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Pro Tips for Cleaning the Inside of a Car
One of the notable things about buying a new car is the unmistakable fresh, clean aroma of plush upholstery and the newness of shiny plastic and leather surfaces.
Even though the cleanliness wears off after a while, knowing how to clean the interior of a car like a pro will help to restore shabby trim and fittings inside the cabin.
How Often Should You Clean the Interior?
It's difficult to replicate that 'new-car odour' after buying a used car - no matter how many times you clean it.
Even so, you can improve the air quality inside by cleaning the car's interior on a regular basis. The best interior car care should include:
- Cleaning the interior floor mats, carpet, and seats.
- Removing clutter and any unwanted trash.
- Washing the front and rear windscreen and side windows.
Important: Even though professional detailing can be expensive, the general repairs and maintenance service that it includes often extends the life of a vehicle.
Even though safety is key, the frequency for cleaning the interior of a vehicle will depend on how it's used. As a result, other determining factors might include things like:
- How frequently you will be driving it (such as when driving a vehicle at work for a living).
- Whether you are carrying passengers or not - especially young children.
- Seasonal driving conditions (e.g. driving a 4x4 off road in mud, through snow, in driving rain).
In general, you should be cleaning the inside of the windows at least once per month. Of course, they should be cleaned more often if a build up of grime is impeding your view.
Another safety issue will be removing trash and other discarded debris from the floorboard and dashboard in the driver's area. Clutter should never be interfering with the controls - especially the foot pedals.
The bottom line is this:
Dirt and grime contains grit and harmful chemicals. Left uncleaned, they can eat away at the plastic and leather surfaces. Nonetheless, carrying out a deep cleaning of your car's interior every six months should be fine.
There is no need to buy expensive cleaning fluids and professional machines to achieve good car care. Most likely, you will already have adequate cleaning supplies and a few basic tools in the home.
How to Clean Interior Trim?
In most cases, keeping the interior of a car in good shape is a straightforward process. Even so, the following tips and advice should ensure your vehicle lasts longer and retains its value (e.g. if you decide to advertise your used vehicle for sale).
The experts will always clean the car interior before they focus on cleaning the outside. Thus, you should remove the floor mats, vacuum the seats, and then finish off this part by vacuuming the carpets.
Next, go ahead and dust the dashboard and accessories. You can also wipe over the rear window shelf, along with any other surfaces.
Pro Tips: A/C vents, and other tiny apertures (like knobs and buttons), can be a bit tricky to clean. You should find it easier to use a toothbrush or small cleaning swabs instead. Likewise, you should avoid wiping the plastic lenses on instrument panel gauges with dry rags. They may contain small particles of grit that could scratch the surfaces.
Best Way to Clean Upholstery
In general, the same products used to clean home chairs and rugs will be fine for sprucing up car upholstery and carpets.
But, cleaning car upholstery with large quantities of water is likely to wet the padding inside the fabric. Doing so may also create rust on any metal buttons exposed on padding and cushioning.
Using soaked sponges can make it more difficult to control the amount of water. Instead, it's best to dampen clean rags for scrubbing.
What if things get a bit too wet inside the vehicle? If so, using a portable hair dryer will help to dry delicate seams and padding.
Other ways you can stop car upholstery fading is parking the vehicle in different directions whenever possible. You want to have the sun hit different surfaces if you need to leave them exposed to sunlight.
Tips for Cleaning Plastic and Vinyl Surfaces
The dashboard, steering wheel, and certain other kinds of interior moldings on most modern car models will have an outer skin made from plastic or vinyl. Generally, using water with a mild dish detergent or soap will buff them up nicely.
Of course, you can also buy special car cleaning products online or from a local dealer (e.g. Halfords) if you can't get the dirt out of the grain.
Pro Tips: Spraying a silicone-based lubricant on the dashboard, rubber floor mats, and the tires helps to stop them drying out and cracking. It's a good way to keep them clean and supple. But, petroleum-based products may damage vinyl furnishings and leave them hard and brittle.
Car Care for Leather Seats
Supposing you are lucky enough to own a Bentley Bentayga SUV and it has plush leather seats on the inside. How do you take care of the leather hide and wooden artisans without depreciating its prestige and value?
The skin will need regular cleaning and moisturising to stop it drying out and ageing 'prematurely'. But, when you know how to take care of leather upholstery inside a car, it can help it stay soft and last for many years.
Use high-quality products - such as saddle soap - when cleaning and preserving leather car seats. Neatsfoot oil for leather is yellow in colour. It is rendered and purified from the shin bones and the feet of cattle. Using it helps to soften, waterproof, and lubricate leather products.