Vinegar is one of the most common household products used for cooking, cleaning, and sometimes disinfecting. It can be easily acquired or made and used massively for household cleaning purposes. Keeping that in mind, can vinegar be used to clean a car? How will it react to the car paint?
Vinegar can easily dissolve mineral deposits, dirt, grease, and grime from the car’s surface, and any kind of stains from the car paint, but it will also remove the wax from the paint. It will also leave etch spots made by the minerals if the water spots remain for more than a week.
Let us take a look if a household product like vinegar can be a cost-efficient way to clean the car and how to use it to get the best result out of it. As it is an acidic substance, proper knowledge is needed to get the best effect. So without wasting any more time, let me give you proper guidance on how it can be used.
Can You Use Vinegar To Clean Your Car?
Vinegar is widely used as a cleaner for very good reasons. So it should be no surprise to anyone if I said vinegar could be used to clean your car. It is one of the cheapest options out there to get a good clean without having to spend money on car wash services.
Before I tried out vinegar myself, I frequently went to the car wash and it would cost me around 18-20$ per wash. And for cement or other specks of dirt that car wash couldn’t remove, it would cost me a couple hundred. But that was until I was informed about this amazing detailer secret to easy cleaning.
The guy I got the recipe from used to work as a detailer for 30 years. He happened to be my co-worker’s father. He told me that it is one of the best hacks to get rid of any stains from the car and is widely used by detailers. All it takes is knowing the trick and vinegar.
For this, all you need is white distilled vinegar, a clean sponge, and a microfiber cloth. First, pour white distilled vinegar into a bucket. Since vinegar is acidic, just any vinegar won’t do the job. It might do more damage than good if not used properly. Where white distilled vinegar has only 5-8% acetic acid. So it is safer to use. I prefer Lucy’s Family Owned – Natural Distilled White Vinegar as it is 5% acidic and diluted for safe use.`
Next, soak the sponge in the solution for some time. After the sponge has been appropriately soaked, apply the sponge to the spots. Don’t rub with the sponge. Instead, let the vinegar set in for about 2-3 minutes. After that, clean the area with water and a microfiber cloth for the best result.
Keep in mind that minerals will leave dimples or etch spot damage on the paint if the water spots, dirt, or cement stains remain on the car for more than a week. Vinegar can only clean the stains but etch spots will remain. You will have to polish the paint if that happens. I suggest Nu-Finish NF-76 Liquid Car Polish for a clean polish.
Also, vinegar will take off the wax from car paint. For that, you have to reapply wax to fix that problem. Meguiar’s G18216 Ultimate Liquid Wax is what I prefer for proper waxing.
What Will Dissolve Car Paint?
A lot of things can easily dissolve the car paint. Some of these might even surprise you. For example, out of curiosity, I once used shaving cream on my car, which resulted in discoloration. And for this silly mistake, I had to get a new paint job. Few such examples are given below:
Bird dropping
There is no way out for any car owner when it comes to bird dropping. It is something we have to face now and then. The dropping has acidic components and, if dried in the sun, can eat away car paint. So as soon as you discover any bird dropping, it is better to clean it away.
Gas
Now and then, while filling up the tank, gas might leak onto the car paint. It is hard to notice as gas evaporates and might leave stains on the paint. So if you notice gas leakage on the car paint, you should use soap water to clean it off immediately before it can do any damage.
Shaving cream
As I said before, shaving cream might damage your car paint. But it can easily be tackled if you can rub it off quickly using soap water.
Vehicle Fluids
Vehicle fluids such as brake fluid, lubricant, or coolant can very quickly dissolve the car paint. It softens the paint and very quickly damages the color. So it must be immediately cleaned off before it can cause further damages.
Acetone
The chemical inside acetone can very easily dissolve the car paint to its base. The best course of action is to quickly clean off the chemical with soap and water before it can do any damages.
Apart from this, everyday substances like egg, shoe polish, dirty rugs, salt, coffee or sodas, etc., can dissolve the car paint if not cleaned immediately.
What To Use Instead Of Vinegar?
Many car cleaning products can be used to better clean and shine while not damaging the car paint’s wax. I prefer Chemical Guys Honeydew Snow Foam Auto Wash. It uses a ph-neutral formula that easily cleans off the car without harming the car paint or wax, giving an excellent wash to the car. It also takes care of the water spots and doesn’t damage the car’s paint.
To use it, simply mix up 1 ounce of honeydew with 5 gallons of water and apply the wash on the car. And then clean with water and rub it off with a microfiber cloth to get the best result. It will give the car a perfect wash and save you from any paint damages.