A clean car makes a happy car owner! For some, it is a guilty pleasure while for others it is a necessary evil. It doesn’t matter which side of the divide you belong to; cleaning your car is an essential skill that maintains your car’s health. It allows the vehicle to remain visually appealing and makes for a pleasant driving experience.
Car cleaning also helps you to save a nice sum of money by avoiding a professional detailer. It can also be a great pastime for any DIY enthusiast. Below, we provide you with crucial tips and tricks on how to clean your car interior like a pro!
Before starting to clean your car’s interior, you must have the relevant cleaning solutions and equipment. Be sure to find the following tools of the trade:
- Empty garbage bags
- Vacuum cleaner
- Cleaning brush with stiff bristles
- Detailing brushes
- All-purpose cleaner
- Car carpet shampoo
- Microfiber towels
- Ammonia free glass cleaner
- Safety gloves
Once you have all the above in place, follow the steps below to clean the interior of your car:
Step 1: Empty your Car
The first thing you want to do is to ensure your vehicle is clear of any debris and personal items that may hamper your cleanup. In the first garbage bag, you want to place items such as checkbooks, change, insurance documents, and any other item of value you can find inside the car. This will guarantee that you don’t misplace any important stuff during the cleaning process.
Take the other garbage bag and stuff it with any trash inside the car you have no use for. Anything like empty plastic bottles, coffee cups, used tissue, large pieces of food, and other debris that shouldn’t be inside your car. Make sure you get everything and anything that your vacuum may not be able to suck in.
Step 2: Clean the Hard Surfaces
Hard surfaces include the dashboard, center console, door panels, etc. Take the microfiber towel and spray it with the all-purpose cleaner to clean your dashboard. You want to do this by gently rubbing across the surface, making sure to pick up as much grime and dirt as possible.
Do this until the microfiber towel is no longer picking more dirt. After that, take another fresh towel and buff the surfaces you’ve cleaned to a desirable finish and be sure to get rid of any leftover interior cleaner.
Repeat this process on the door panels and center console using a detailing brush to access all the nooks and crevices around your car. Remember to spray the cleaning solution on the towel and not directly on the surfaces as it can leave behind streaks or even damage sensitive electronics.
Step 3: Clean the Leather and Vinyl
Leather and vinyl are durable fabrics but using the wrong cleaning agents can easily damage them, especially when left on the surface for too long. As such, you always want to use a dedicated leather and vinyl cleaner.
Spray the leather cleaning solution on the detailing brush and scrub the surfaces gently to remove any dried grime and dirt. Once you are done, take a clean microfiber cloth and wipe off any cleaning solution that is left behind.
Step 4: Brush the Crevices and Vents
Some areas can be hard to reach inside your and this will normally include the air vents, crevices, and corners between joints. You need a quality detailing brush to get to these places. Use it to brush any loose dust, dirt, and grime from the air vents.
When you feel like all the dirt is gone, spray a tiny amount of the cleaning solution and repeat the brushing to remove the remaining grime. From here, wipe down the cleaned surfaces to remove the leftover cleaner.
Step 5: Vacuum the Car Seats and Carpet
You need to vacuum your car’s interior to remove any dust or dirt that might have fallen onto your car seats and carpet when you were cleaning the upper surfaces. With your car seats reclined, run your vacuum cleaner across the surface and use the relevant attachments to get between the edges for proper cleanup.
After vacuuming all the seats, you want to push them back and move onto the carpet. Make sure you get to all the car carpet by moving the seats back and forth.
Step 6: Eliminate Odors
You want to get rid of any unwanted odors to complete the cleaning process. For any lingering odors, you can use an enzyme-based odor eliminator. These are usually in aerosol format, and you can leave them inside the vehicle overnight to get rid of unwanted odors.