Spongy April is the cleanest month

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For most Angelenos, the car wash is how most of us get our vehicles cleaned. Where we can grab a coffee and read a couple of sections of The Los Angeles Times while someone else buffs our fenders. But there are several good reasons why, once in a while, we should get down and soapy ourselves.

It’s always smart practice to give a car a good going-over, to check for any fresh dings and/or bird deposits that might have compromised the paintwork, and look over the wheels and tires to make sure both are in good shape. On top of that, there’s the satisfaction of a job well done, where a little more elbow grease will really get rid of that tree sap.

However, our friends at Meguiar’s feel it necessary to explode a few myths on the great Sunday chore. With winter out of the way, April has been deemed ‘Car Care Month’ (the fact that it’s taken so long to get around to mentioning this might have something to do with our feelings toward car cleaning in general).

The big one is that dishwashing detergent is no substitute for properly formulated car shampoo. The former quite often contains salt (as a bulking agent) and salt plus metal equals rust. It will also degrade paint and any waxes that have been applied. Oh, and old diapers and T-shirts don’t necessarily make the best cleaning cloths. The detailing pros use 100% terrycloth towels and/or premium microfiber towels.

Thanks to Meguiar’s for these tips (there are more on the company’s website) and, of course, car-cleaning products are also available from other companies. And as for the video, you can have too much gunk, but you can never have too much funk.

-- Colin Ryan