Make Your Own Car Cleaning Products

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Home > Cars & Automotive > Topics: Car Maintenance

Make Your Own Car Cleaning Products

Submitted by: Kira @ Tip Hero 08/17/2010 10:45 AM

Car maintenance is certainly not cheap. However, if you can at least make your own cleaners, you'll save a good amount of money while keeping your car looking its best (and retaining its value). Inspired by a Tip Hero reader post the other day, I went out in search of some homemade car cleaner recipes. Gather Little by Little, luckily, has a plethora of them. Take a look at a few:

Car Soap

This simple recipe will keep your car clean just as well as the store-bought stuff does:

1 cup liquid dish detergent (Ivory works well)
12 tablespoons laundry detergent
1 large bucket of water

Tire Cleaner

Try this non-abrasive homemade soft scrubber:

1/4 cup borax
Vegetable oil based liquid soap (i.e. Murphy's Oil Soap)
1/2 teaspoon lemon oil
1 teaspoon bleach

Windshield Wiper Frost-Free Fluid

To keep your windshields clean, ice-free and frost-free, mix together 3 parts vinegar and 1 part water. Coat your car windows with this mixture and fill your fluid reservoir with remaining solution.

Be sure to check out Homemade car cleaning products for ways to clean and freshen carpets in your car and more!

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Comments:

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The use of liquid dish detergents in lieu of specially formulated car wash soaps is an area of hot debate. If you search the Web, you'll find most auto enthusiasts recommend against using any dish soap as it will "strip the wax." Whether or not this is realistic claim based on chemistry, or if it is a marketing ploy, remains to be seen.

You'll also find anecdotal reports like that in the following link

<http://www.dccarcare.com/tipowk/tipowk7.html>

that state that using Ivory Liquid Dish Soap is fine for washing cars. In fact, that link makes some good arguments in favor of using Ivory Liquid DIsh Soap. In my research on this topic, I also read a forum post that stated that Car & Driver magazine recommended Ivory Soap at some point back in the 1980s, but I've been unable to corroborate that reference.

P&G, the makers of Ivory, have nothing about this on their Web site; I've submitted a question to them asking if Ivory Liquid Dish Detergent is safe for car washing.

I had a friend who was a chemist who always used Ivory Liquid Dish Soap to wash his vehicles. I've gone the other route, using car wash soaps formulated for washing cars. While I appreciate being frugal, I'm not sure I'd risk my car's paint job for what amounts to small savings by using liquid dish soap vs. car wash soap.

I've not done a price-per-ounce comparison, but I know Walmart sells reasonably-priced car was soaps, e.g. Blue Corral, by the gallon. A gallon of car wash soap should last you a long time.

The one item in this tip I'd recommend against is adding laundry detergent, especially powered laundry detergent, to your car wash formula. If the powder does not dissolve fully, it could scratch your paint.

Posted by Dr. Smoke on August 19, 2010 4:06 PM

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As a follow-up to my earlier post, I received the following e-mail response from P&G re: using Ivory Liquid Dish Soap for washing cars:

"Thanks for contacting Ivory.

"People often tell us about the unusual uses they've found for our products. Unfortunately, we can't encourage this type of product use. Our safety-testing and research help us confidently say that our product will do what we designed it to do, which is clean dishes. This is the only uses we can knowledgeably recommend.

"I would suggest trying Mr. Clean or another product made for washing cars.

"I hope this helps.

"Nicole
"Ivory Team"

I expect one would receive the same response from any manufacturer of liquid dish soap: they test it for dish washing only.

Nice of them to plug their Mr. Clean car wash line of products.

Posted by Dr. Smoke on August 19, 2010 4:54 PM

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I've always heard about the vinegar/water thing for your windshield, but AAA says not to do it. They made it a quick youtube video. I don't remember why they said that though.

Posted by Linda on August 19, 2010 5:35 PM

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You really shoudn't be washing your car in the driveway. The runoff and waste of water is prohibitve environmentally and financially.

Posted by anonymous on August 19, 2010 6:29 PM

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I've also heard dish soap is a bad idea for the same reasons. Dr. Smoke has said it all. I have overseen a lot of student car washes (fundraisers) and I just buy a gallon of car wash liquid at the store and that way I won't have any angry people when the students are finished!

Posted by anonymous on August 19, 2010 7:16 PM

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Unless One needs to pressure wash something from a vehicle (mud, slime, etc.), washing at home is FAR more "eco-friendly"!!! There, you can squeeze the nozzle trigger when water is needed. IT'S OFF THE REST OF THE TIME! Besides, it's way-far more economical. A bucket or two of water, an ounce or two car wash soap, and you get to water some of the lawn to boot. Most folks aren't equipped to understand this, so they prefer to only believe what the left-wing TV tells them. (Sad, but true.)

The readily discernable differences are enough to use Commercial washes formulated for automotive paints: no streaking or hazy finish, easier rinse, & far better shine when dry.
HOWEVER, I do use vinegar for glass, chrome, etc. FAR cheaper & safer, plus it's already in the house for cooking, laundry, carpet stains, windows, coffee pot, counter tops, etc.
Great tip on the tire cleaner. Thanks! Eager to try it.

Posted by Cmdr. Ron on August 20, 2010 1:21 AM

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@Cmdr. Ron: Well, I don't watch left-wing *or* right-wing TV, but I do know that the water used at commercial car washes is recycled. Sure, they use more of it, but it gets used over and over.

Washing your car in the driveway is certainly cheaper, but if you're using a commercial cleaning product, you're essentially pouring that product on your lawn, on all your neighbors' lawns, and into whatever nearby waterway catches all your runoff.

Here's what the EPA has to say on the subject: www.epa .gov/owowwtr1/NPS/toolbox/other/KSMO_CarWashing.pdf. I hope you don't consider that left-wing propaganda.

Posted by haverwench on August 24, 2010 10:02 AM

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Here's a far more economical way to clean your car while still being easy on the paint, use Rinseless carwash, it's both economical and there is no runoff so it won't hurt the environment since you don't rinse it off, you also use less of it in your bucket, about an ounce does it all, they seem to clean better as the soap encapsulates the dirt and wipes away with a clean towel or better yet microfiber towel, awesome shine, you won't return to the other carwashes when you try this method and they come in larger sizes which last you much longer than regular carwash soaps, I had my bottle of rinseless carwash for a year and it is only down about a quarter of the bottle and I wash my car about every other week and oh they have wax in those rinseless car washes, people come by my car after washing in awe of the beauty of the car wash results, in my opinion you could not get a better wash at a carwash and it's so quick and easy.

Posted by angel4022 on February 07, 2011 2:03 AM

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Stop making a big deal out of washing cars, if you want to use dish soap do it.
My car is 13 years old and I wash it most often with Dawn dish soap & the finish still looks great after all these years !!

Posted by VonMarsh on May 23, 2013 12:49 PM

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Note: The EPA source I cited on car washing has moved. You can now find it here: http://www2.epa.gov/nutrientpollution/act-and-around-your-home. Note that waterless products, as recommended by angle4022, are one of the solutions it lists.

Posted by haverwench on May 23, 2013 2:38 PM

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