Cleaning out your truck bed can usually be a straightforward and fairly easy process; wash, scrub, and rinse. However, there are a few things to know that will make that process easier and efficient. I recommend parking your vehicle so that the back of the truck is facing downhill for better water drainage during cleaning. Also, the amount of effort cleaning your truck bed will depend on what you use it for and how clean you want it to get.

You’ve just picked up your brand new car and you want to figure out how to protect your brand new vehicle. I’ll go and say it out right away, don’t opt for any of the services that the dealership offers you in terms of car care or paint protection. These services are highly overpriced, and in my opinion, you can do better. If you want to hire someone, you have many businesses who will do the work for less and of higher quality.

If you want to do the work yourself, it’s a much more rewarding experience to perform the work all on your own. You’ll probably spend more time and care since you’ll be working on your own vehicle. It’s not terribly difficult to care for your own car, but there are certain steps you need to take to ensure that you prep and detail your car properly.

Bumpers tend to get the brunt of minor bumps and fender benders to vehicles. As a result, the bumper can get dented, broken, cracked, or scratched. Out of all these types of damage, the easiest to remove is a light scratch. I would also add that sometimes these “scratches” might actually be paint transfer, where paint has rubbed off of another vehicle onto yours. Paint transfer and light scratches are both easily removable with a machine polisher and compound/polish. If the paint from your bumper comes off, then you will need to resort to either a bumper respray or touch-up paint.

When you apply compound or polish on your car, you might take the extra step of taping off the trim to prevent the compound/polish from getting stuck on your trim. To prevent this, taping off the trim can be an option, albeit it can be a time-consuming step. It’s also not totally necessary to tape off the car prior to polishing your car; you just have to know how to remove the polish if it does get on the trim of your car.

If you’ve ever wondered whether or not you can apply a decal on your car when it already has a ceramic coating, the answer is yes but it may not last very long. Of course, you can physically stick a decal right over a ceramic coated car and it will stick on the ceramic coated paint, but because the ceramic coating is intended to be a barrier that repels water and other contaminants with its slick surface, it may be difficult for a decal to adhere properly and stay on for very long. To properly apply a decal on a ceramic coating, you’d need to remove the ceramic coating in the area, apply the decal, and then reapply the coating.

There are a few different ways of approaching the cleaning of your engine bay and this depends on how aggressive you want to get. In most cases, simple wiping down of the surfaces with cleaner and rags may be sufficient. In more severe cases, you’ll need to use stronger chemicals along with agitation with brushes, and then wiping away or rinsing away with water.

One of the worst feelings you can have is driving a car with a sticky steering wheel. Personally, I’ve driven company vehicles for my day job with several that were more than 10 years old and have been changed hands many times. Some of them had some really tacky-feeling steering wheels. Although the steering wheel might be tacky due to the steering wheel material itself, in most cases it is simply due to the steering wheel being dirty.

If you’re thinking about removing decals from your car’s paint, you have to look at a few variables before deciding on if and how you are going to remove the decals. If your car is brand new or fairly new, the decals may come off easily with minimal work. If the decals have been on for quite a long time (say a few years or longer), it will more difficult the longer it has stayed on your car’s paint. Sometimes you just have to weigh the potential risks of removing old decals with the benefit of how your car will look afterwards. The older the vehicle, the more likely the possibility of you causing more damage to the car’s paint from removing the decal.

Car detailing is sometimes really all about the details. These small details when looking at them individually may seem inconsequential, but taking a step back it can make a dramatic difference. Take the typical seat belt buckle with the little red button on it. These little plastic buttons look great when they’re new, but over many years, the plastic oxidizes and eventually the red color fades. Then, you’re left with a faded red seat belt button that is commonly found on older vehicles.