How to Clean the Car Undercarriage? Step-Wise Guide
The car undercarriage is like the middle child of a family, takes the hardest hits, and gets ignored every time. We are also guilty of taking so long to talk about the cleanliness and maintenance of the undercarriage. We have covered the detailing of your car’s body, tyres, interior, and everything in between. Today, it’s all about what’s underneath the vehicle and how to maintain it.
But, first, let’s do some damage control and talk about the importance of the undercarriage. As we drive our cars on uneven, muddy, dirty, rainy, and all kinds of roads, the dirt, mud, and grease stick to the bottom. With time, the undercarriage starts to rust and deteriorate.
Cleaning and maintaining the undercarriage helps soften the car’s suspension and smoothen its drive. Leaving the bottom of your car unattended weakens the parts and drains the car’s life.
Alright, that’s enough pep-talk; let’s dive into the real work of how to clean and detail the car undercarriage.
Step 1 – Degrease
All the electric parts of the undercarriage, such as the steering rack (known as kangi) and other engine parts on the front, have extra oil and grease. Spray a degreaser on these parts prior to the wash to remove the excess oil. We recommend the WD-40 Specialist Degreaser for deep foaming and penetrating action.
Step 2 – Wash
Once the degreaser has done all the action, time to spray the undercarriage with a cleaner or a car shampoo and wash it with a pressure washer. We recommend using the Tonyin Car Care Sweeper to get the dirt, oil, and grease off the machinery.
Step 3 – Remove tar
If there’s still grease and oil left and you want to take the degreasing up a notch, use the Tonyin Tar Remover to get rid of the stubborn tar, marks, and contaminants. It will take all the stickiness and ensure a clean and flawless finish.
Step 4 – Blowdry
If you really want to protect the undercarriage from rust, get everything totally dry. Get the excess water off the underbody areas such as suspension bushes, ABS sensors, steering rack, etc., with heated air.
Step 5 – Lubricate
And that takes us to the final step of undercarriage cleaning, which is the lubrication of bushes and rubber. Our favourite is the WD40 Silicone Lubricant that softens and protects all the rubber parts of the undercarriage.
