Polished aluminum wheels look great when they are new or regularly maintained. The problem however, is over time, aluminum oxidizes and becomes cloudy and dull looking. The good news is, aluminum is easy to clean and polish and the polishing work can easily be done by hand on a Saturday morning in your own garage. Polished aluminum is a porous metal and as such, it's vitally important that the proper products be used to wash and clean the wheel and to also polish and protect the aluminum without staining the aluminum. This how to article is broken into 4 segments...

First… Why clay your car? Over time the contaminants in the air land on your car and if not removed in a timely manner they bond so tightly to the exterior surfaces that washing will not remover them.  These contaminants create surface texture, which reduces gloss because gloss comes from a smooth surface.  Because normal washing with car wash soap and a wash mitt won’t remove bonded contaminants - the most effective way to remove these contaminants is via a mechanical means called mechanical decontamination. Mechanical decontamination is done to a car after first washing and drying the car and...

Clean engines run cooler and are easier to diagnose when there’s problems Keeping your engine and engine compartment clean is important because it helps to keep the engine and engine compartment cooler as heat is one of the top enemies to your engine and drivetrain.  Keeping the engine and engine compartment clean also helps to identify and locate problems like leaks or broken components simply because it’s easier to see problems when the engine is clean versus covered in a layer of oily grime and sludge. Wet Wash Engine Detail versus Cosmetic Engine Detail There are two different ways to...

What are Ceramic Paint Coatings? Ceramic paint coatings are defined as any paint protection product that contains nano-sized particles of SiO2 or Silicon Dioxide.   True ceramic paint coatings use nano-sized particles of Silicon Dioxide to create a paint protection product that dramatically outlasts and out-protects conventional and traditional car waxes and synthetic paint sealants.  Due to their pure concentrated form and the fact when exposed to air they will solidify, most real or true ceramic coatings come in tiny glass vials. What is SiO2? SiO2 is the abbreviated element name for Silicon Dioxide, and it is one of 118...