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The best car cleaning kits to get an immaculately clean car

• The best car cleaning kits on the market right now
• What you get in each kit and how you use it
• Tips for cleaning your car's interior and exterior

Written by Aaron Hussain Updated: 12 September 2024

When it’s time to clean your car, the humble bottle of washing-up liquid won’t cut it anymore. Not only do the powerful degreasers present in washing-up liquid cause damage to paintwork and rubber seals, but it also isn’t versatile enough to properly clean your car. What you need is to get your hands on the best car cleaning kit for your price range.

Car cleaning kits include everything you would usually need when cleaning a car in one huge gift bag. They’re ideal presents if you’re looking to treat an automotive enthusiast on a special occasion.

These kits vary from the basics to premium offerings teeming with enough bottles to stock a supermarket shelf, and that’s before we even consider the range of waxes and alloy wheel cleaners. Don’t forget, either, that these kits often offer better value for money when it comes time to clean your car.

We’re breaking down our favourite car cleaning kits for a whole range of budgets. From car shampoos to microfibre towels, these kits can have them all. The next time you clean your car, you’ll have the right products and get better results.

The best car cleaning kits at a glance:

  • Editor’s pick: ShinyCar UK: Premium 8Pcs Car Wash Tool Cleaning Kit – Buy on Amazon
  • The best car cleaning kit: Autoglym Luxury Bodywork And Wheels Collection – Buy on Amazon
  • The best car cleaning kit for all areas: Autoglym Supreme Car Care Collection – Buy on Amazon
  • The best simple car cleaning kit: Autoglym Polar Collection – Buy on Amazon

The best car cleaning kits:

The best cleaning products in the world wouldn't get very far without a quality selection of brushes, wash mitts and other accessories to actually clean your car. If you're lacking these essential tools, we recommend grabbing this excellent bag of supplies from ShinyCar UK.

It's by no means the most exhaustive selection of car care accessories, but makes for a very solid foundation, covering all basics. With brushes, mitts and microfibre towels all neatly stored in a bag, you'll get better car cleaning in no time.

Pros

  • A solid selection of basic accessories
  • Good quality products

Cons

  • No actual cleaning products
N.O products included 8
Dimensions 127cm x 127cm x 0.1cm
Package weight 780g
The best car cleaning kit
The safest hands in the business, Autoglym is a stalwart of car care and has a reputation for exceptional quality. Packed with some of the brand's best sellers, this luxury kit should transform your car's exterior.

The bulk of the cleaning products are for bodywork. You get a good car shampoo, ceramic spray and glass cleaner to clean and protect the body. The wheels are cleaned with a wheel cleaner and finished with a tyre dressing. The kit also includes a single microfibre for buffing.

Pros

  • Dependable selection of cleaning products
  • Genuinely useful accessories

Cons

  • Nothing for the interior
N.O items included Six
Dimensions ‎32.3cm x 19.2cm x 28.7cm
Package weight 3.09kg
The best car cleaning kit for all areas
Covering all bases, this Autoglym kit may cost more than other options, but with its 12 included pieces it represents the ultimate toolbox for a proper car wash. You get shampoo, polish and ceramic spray wax, perfect for adding some extra shine to paintwork. Beyond the bodywork, there are products for cleaning and protecting the wheels, interior shampoo, and even dressing. It also includes three useful accessories for car care, one microfibre wash mitt and two microfibre towels that will prove very handy when it comes time to clean your car.

Pros

  • A full selection of quality cleaning products
  • Covers all bases

Cons

  • You'll need more microfibres
The best simple car cleaning kit
A personal favourite of ours, Autoglym's Polar Series is an excellent way of cleaning and protecting a car's exterior with minimal fuss, requiring nothing more than a good pressure washer and foam gun to apply the three products. The Polar Blast is a nice snow foam that covers the vehicle in preparation for a proper cleaning stage.

Polar Wash is a shampoo applied in the same way to shift any remaining dirt and make sure the car is as clean as possible. The final and most impressive part is a spray-on sealant that you cover your car with before rinsing off to leave a hydrophobic coating for a quick and easy high-gloss finish.

Pros

  • Fuss-free car care
  • Very satisfying to use

Cons

  • You'll need a pressure washer
N.O items included 3
Total capacity 1500 ml
Dimensions 24.6cm x 13.1cm x 9.8cm
Package weight 1.73kg
The best ceramic car cleaning kit
Ceramic car care is incredibly popular right now. The ceramic helps form a durable protective coating to make caring for your car even easier. Turtle Wax is one of the biggest names in ceramic care at the moment, and this kit contains three excellent products at a very reasonable price.

The shampoo and spray wax will leave a lovely hydrophobic layer of protection, while the wheel cleaner works to thoroughly decontaminate mucky alloys.

Pros

  • Ceramic protects as you clean
  • Excellent quality

Cons

  • Not the most stocked option
N.O items included 3
Total capacity 2.4 L
The best budget car cleaning kit
Price: $39.99
There's no need to spend a fortune on car cleaning kits, you can get a full selection of products for less than £30, and it's decent stuff too. The CarPlan kit contains five bottles of cleaner, covering everything from interior cleaner to snow foam to cover almost every inch of your car.

You'll use more product than with other examples owing to the fact each item is used neat, but for the price, there's not much to grumble about. It even includes an air freshener and sponge for your money. The sponge won't be much cop on paintwork, but will be handy for cleaning your kitchen.

Pros

  • Great value for money
  • Interior and exterior coverage

Cons

  • Ditch the sponge
The best premium car detailing kit
Price: $69.99
This case of premium car cleaning products would make the perfect gift to any car owner. Largely similar to the Autoglym Supreme set, this option from Car Gods is a little fancier but does lose the handy cleaning accessories.

While it may have also lost the polish, this kit does include a liquid wax and fallout remover, two exceptional additions that really make this kit a premium choice.

Pros

  • Packed with cleaning products
  • Easy to use

Cons

  • No polish included
N.O items included 9
Total capacity 4,500 ml
Dimensions ‎33.5cm x 15cm x 24cm
Package Weight 4.42kg
The best car cleaning kit for polishing
Not designed for cleaning your car per se, this kit from Auto Finesse will provide you with a selection of products for polishing a car's paintwork to a mirror-like shine. It's quite an advanced polishing kit with three different polishes for the different stages of paint correction, alongside three different polishing pads for different strengths of abrasion.

The masking tape, pad brush and pad cleaner are also fairly advanced products but really handy to have, so long as you have a machine polisher.

Pros

  • Almost all the polishing equipment you'll need
  • Exceptional results

Cons

  • You'll need a machine polisher
N.O items included 8
Dimensions 28.8cm x 22cm x 16.8cm
Weight 2.66 kg

What should I consider when buying a car cleaning kit?

To put it simply, different kits tend to cater for different purposes. These range from exterior washing, which may include wash spot removers, wax or alloy wheel cleaner, to interior detailing.

You’ll encounter plenty of different accessories because of this, from wash mitts to buckets. So, it’s best to decide which part of your car you want cleaned and choose accordingly. Pressure washers are a fancy gadget to most, but can enhance the car cleaning experience.

Then there’s the topic of protection for your paint. Most car cleaning kits consist of at least one bucket. But you should use two – one filled with car shampoo, the other for rinsing the wash mitt. This is to prevent dirt and grime from being reintroduced to our paintwork during washing.

Aaron Hussain is a commercial content writer at Bauer Media writing for Parkers and CAR. He is obsessed with classic cars and anything with a fascinating story to tell.

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