
Most people spend a significant amount of time and money to clean their vehicles. If you have a car and, especially have any kids, you know how dirty your car can get.
If you want to save money, you can clean your vehicle yourself. It just can take a time that ranges from less than an hour to four or more hours. The end result will be well-done job satisfaction and a clean vehicle. Follow along as we show how to detail a car interior step by step. For detailing the car, it should go through the usual vacuum and wash job. Detailing makes the car look show-worthy and nice.
From the beginning with the interior detailing, you don’t have to worry about messing up your car exterior.
Tools That You Need
Here are the recommended best car interior cleaning products that you can pick for your next purchase-
- Vacuum cleaner (Our Pick: VARSK 4 In 1 Portable Vacuum)
- Soft-bristle brush (Our Pick: Multi-functional Car Duster Cleaning Dirt Dust Clean Brush)
- Glass cleaner (Our Pick: Invisible Glass Premium Glass Cleaning Kit)
- Microfiber Cloth (Our Pick: AmazonBasics Microfiber car Cleaning Cloth)
How To Detail A Car Interior: Tips From The Pros
Step 1: Remove Your Car Floor Mats
First of all, you have to remove the floor mats and give them a good shake. Whether they are rubber or carpet floor mats just carefully lift out your mats. Once getting outside these mats from your vehicle, dump off the loose dirt and gravel. Then beat them lightly with a broomstick or against a wall.
Step 2: Vacuum
After removing the mats then take a vacuum cleaner and vacuum the interior. You can vacuum under the seats, around the pedals, and the area between the center console and the front seats, dashboard, doors. But take extra care with knobs, vents, and leather seats.
Vacuum The Floors
By using an upholstery attachment without bristles on the vacuum hose, turn the vacuum cleaner on.
- Firstly, for picking up loose dirt and gravel, run the vacuum over all the carpeted surfaces.
- You should pay special attention to the area around the pedals on the front driver’s side.
- Reach the vacuum end as far under the seats as possible.
Vacuum The Seats
- Then vacuum the whole seat surface so that it will suck some dust out of fabric seat covers and cushions.
- When vacuuming under seats you must use caution.
Vacuum The Edges
When all the carpets have been vacuumed, you should put the crevice tool on the vacuum hose and vacuum all the edges.
Be careful into all the tight areas that the upholstery nozzle can’t reach including carpeted areas and seat surfaces and cracks.
Do not forget to vacuum the car seat seams, knobs, door handles, and armrests. Even the dashboard as well. Using a clean and dry paint brush you can clean the vents.
Step 3: Cleaning
Make sure that you carefully clean the hard surfaces of the car including the dash, glove compartment, doors, seatbelts, sideboards, and storage spots as well.
For cleaning, you can make use of an old and soft-bristle brush (Multi-functional Car Duster is recommended).
Clean The Carpet
By applying a foam cleanser and rubbing it in with a damp cloth or sponge, you can easily clean carpet or upholstery stains. It just takes a few minutes before blotting dry with a towel.
- Then repair carpet holes, burns, or small permanent stains by cutting the spot out with a razor blade or scissors. This step is not so mandatory.
- Wash rubber floor mats and dry to apply a non-slip dressing.
- By using compressed air and detailing brushes, you may get out dust from the buttons and crevices on the dash and interior doors.
- Finally, detail the car’s air vent grilles with detailing brushes.
Clean The Seats
For good detail, it is essential to clean the seats. But different seats require different cleaning methods. After cleaning, you may have to vacuum out the seats again, for loosened the dirt.
- Interiors cloth with nylon or other can be shampooed with a wet-vac extraction machine and should be adequately dried.
- Leather Interiors or vinyl can be cleaned with a leather or vinyl cleaner and then hit softly with a leather brush.
Clean The Leather Cars Seats
When it comes odor on your car seats it needs to clean them. With a little effort, you can clean your leather car seats on your own way without spending money on expensive leather cleaners. After cleaning, the leather seat is moisturized to extend its life and shine.
Here some methods are given to clean the leather seats on your cars.
Use Leather Repair Kit For Cleaning the Leather Seats
Nail Polish Remover For Spot Cleaning
Use A DIY Cleaner
- Combine the ingredients in a spray bottle
- Use the DIY cleaner and a towel to clean the seats
- Wipe off any excess cleaner with paper towels
Use Vinegar
- Dilute vinegar with water
- Clean the seats with the vinegar solution and a towel
Use Dish Soap
- Make a dish soap solution
- Clean the seats with the soap solution and a microfiber glove
- Wipe off any excess moisture with paper towels
Use Toothpaste
- Brush the car seats with toothpaste
- Wipe off the toothpaste with the damp paper towel
- Wipe the seats dry with paper towels
Use Lemon Juice And Cream Of Tartar
- Make a paste of cream and lemon juice
- Scrub the seats with this paste
- Damp paper towels then wipe off the paste
Use Rubbing Alcohol For Spot Cleaning
- Dilute rubbing alcohol with water
- Clean the seats with the diluted rubbing alcohol
Clean The Car Windows And Glasses
Glass cleaner spray should use for cleaning the windows and mirrors. For build-up stronger removal, use 4-ought steel wool on windows. If the gauge cover is made of plastic, it’s good to use plastic cleaner.
