How to Detail Your Car Like a Pro

Three top tips for making your vehicle look brand new again.

Published November 15, 2024

You love your car. It doesn’t matter if you’re currently driving a speedster that goes from 0 to 60 in the blink of an eye or a practical minivan built for hauling kids — your vehicle is one of your most prized possessions. And you love that car more when it’s clean.

The good news is you don’t have to drop $200 at a detailing shop every month to keep your whip looking great. With the right products and a smart approach, you can get that freshly detailed shine on your own for a fraction of the cost.

Tip #1: Surfaces Matter

woman wiping leather chair with microfiber towel

Cleaning the carpet and upholstery can be the most daunting part of detailing your own car, as those soft surfaces tend to collect stains, particularly in high traffic areas. To thoroughly clean your vehicle’s carpets, turn to Armor All Carpet and Upholstery Spray. For upholstery cleaning, Armor All Cleaning Wipes have a patented stain-removing formula that pulls smudges, grime and dirt from car seats — they even work on sunscreen smears. And those same wipes can be used to remove dirt and dust from hard surfaces too, like dashboards and steering wheels.

Once the hard surfaces are wiped clean, it’s time to protect them from long-term sun damage and give them that freshly-detailed shine with Armor All Extreme Shield +Ceramic Protectant. Not only do these wipes contain inhibitor polymers that protect hard surfaces from UV damage, reducing the chance of fading and cracking, but they have a dust repellent technology that helps minimize dirt buildup, so your dash will stay clean longer. For surfaces that need to remain non-slip, like floor mats and the steering wheel, opt for Armor All Interior Detailing Spray.

Leather seats need special care and attention, as the natural material needs to be nourished to battle aging. Armor All Leather Care with Beeswax contains real beeswax, which helps preserve the rich, supple look of your car seats while removing dirt and stains. One application provides full service maintenance that cleans, conditions and protects your car’s leather surfaces.

Tip #2: Use the two-bucket method and a foam cannon

Drive thru car washes are tempting, but a deep clean is best done by hand. The “Two Bucket Method,” where one bucket is filled with clean water and soap and the second bucket is used for rinsing your car wash mitt, is a proven DIY car wash practice, because it keeps your sudsy water clean.

Add an Armor All Foam Cannon, which has a soap reservoir that attaches to a garden hose or pressure washer, for more foam during the scrubbing process. And fill your bucket and Foam Cannon with Armor All Extreme Shield +Ceramic Car Wash, which not only creates a thick and rich foam, but also provides an invisible protective barrier that provides a long-lasting shine, allowing you to go longer between washes.

Armor All Extreme Shield Ceramic Car Wash

$12 at Walmart

Armor All 2-in-1 Foam Cannon

$39 at Amazon

Tip #3: Customize your shine

a hand wiping a car dashboard with cloth

How glossy do you want the interior of your car? It’s a matter of personal preference, and Armor All has a variety of protectants that help protect your vehicle’s hard surfaces from dust, dirt and UV damage while also offering varying levels of shine.

Armor All Original Protectant Wipes fight fading and aging from sun exposure with a non-greasy formula that leaves a medium shine, while

The brand’s Interior Detailer restores your interior with a natural, matte finish.

For maximum gloss and a shine that lasts for weeks, try Ultra Shine Protectant Wipes, which offers a high-gloss shine giving your interior an intense luster, as if you just pulled it out of the detailer’s shop.

Regardless of which level of shine you choose, each of these protectants help revitalize rubber, vinyl and plastic, giving the interior of your car a rich look while repelling dust and dirt.