Have you, or someone you know, had a vehicle that’s been in a garage fire? The first thing to know is that simply washing the vehicle is not going to work. This stuff is thick, greasy, grabby, and water resistant. So how do you get the soot off the paint? Lets get to it.

Things you will need:

• Lots of cheap microfiber towels (you will be throwing away)

• Bucket with water and car soap

• Meguiars all purpose cleaner diluted 8:1 (This worked better than a degreaser like super clean.)

• Detail brushes

• Water hose

• Drying towel

• Clay bar

• Detail spray (optional)

    The process is pretty simple and straight forward but there are a few things to know before jumping into this. Not only are you removing the visual dirt you are also trying to remove the odor of the smoke smell. So this means that being thorough is important. 

1. Do this inside or in the shade. It’s important not to let the APC dry on the paint.

2. Soak the microfiber towels in the water with car soap.

3. Spray off the entire vehicle to remove any bigger particles.

4. Spray down a panel with the APC and let sit for about 15 seconds.

5. Squeeze microfiber till barely dripping and fold into fours.

6. Gently wipe the panel down in straight lines.

7. Flip towel over when it is dirty or leaves streaks behind.

8. Once you have gone over panel, rinse it off thoroughly with water.

9. If needed spray the same panel down again and repeat with scrubbing and rinsing.

10. Do the same process over all glass.

11. Pay close attention to body lines, door jambs, body molding, bumpers, grills, cracks and crevices. Some of these areas are where you will use that detail brush.

    After you have completed the above steps for the paint, you can use the same method to clean each wheel, tire, wheel well, separately. 

    Once everything has been thoroughly cleaned, it is now time to use that clay bar. This is important to do in order to get all of the bonded contaminants off of the paint that the APC didn’t get. 

    To use the clay bar, you need some type of lubrication between the paint and clay. Do not just use water. You can use some fresh water with car soap (don’t over do it on the car soap here). The most recommended thing to use is detail spray.

    Either spray the panel with detail spray or squeeze a microfiber with car soap onto the panel. Put the clay bar onto the paint and glide the bar back and fourth until you can feel that the area is nice and smooth. Do NOT push hard onto the paint while doing this. Pushing can cause marring and scratching, and it is just not needed when claying. Knead the clay bar after it looks dirty or after every couple of panels. Then, either wipe down the panel with a drying towel or rinse, depending on what you used for lubrication, and move to the next area until entire vehicle has been done.

    In the effort of being thorough, the final thing to do is to do a final wash and wax. Just use your normal washing method here. Dry off the vehicle, shine tires, and then apply your favorite sealant as protection. Step back and enjoy your vehicle restored back to its original glory!