Realistically that is two or three times a year for most cars, with everything else happening every couple of weeks.

Before you start

• Park in shade, or wait for the car to cool. Hot panels flash-dry every product you apply.
• Two buckets, both with grit guards, one soap and one rinse.
• Towels laid out and sorted — paint towels separate from wheel towels, permanently. More on that in washing microfiber.
• Everything within reach. Walking back to the garage mid-panel is how products dry on.

Exterior

1. Wheels, tires and wheel wells — first, always

• Rinse the wheels and arches before anything else.
• Wheel cleaner on, allowed to dwell, agitated with a dedicated wheel brush.
• Barrels and the inner face, not just the outer face. This is the line most people skip.
• Tires scrubbed with a stiff brush and an all-purpose cleaner until the foam runs white.
• Wheel wells, with the same APC and a long brush.
• Rinse everything thoroughly before the cleaner dries.

Wheels come first because wheel cleaner and loosened brake dust land on the lower panels, and because the brushes and towels involved are the dirtiest things you will touch all day. See how to clean wheels and tires and the wheel cleaner picks.

2. Pre-wash

• Full pre-rinse, top to bottom, to remove loose grit.
• Bug and tar spots treated individually and allowed to dwell (deep only).
• Foam the whole car and let it sit. Do not let it dry.
• Rinse the foam off completely.

This block exists to remove as much as possible before anything touches the paint, and it is the single biggest contributor to a scratch-free wash. Nozzle and distance matter here — what PSI to pressure wash a car covers both.

3. Contact wash

• Two buckets, grit guards in both.
• Top panels first, lower panels last, straight-line passes rather than circles.
• Rinse the mitt in the rinse bucket after every panel.
• A separate mitt or sponge for the lower skirts and bumpers.
• Final rinse, sheeting water off with the nozzle removed.

This is the stage where swirl marks are created, not the pressure washing. The two-bucket method is the whole argument.

4. Decontamination (deep only)

• Iron remover sprayed on the paint and wheels, left to react, rinsed.
• Clay bar or clay mitt over every painted panel with plenty of lubricant.
• Glass clayed too — it picks up more contamination than people expect.
• Re-wash or rinse to remove clay residue.

Do this by feel, not by schedule: if the paint feels gritty through a plastic bag after washing, it needs decontaminating. The decon guide has the test.

5. Dry

• Large drying towels, patted and drawn rather than dragged.
• Blower through mirrors, grilles, badges and trim gaps so nothing drips later.
• Door shuts, fuel filler and boot shuts dried by hand.

6. Correct (deep only)

• Inspect under a strong light at a low angle before deciding anything.
• Test spot first, with the least aggressive combination that could work.
• Work panel by panel, wiping and re-inspecting as you go.
• Wipe down with a panel prep or isopropyl solution before protecting.

See scratch removers for the depth triage and correction for beginners for the technique.

7. Protect

• Wax, sealant or coating on all painted surfaces.
• Thin, even coats. More product is not more protection.
• Buffed off with a clean plush towel before it cures hard.
• Trim dressed, tires dressed, and both wiped back so nothing slings.

8. Glass and final pass

• Exterior glass last, with an ammonia-free cleaner and two towels.
• Wiper blades wiped down.
• Walk the car in direct light at a low angle and fix what you find.

Interior

9. Strip it

• Everything out: mats, child seats, boot contents, door pockets, cup holder inserts.
• Mats cleaned separately, outside the car, and left to dry fully.

10. Dry removal

• Brush or drill-brush the carpet first so trapped grit and hair lift to the surface.
• Vacuum: seats, seat seams, rails, under the seats, the boot, the headliner if needed.
• Crevice and brush tools for vents, console seams and the gap beside the centre tunnel.

If there is a pet in the car, this block needs its own approach — hair is agitated loose before it is vacuumed, not sucked out directly.

11. Hard surfaces, top down

• Headliner only if genuinely dirty, and only lightly.
• Pillars, dashboard, instrument surround, console, door cards.
• Vents, switches and seams with a soft brush and a cloth.
• Spray the towel, never the panel — overspray lands on glass.

12. Fabric and leather

• Cloth: pre-treat stains, agitate, extract or blot dry. Do not soak.
• Leather: clean first, condition second, two separate products.
• Carpet last, because it catches everything from the steps above.

The failure mode here is water, not dirt — how to clean car carpet explains why a sealed cabin cannot dry, and steam is the low-moisture alternative.

13. Finish

• UV protectant on dash and trim, buffed matte rather than shiny.
• Interior glass last of all, including the inside of the windscreen.
• Mats back in only when completely dry.
• Doors left open to air out before closing the car up.

The three places people stop too early

Wheel barrels. The inner face of a wheel is half its surface and the first thing that makes a clean car look unfinished from the side.

Door shuts and sills. Nobody sees them in a photo and everybody sees them getting in.

The inside of the windscreen. It only shows when the sun is low, and then it shows constantly.

Stocking the list

Every line above needs a product, and assembling them one at a time is both slower and usually more expensive than starting from a kit and replacing pieces as they run out. The three below each cover most of this checklist in one box.

If you would rather build your own, the beginner kit page names one pick per line, and build versus buy does the arithmetic on both routes.