In some ways, keeping your car clean is harder than maintaining a clean home. The guide below includes five magic car maintenance tricks for keeping your car clean, all sourced from pro detailers. For the ultimate in clean air quality in your car, add a Drift luxury car freshener to infuse your space with signature fragrances. 

Tap Into Years of Pro Detailing Knowledge to Your Benefit

Pro detailers are the experienced hands tirelessly working on the front lines to combat crumbs, swirls, stains, and scratches. These men and women know what it means to learn detailing methods the hard way. They’ve gone through countless trial-and-error scenarios, so you don’t have to. 

You can rest assured that most pro detailers have seen the worst of the worst—but have also tidied them up to near-perfection by tapping into their vast knowledge of techniques. In short, they know what works and what ultimately leads to wasted time and energy with little to show for it. Fast-track your learning to still achieve a clean vehicle at the end of it all with the five secret tips below.

5 Secret Tips from Pro Detailers for Proper Car Maintenance

The beauty of car maintenance is that you don’t have to be a pro detailer to know how to care for your car. Instead of struggling to keep your car clean, you can use the following secret tips from pro detailers to simplify the process while still reaping the same rewards. How will you implement these little-known strategies in your car maintenance routine? 

1. It’s Easy to Overlook the Hidden Gunk Living on Seatbelts

If you’ve watched social media videos of professional detailers, you’ve probably seen them pull the seatbelts all the way out and hose them down with a pressure washer. That’s because all the spills, dirt, and debris that seatbelts come into contact with follow them into the tracks where they live when not in use. If you’re not comfortable pulling the seatbelts out to clean them at your local car wash, you can also use a carpet steamer to remove years of sweat, sticky fingers, and other grime from those tightly woven fibers. 

2. Don’t Forget the Neck of the Steering Wheel

If the seatbelt gets first dibs on dirty hands, the steering wheel is a close second. Cleaning the circumference of the steering wheel can help keep your hands free from grime as you drive. However, there is one area of the steering wheel that many people miss. 

If you guessed the spot where the rotating part of the steering wheel meets the tilting and telescoping column, you’re correct. Slide a microfiber between these two sections and swipe it back and forth like you would a piece of floss between your teeth. Cleaning this area helps remove any bacteria you may have picked up while running errands, fueling up, and picking up groceries. 

3. Take a Top-Down Approach

Use gravity to your advantage by working from the top down—whether you’re washing your car, scrubbing the interior, correcting the paint, or detailing the engine bay. Anything you spray will drip down, and any contaminants you loosen or remove will also fall. Don’t make extra work for yourself by redoing the same job. 

4. Invest in Time-Saving Tools

Any professional detailer knows that it’s the tools they use that make them faster and more efficient, whether it’s a specific brush or a particular cleaning product. The tools of the trade depend on the types of grime you’ll encounter, where you’re detailing (inside a building or out in the elements), and what services you offer. If you’re struggling with a particular problem, you can be sure a detailer out there relies on some sort of tool to make the job easier. 

By the same token, if something works well for you, be sure to stock up on it if you can. For example, you can purchase one or two bags of microfibers if they don’t scratch your paint, or several paint correction pads that last longer and help your investment go further. If you do try out new tools, be sure to test them cautiously to avoid damaging your vehicle. 

5. Never Underestimate the Power of a Routine Clean

You’ve probably seen videos of cars that are absolutely trashed and downright filthy. The best way to prevent your vehicle from looking like that is to implement daily habits that align with your goal. Children and pets in the car can make achieving a cleaner car harder, but the routines you put in place now can help maintain your vehicle’s longevity and support healthier habits in your family as well. 

Bonus: Your Car Only Looks as Good as it Smells

Now that you know these secret auto detailing tips from seasoned professional detailers, it’s time to make the most of your spotless vehicle. Add a Drift car freshener to your car’s interior to enhance its style and improve the ambiance within. Choose from one of the following expertly curated scents: 

• Amber: Eucalyptus, golden amber, vanilla, French lavender

• Cabana: Bergamot, coconut, cedarwood, sea salt

• Grove: Juicy citrus, vanilla sugar, mountain greens, blond wood

• Open Air: Fresh air, crisp linen, morning dew, white wood 

• Pine: Mountain pine, moss, cedarwood, musk

• Teak: Cedar atlas, amber, teakwood, oakmoss

When it comes to selecting the best fragrance for your car, Drift offers a trio of natural car fresheners designed with you and the environment in mind. The Wood, Stone, and Metal car fresheners are crafted from sustainably sourced alder wood, organic stone, and alloy metal, respectively. Infused with fragrance and essential oils, these luxury car fresheners are vegan, cruelty-free, and safe for use around children and pets. 

Keep the Magic Going, One Detail at a Time

Curious to hear another secret? Drift car fresheners are among the most luxurious on the market, thanks to their stylish and modern designs and the sumptuous scents they offer. Join Drift’s Scent of the Month Club for even more exclusive fragrances sent straight to your door every month.