Cleaning the outside of your vehicle 9-50 Vehicle care and maintenance
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Chemicals contained in the dirt and dust picked up from air, rain, snow or road sur-faces can damage the paint and body of your vehicle if left on. Frequent washing and waxing is the best wayto protect your vehicle from this damage. Do not wash the vehicle in direct sunlight. Park the vehicle in the shade and spray it withwater to remove dust. Next, using plenty ofclean water and a car washing mitt or sponge, wash the vehicle from top to bottom. Use a mild car washing soap if necessary.Rinse thoroughly and wipe dry with a cham- ois or soft cloth. After washing the vehicle, carefully clean the joints and flanges of thedoors, hood, etc., where dirt is likely to remain.
Salt and other chemicals spread on winter roads in some geographical areas can have adetrimental effect on the vehicle underbody. You should flush the underbody with a high pressure hose every time you wash the out-side of your vehicle. Take special care to remove mud or other debris which could trap and hold salt andmoisture. After washing your vehicle, wipe off all waterdrops from the rubber parts around thedoors to prevent the doors from freezing.
Wa s h i n g
CAUTION When washing the underside of your vehicle or the wheels, wear a pair of gloves to pro-tect your hands. If your vehicle has rain sensor wipers, place the wiper switch lever in the “OFF” position to deactivate the rain sensor before washingthe vehicle. Otherwise, the wipers will oper- ate in the presence of water spray on the windshield and may get damaged as a result.
Never spray or splash water on the electrical parts in the engine compartment. This may damage them. Be careful also when washing the underbody. Do not spray water into the engine compartment. Avoid automatic car washers that use rotat- ing brushes. These brushes may scratch thepaint surface and make it dull. Scratches are more noticeable on darker col- ored vehicles. Some hot water washing equipment uses high pressure and heat to clean your vehicle.This heated water may damage your vehi- cle’s resin parts. It can flood the interior of the vehicle. Therefore, be sure of the follow-ing:• Keep the washing nozzle at least 20 inches(50 cm) away from the vehicle body.• When washing around the door glass, holdthe nozzle at a distance of more than 20 inches (50 cm) and at right angles to the glass surface.
When using high-pressure water to wash a vehicle equipped with the F.A.S.T.-key sys-tem, keep the water from spraying on the open button on the trunk. This could cause the trunk to open and flood the inside of the trunk. Make sure to do the following when using an automatic car wash, with help from either this manual or the car wash operator, toavoid damaging your vehicle:• Fold the outside mirrors.CAUTION
• Put down (except for vehicles with SIRIUS satellite radio antenna) or remove the antenna.• If your vehicle is equipped with rearspoiler, check with the car wash operator before using the car wash.• If your vehicle has rain sensor wipers, placethe wiper switch lever in the “OFF” posi- tion to deactivate the rain sensor.
During cold weather
CAUTION
Cleaning the outside of your vehicle Vehicle care and maintenance 9-51
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Wax your vehicle once or twice a year, or when water does not bead up on the paint. Use a soft cloth to put a small amount of wax on the painted surfaces. After the wax hasdried, polish with a dry soft cloth. Do not wax your vehicle in direct sunlight. You should wax when the painted surfacesare cool.
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If painted surfaces have been severely dam-aged and lost their original luster and colortone, polish the surface lightly with a fine polishing compound. Avoid limiting your polishing to the damaged surface only; polisha somewhat wider area, moving the polishing cloth in one direction. After polishing, flush the compound from the surface and apply acoat of wax to regain a beautiful luster.
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Small cracks and scratches in the paint coatshould be touched up as soon as possible withtouch-up paint to prevent corrosion. Check body areas facing the road or the tires carefully for damage to the paint caused byflying stones, etc. The paint code number for your vehicle can be found on the vehicle information code plate in the engine compart-ment.
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Use a sponge or chamois to clean these parts.If a vehicle wax sticks to a gray or blackrough surface of the bumper, molding or lights, the surface may appear white in color. In this case, wipe it
off using lukewarm water
and a soft cloth or chamois.
NOTE
When the door is frozen, opening it by force may tear off or crack the rubber gasket installed around the door. Pour warm water to melt the ice. Be sure to thoroughly wipe off the water after opening the door. To pre-vent freezing of the weatherstripping on the doors, hood, etc., treat
with silicone lubri-
cant.
Waxing
CAUTION Waxes containing high abrasive compounds should not be used. These waxes remove rust and stain effectively from the paintwork, butare harmful to the finish
on the paint and the
plate, because they also remove clearcoat. They are also harmful to other glossy sur-faces such as the grill
e, trim, moldings, etc.
Do not use gasoline, kerosene, benzine or paint thinners to remove road tar or other dirt from the vehicle surface. Do not put wax on the areas having black matte coating because it can cause uneven discoloration, patches, blurs, etc. If these get wax on them, wipe the wax off right awaywith a soft cloth and warm water. On vehicles with sunroof, be careful not to apply any wax on the weatherstrip (black rubber) when waxing the area around the sunroof opening.If stained with wax, the weatherstrip cannot maintain a weatherproof seal with the sun- roof.
Polishing
CAUTION
Damaged paint Cleaning plastic parts
CAUTION Do not use a scrubbing brush or other rough scrubber as these may damage the plastic surface. Do not use wax containing compounds (pol- ishing powder) which may damage the plas-tic surface.
