The Ultimate Guide to Detailing Modified Cars

At Squid Ink Detailing, we understand modified cars are more than just vehicles - they’re expressions of personal style, engineering passion, and meticulous craftsmanship.

Whether it’s a custom paint job, aftermarket body kit, or high-performance engine upgrade, maintaining that head-turning look requires a bit more than a basic wash and wax. 

With the 2025 show season fast approaching, we've put together a guide to detailing modified cars, ensuring your pride and joy stays in showroom condition.

1. Understanding the Unique Needs of Modified Cars

Modified cars often feature custom finishes, materials, and components that demand specialised care. Unlike factory-standard vehicles, they may have:

• Custom Paint Jobs: Candy paint, wraps, matte finishes, or pearlescent paints can require specific products to avoid damage. Always use PH neutral products if unsure, and never allow products to dry on.

• Aftermarket Body Kits: Fiberglass, carbon fibre, and custom plastics need gentle handling and PH neutral products. Our HD Gloss and HD Pure shampoos are both PH Neutral.

• Performance Parts: Exposed engine bays, turbos, intercoolers, and suspension mods can attract grime in hard-to-reach areas.

• Bare Metal Finishes: Bare or unlacquered metals are extremely sensitive to chemicals, great care should be taken when cleaning them to avoid irreversible damage. Highly polished, unlacquered wheels are especially at risk of chemical burn. Only ever use PH neutral products, and never allow products to dry on them.

2. Pre-Wash Preparation

Before diving in, assess the car’s condition:

• Inspect for Damage: Check for chips, scratches, or loose trim.

• Gather Products: Use pH-neutral products where possible, soft microfibre mitts, and grit guards to prevent inflicting swirl marks. Gather all of your chosen products and tools before starting.

• Start With The Wheels: Starting with your wheels is a good idea as they're typically the dirtiest area of the car. Use a dedicated wheel bucket, Blue Lagoon Wheel Cleaner, and your chosen brushes.
• Pre-Wash Thoroughly: Remove loose dirt with a top quality, PH neutral snow foam to minimize the risk of scratches during the contact wash.
• Foam Cannon: Used to apply your pre-wash snow foam, which will loosen the worst of the dirt without any contact. Your cannon can also be used to apply our snow foam sealant after the main wash. This product effortlessly adds a layer of protection and rich gloss to your vehicle.

3. Detailing Aftermarket Wheels and Brakes

Modified cars often sport custom wheels and upgraded brakes:

• Wheel Cleaner Selection: Use non-acidic, pH-balanced cleaners safe for polished, anodized, or painted rims. Blue Lagoon is ideal for sensitive wheels. Citrus or Alkafroth must be avoided on any bare metals.

• Brush Variety: Soft brushes for delicate finishes; stiff brushes for tyres.

• Brake Dust Management: High-performance brakes generate more dust - clean your wheels regularly to prevent buildup. If neglected, especially after a track day, brake dust can be much harder to remove.

• Fallout Removal: Over time, iron fallout will become embedded in wheels and paint. Fallout contamination feels rough to the touch and often appears rusty in colour. To remove it, you'll need a quality fallout remover such as Ferrous Xtract. It's not necessary to use a fallout remover on every wash, but we suggest using it to decontaminate paint and wheels several times a year to prevent build up.

4. The Main Wash

• Two-Bucket Method: One bucket for your soapy shampoo water, one for rinsing your mitt in clean water. This reduces the likelihood of introducing grit to your car. However, if your pre-wash routine is good enough, the two bucket method is optional.

• Gentle Touch: Use light pressure, especially on vinyl wraps or matte finishes.

• Start High: Starting at the top of the car and working down is a good idea as lower areas will be dirtier. We use a second wash mitt dedicated to the lower areas for this reason.

• Rinsing Off: Thoroughly remove your shampoo with a good rinse.

• Drying the Car: Use a top quality, twisted loop drying towel to dry car. We have a selection of incredible drying towels - small, large, and XL in size.

• Blowing Off: Get your mind out of the gutter!! Use a pet or detailing blower to blast water from hard to reach areas such as trims, badges, and wing mirrors. This will prevent water spots from drips.

5. Protecting and Enhancing the Finish

• Clay Treatment: Clay removes embedded contamination from your paint, leaving a silky smooth surface. Waxes and sealants will always bond better to decontaminated paint. If your paint feels rough after the shampoo stage, it needs decontaminating with clay. Our new clay mitt is ideal for this stage and can be used with our diluted shampoo as a lubricant, no need for an expensive clay lubricant product. 

• Polishing: Corrects minor imperfections, scratches or swirls; use dual-action polishers for even results. It's always advisable to use a paint depth gauge before starting, especially on older cars which may have been painted at some point. Our All-in-One polish contains minor abrasives, fillers, and carnauba wax to improve paint clarity and gloss. It can be applied by hand, or machine polisher.

• Sealant Coating vs. Wax: To protect your car, you will need to add an LSP (Last step product). Sealants such as Fortress offer long-term hydrophobic protection, while our waxes will deliver a super rich, warm, glossy finish. Alternatively, a snow foam sealant is a far quicker option. Simply spray over the cleaned car, leave for a few minutes, rinse off and dry.

• Quick Detailers: Squid Ink Ultimate QD is your best friend at a car show, or to simply boost gloss once finished cleaning. The drive to a show will inevitably dirty the car slightly. Using a soft microfibre, spray our QD over the panel, carefully wipe off, and buff for an exceptionally high gloss finish. Our QD also contains two types of waxes, so it will add protection which will last for several weeks.

6. Engine Bay Detailing

Show cars often have highly detailed engine bays:

• Cover Sensitive Areas: Protect intakes, electronics, and battery terminals with plastic bags.

• Degrease Carefully: Use snow foam, Citrus degreasers and soft brushes.

• Rinse with water: We personally don't use a pressure washer in the engine bay. We prefer using a gentle hose to rinse.
• Dry Thoroughly: Use a pet /detailing blower to dry the engine bay.

7. Interior Detailing for A Fresh Cabin

• Material-Specific Care: Use appropriate cleaners for leather, carbon fiber, and custom fabrics. Squid Ink APC is an excellent stain remover on most upholstery, matts and carpets. Using our All Purpose Cleaner with a soft drill brush, and extracting it with a wet vac is very effective method of stain removal.

• Vacuum with Precision: Use soft brush attachments to avoid scratching delicate trim or leather seats.

• Glass Clarity: Use clean dedicated glass cloths, and ammonia-free glass cleaners such as Crystalline to prevent damage to tinted windows.

8. Final Touches and Maintenance Tips

• Detailing Spray: Perfect for quick touch-ups between washes. Our Ultimate QD is safe to use as a waterless wash if care is taken and the car isn't excessively dirty.

• Regular Maintenance: Frequent light cleaning prevents the need for aggressive detailing. A maintenance wash would involve using a snow foam, a shampoo, drying it, and optionally a quick detailer. You don't need to spend all day on a well kept car.

• Storage Solutions: Keeping your modified car in a garage is preferable, but a luxury for many of us. It's important to drive the car regularly, and keep it cleaned as often as possible.

Conclusion

Detailing a modified car isn’t just about keeping it clean - it’s about preserving the artistry and performance that make it unique. With the right techniques and detailing products, you can maintain that freshly-modded look, turning heads wherever you go, with minimal effort.

Looking for premium car care products suitable for your modified vehicle? Explore our range of extremely highly rated Squid Ink Detailing Products today.

We are fellow enthusiasts, we understand the obsession, leave a lasting impression!