- When you’re washing and wiping, you should use the stick with microfiber If it’s not possible to manage microfiber, use a clean, lint-free cloth.
Clean The Interior Roof of the Car
Your car interior’s ceiling has a finished appearance and it may be covered in fabric, vinyl, leather, or other types of upholstery. This ceiling’s covering material is known as a headliner, made up of more than just fabric, otherwise, it would drop down from its mounting points on the ceiling.
Remove minor soiling with the microfiber cloth and upholstery-safe cleaner. You must gently wipe the dirty spot with the microfiber cloth. Then you should apply fabric cleaner to the spot on the headliner with a cloth. spray the whole headliner with upholstery cleaner.
An aerosol upholstery cleaner has a foaming action. It just helps to break up trapped dirt just below the surface. Let the cleaner sit on the upholstery and then use a small soft-bristled brush to lightly agitate the surface of the headliner.
Finally, let it be dried completely. It could take an hour or two for it to dry.
Step 4: Protect
The best way to avoid stains on fabric upholstery is to treat it with a fabric guard. You can buy a spray and can be professionally applied. Before happened anything wrong with it, it is the best time to apply for fabric and carpet protection. Vinyl and leather together are the best-protected application.
Step 5: Act Quickly
When something is riding on your fabric upholstery, no need to be panic. It can be removed as much as possible by blotting with paper towels or something like that. After a day or two, most spills will have set. It would be very difficult to remove after more days. A neutral detergent with a pH of 7 likely to bleach the fabric or remove fabric protection.
If it has not done a good job, you can try mild ammonia and water (1:5), distilled white vinegar and water (1:1), or dry-cleaning fluid. If it is not possible to clean exactly, the only solution may be to have a section of the carpet or upholstery fabric replaced.
Color-matching the area with a leather or vinyl repair system can fix some leather and vinyl stains. But our suggestion is to call in a professional for this task.
Step 6: Removing Odors
Sometimes, cars have a truly terrible odor. Food, urine, vomit, tobacco, grass, mold, or mildew created this bad odor. Cleaners using surfactants, enzymes, and denatured alcohol are your best bet to get rid of unwanted smells. The enzymes stop the organic material from decomposing.
As it permeates everything, including the seat fabric and cushions and even the foam rubber inside the dashboard, tobacco smoke is a real challenge because. In this case, you should be shampooed the carpets and upholstery and clean all the surfaces you can reach, including the headlining.
Then the carpet should be dried for 24 hours. Sprinkle a little baking soda onto the carpet and rub it in with your hands. After a week and then vacuum your carpets.
The item may be required to remove car odor-
Interior Car Detailing Tips and Tricks Video
Frequently Asked Questions
#How much does it cost to detail a car interior?
Car detailing consists of some tasks including wash, vacuum, wax, windshield clean, and so on. So, the detailing cost may vary depending on the services. Generally, you can expect 50 to 150 dollars for detailing an average to large size vehicle.
#What can I use to detail the inside of my car?
There are a lot of products and tools available in the market for detailing a car. You don’t need many tools to detail a car at a home. If you follow my procedure, you only need a Vacuum cleaner, Soft-bristle brush, Glass cleaner, Microfiber Cloth.
Final Words
To conclude, it can be said that, detailing an interior car personally is a good decision. Because it saves your significant money and your valuable time. You just follow that best way to clean the car interior like a pro and enjoy your great journey.
Image Sources: WikiHow
Alice Carroll says
I like that you mentioned that interior detailing can also help remove unwanted odors inside a car. One of my friends who tends to ride with me smokes a lot so my car smells like cigarettes most of the time. I should address that soon when I find time to get some detailing services soon.
Tammie Houston says
I had no idea that it would take so many different kinds of chemicals to clean a car effectively to get rid of all the stains and dirt that may have accumulated in it. My car has quite a few stains in the interior due to my kids spilling food inside it quite a lot so I thought it’d be a good idea to get it cleaned. I tend to get light-headed whenever handling chemicals myself, so I think my best option will be to get it looked at by a professional interior auto cleaning service.