We can be pretty sure winter is leaving Richmond behind now. Time for a carwash to clean the dirt off your vehicle. And there are good reasons to do so.

This wasn’t the coldest or snowiest winter we’ve ever seen in Richmond, but it still got cold, and it still snowed. We still had snowplows on the road spreading salt behind them. The result, of course, tends to show up on your car.

The car that you’re used to parking in your Richmond driveway has a shiny finish, doesn’t it? But how does it look now? If you haven’t washed it in a while, the recently passed winter has covered that shiny finish with a gray film that almost makes your hands feel dry simply to look at.

Much of that gray haze is the product of road salt kicked up by the tires of yours and other people’s cars as they drive down the highway. But it’s not just salt.

The haze is also made up of road dirt, oils, and various chemicals. One thing you can be sure of is that none of it is good for the finish of your car.

During the summer, the enemies of your car’s shiny finish are UV rays of the sun, sap from trees and droppings from birds. If you want to maintain your vehicle’s new car finish, you want to try parking the car in the garage as much as possible this summer. 

If you do park under trees, or find your vehicle bombarded by our feathered friends, bring it to the carwash. And while there, have the body waxed with a UV protective wax. Both will go a long way to protecting the body of your car from the elements, including those brutal UV rays of the sun. But that’s getting ahead of ourselves a little bit.

First, we want to deal with the detritus of the recently passed winter.

Imagine rubbing your hand on the hazy-gray film on your car without any water. Dry. What do you think that would do to your car’s finish?

All the particles in that film will act as abrasives. They will create minute scratches all over the place, anywhere you rub the film.

A proper carwash, with the application of soap and distilled water will wash away that gray film before it can do any more damage to the finish of your car.

While you’re having the body cleaned, you can also have the undercarriage cleaned. And then there’s the interior.

Hopefully, you used some quality floor liners in the car this passed winter. But, even if you did, walking through snow, slush and mud over the course of the winter, there’s little doubt that you dragged all kinds of stuff into the car. It’s time to clean that all out, isn’t it?

Imagine how it will feel when you drive down the road with your car shining at its brilliant best. A good cleaning for your car is a great way to start this Richmond summer right.