Keep car cleaning a priority

By Bryce Kelly, Mt. Pleasant News

When it comes to getting your vehicle spick and span, few know better than Ralph Eland, detail expert at Jim Cordes Motor Co., in New London.

As spring has sprung, now is as good a time as any to do a deep cleaning of your regularly used vehicles, says Eland. Now while running a vehicle through a car wash every so often is a good thing, Eland says a truly clean vehicle starts on the inside. Making sure excess salt and sand from the winter months is gone from a vehicle is vital to prevent rusting and paint erosion, and to keep your vehicle looking its best.

?It?s not enough to just wash your car. Right now would be a good time to apply a layer of wax to your vehicle to add that extra protection against rust,? says Eland. ?But a lot of the cleaning to a vehicle needs to be kept up inside. That?s where people tend to forget about the most.?

The top reasons for keeping a vehicle?s interior and exterior in tip top shape is to maintain a high resale value, and Eland insists now is an optimal time to check that off the to-do list. In fact, Eland recommends that a professional detailer clean a vehicle at least once a year to give a little TLC to the areas of a vehicle that most people might miss.

?There is a lot of salt and sand sitting in your car?s carpets right now from the winter.

Now, that won?t necessarily stain your carpets, but the longer you let that sit in, the harder it is to get out,? he said. ?Getting up under your fenders and into the undercarriage of your vehicle is also really important, and those are areas that a lot of people tend to forget or just can?t get to for a lot of different reasons.?

For the southeast Iowa area specifically, Eland says road dust is a major hurdle to jump through when it comes to getting a vehicle tidy. For people who regularly travel on or live near gravel roads, Eland says the amount of cleaning that a vehicle needs year-round greatly increases as opposed to cars that run primarily on city streets.

He also adds that depending on the type of vehicle, the amount it?s driven and whether or not that vehicle regularly transports kids can make a major difference on its needs for a professional cleaning.

?Some of the hardest jobs I do are on mini vans for people who live in the country and have young kids,? he says. ?Dust will find any place it can to settle. Kids are kids, so they spill things, they track in mud and all other kinds of things, which can build up pretty fast. If you add pets to that, it doesn?t take long before a vehicle really needs to be detailed.?

For mini vans and other vehicles with sliding doors specifically, dust and salt build-up can make the door?s ability to close and seal properly an issue. If not taken care of, that build-up can lead to permanent damage to the door itself. In addition, Eland says excess dust and animal hair in a tight space like a vehicle can irritate allergies for passengers.

To remedy these issues, Eland suggests sweeping the floors and seats as well as dusting the vehicle?s flat surfaces at least every two weeks for on-the-go families with children and pets. As far as knowing the best cleaning supplies to use for a specific task, Eland says consulting a professional detailer would be a good place to start.

For car owners who don?t use their vehicles as much, sweeping the carpets and dusting the interior at least once a month is suggested.

?Most people spend a lot of time in their cars, so keeping them looking and running right is important,? Eland says. ?When it comes to cleaning, I always say it?s better to stay on top of it than let it go too long. You can really prevent a lot of problems and cut a lot of spending in the long run if you keep cleaning your car a priority.?