bellavus
01-03-2004, 12:05 AM
How To: Interior Detail
I am not a professional detailer, but these are the steps that I take to clean out the interior of my car. It really drives me nuts if my interior isn't clean. I like to perform this detail once every 2 or 3 months.
The first thing that you need to do is to take the garbage out of the car before you start.
1. Vacuuum out the interior with the brush or thin blade attachment of a shop-vac. Start with the top of the car and work your way down, just like washing, in order to keep the dust and dirt somewhat contained. I found that regular home vaccuums didn't have enough power to get in all of the crevases. Use a soft-bristle paintbrush to get the dust out of the gear shifter and other places where it can settle. Take the mats out of the car and vacuum underneath the mats with a brush attachment.
2. Clean your mats. If you have rubber mats, rinse them off with a hose and take a stiff brush (tile brush or something similar) and some dawn or car wash concentrate and scrub both sides of the mats. Leave them somewhere to hang and dry.
Carpet mats: Get some old fashioned carpet shampoo and work it into the carpets using either your fingers or an uphostery brush. I've found that my fingers work just fine most of the time to clean the carpets. You could also use a handheld steam carpet cleaner to clean the mats.
3. Now is also the time to shampoo the carpets inside of the car, if they are dirty. Use the same method to clean the inside of the car and allow both the mats and the interior to dry.
4. I like to clean the glass and the dash at this point. I use Invisible Glass or some sort of aerosol spray glass cleaner with paper towels. It doesn't streak at all. I clean the rearview and side mirrors at this point with the glass cleaner. I then use Vinylex for my doors and my dash with a microfiber towel. I have a leatherette interior, so people with leather interiors might want to use Leatherique on the leather parts of their doors.
5. I don't normally clean my headliner, and I don't know what to use on it, so I'm going to leave that out.
6. I then clean the seats with Leatherique, even though I have a leatherette interior, using a separate microfiber towel than what I used for my dash.
7. Hopefully, by this time the carpets are dry in the car and you can vaccuum up the carpet shampoo with the brush attachment again. The mats, if they are heavily soiled, might require more time to dry, so you can vacuumm them later. Go to step 8 in the meantime.
8. Wipe down the door sills and rubber seals inside the car with a damp and clean microfiber cloth.
9. Replace the mats inside the car and admire your work :D
I hope this helps everyone :). People always comment on my clean interior and think that the car is brand new. If I missed anything, feel free to add whatever else.
I am not a professional detailer, but these are the steps that I take to clean out the interior of my car. It really drives me nuts if my interior isn't clean. I like to perform this detail once every 2 or 3 months.
The first thing that you need to do is to take the garbage out of the car before you start.
1. Vacuuum out the interior with the brush or thin blade attachment of a shop-vac. Start with the top of the car and work your way down, just like washing, in order to keep the dust and dirt somewhat contained. I found that regular home vaccuums didn't have enough power to get in all of the crevases. Use a soft-bristle paintbrush to get the dust out of the gear shifter and other places where it can settle. Take the mats out of the car and vacuum underneath the mats with a brush attachment.
2. Clean your mats. If you have rubber mats, rinse them off with a hose and take a stiff brush (tile brush or something similar) and some dawn or car wash concentrate and scrub both sides of the mats. Leave them somewhere to hang and dry.
Carpet mats: Get some old fashioned carpet shampoo and work it into the carpets using either your fingers or an uphostery brush. I've found that my fingers work just fine most of the time to clean the carpets. You could also use a handheld steam carpet cleaner to clean the mats.
3. Now is also the time to shampoo the carpets inside of the car, if they are dirty. Use the same method to clean the inside of the car and allow both the mats and the interior to dry.
4. I like to clean the glass and the dash at this point. I use Invisible Glass or some sort of aerosol spray glass cleaner with paper towels. It doesn't streak at all. I clean the rearview and side mirrors at this point with the glass cleaner. I then use Vinylex for my doors and my dash with a microfiber towel. I have a leatherette interior, so people with leather interiors might want to use Leatherique on the leather parts of their doors.
5. I don't normally clean my headliner, and I don't know what to use on it, so I'm going to leave that out.
6. I then clean the seats with Leatherique, even though I have a leatherette interior, using a separate microfiber towel than what I used for my dash.
7. Hopefully, by this time the carpets are dry in the car and you can vaccuum up the carpet shampoo with the brush attachment again. The mats, if they are heavily soiled, might require more time to dry, so you can vacuumm them later. Go to step 8 in the meantime.
8. Wipe down the door sills and rubber seals inside the car with a damp and clean microfiber cloth.
9. Replace the mats inside the car and admire your work :D
I hope this helps everyone :). People always comment on my clean interior and think that the car is brand new. If I missed anything, feel free to add whatever else.