How to Clean a Car Interior Like a Pro Detailed

How to Clean Your Car Interior and Detail at Home

A dry afternoon and a few bones cleaning supplies are all you need to detail and clean your car'southward interior like a pro.

Close up of woman's hand using a microfiber cloth to clean car interior as part of DIY car detailing

Why Detail Your Car Yourself?

I used to ignore messes in my car for the most function. After all, I was just in it long plenty to practice the school run and maybe a few errands on the way. And so one summer morning, I opened my machine and nearly gagged at the aroma. All of the food wrappers, half-empty cans of popular, and other trash on the floor of my car were unbearable. Why on globe was I starting my solar day like that?!

Professional Detailing is Expensive!

So, I took it to an auto detailer. A day later, I'd spent $200 and, although my machine was cleaner, it was not spotless. I felt ripped off considering I could've done a amend chore myself if I'd only done a fiddling research.

So, I learned how to clean a car interior improve than that professional detailing service. Now I'm going to share my car cleaning checklist and routine with yous.

How to Detail Your Car Interior at Home

It'due south always best to clean your motorcar interior on an overcast day or in a shady spot, so the cleaning products don't dry out too chop-chop in the estrus and leave streaks.

Materials and Equipment

  • Empty garbage bags or boxes
  • A vacuum cleaner with attachments
  • Cream brush or one-time toothbrush
  • Microfiber cleaning cloths
  • A bucket of clean, warm h2o
  • Rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol
  • Window cleaner (here's a streak-costless bootleg glass cleaner)
  • Liquid dish soap
  • Scrub brush
  • Squeegee (for pet owners)

1. Empty It

Put all garbage in the starting time bag and throw it abroad. Use the 2d handbag to gather items that don't belong in your car and set it aside to bargain with later. Simply exist sure you lot don't put it all dorsum in your motorcar when y'all're done!

two. Clean the Soft Surfaces

Work in this order: Cleaning efficiently involves working from pinnacle to bottom, so yous're always moving dirt downwardly then out. Using the upholstery attachment, vacuum the flooring mats, remove them, and set them aside. Vacuum the ceiling of your machine (especially important if you're a smoker), the seats, nether the seats, then the rest of the floor. Exist certain to move the seats forrad and back every bit far as they'll become, then you lot're cleaning as much of the floor every bit possible.

Heed the gaps: Using the crevice attachment, make clean between the seats and panel, under the seats, around the edges of the seat rails, and all other areas where food and dirt hide. Utilise the foam brush or onetime toothbrush equally needed to dislodge stubborn dirt.

3. Clean the Hard Surfaces

Dust. Using the brush attachment, clean the interior of your auto by vacuuming the dashboard, the console, the inside of all loving cup holders, and all other surfaces where dust collects.

Wash. Fill the saucepan with warm water and add a few drops of liquid dish soap. Use this to wipe the dashboard, steering cycle, console, door handles, and other non-drinking glass surfaces. Switch cloths whatever time the one you're working with looks dingy, and replace the soapy water if it begins looking grimy, too.

Clean the windows. Employ the drinking glass cleaner and a clean, dry microfiber textile to clean fingerprints and haze from the inside of windows. (Using a paper towel volition go out traces of lint that get grit.) Smooth whatever chrome surfaces, too.

Polish leather and vinyl. If you like using a product to shine your auto'south vinyl or leather surfaces, at present'due south the time to employ it. To keep overspray from getting windows or chrome messy, spray the smooth onto a cloth and wipe it on, so buff to a smooth with a separate clean, dry out cloth.

4. Remove Stains

Seats: A microfiber material and a footling soapy water can remove most upholstery stains, even on leather seats. Make sure the cloth isn't soaking moisture so you aren't saturating the surface. If the stain remains, use some rubbing alcohol on a clean cloth to dab (not rub) the stain until it lifts.

Floor: Soapy water besides works on virtually rug stains. Be sure you don't get the floor too wet, though, or information technology can lead to mildew. Use a scrub brush on stubborn stains or even a rug stain treatment if needed. Once the stain is gone, wipe the area with a make clean, damp material to remove any soap residuum, or it will just attract more clay.

Floor mats: Use a garden hose, soapy h2o, and scrub brush to make clean the carpet mats on your driveway. Finish with a nail of manifestly water to rinse away soap residue. Then motion them to dry in a sunny spot.

How to Keep Your Car Clean

Some people enjoy spending their Saturday afternoons cleaning their car'south interior and hand-washing information technology in the driveway. If that's non your fashion, here are ways to keep your car interior clean.

Don't treat information technology equally storage. The more than stuff in your car, the easier it is for messes to go unnoticed. Empty your car when yous get home, including the trunk. If y'all have kids, expect under the seats to make sure they haven't dropped anything that'south rolled underneath.

How to get pet hair off of your car'southward seats: If your pets frequently ride along in your car, your seats and carpeting take probably collected a lot of pet hair. Run a damp squeegee on the soft surfaces to lift nigh of the pilus, and so your vacuum can work better.

Keep cleaning supplies handy. Tuck a couple of microfiber cloths in your car'southward center console or glove compartment. You lot might desire to add a couple of mitt sanitizer packets (not the bottled stuff), too. Utilize the cloths to grit your console and dash when you're stuck in traffic. The sanitizer packets are alcohol-based, and so they're handy for cleaning up food spills. (Here are more uses for hand sanitizer.)

Use a car trash tin can. Go into the habit of putting things like food wrappers directly into a trash purse in your auto. It doesn't have to be fancy — even an empty plastic shopping handbag or an sometime cereal container works.

Make cupholders like shooting fish in a barrel to clean. Machine cupholders become grimy, and they're non the easiest things to wipe out. Stick cupcake liners in them to brand those messes easy to clean. If you apply newspaper liners, you lot tin swap them out or try silicone ones and only wash them.

Utilise the right flooring mat. The carpeted flooring mats that came with your car aren't very adept at actually protecting your auto's floor. Swap those floor mats with rubber ones if your family unit enjoys outdoor activities. They'll protect your car's floor from stains and water, and all y'all need is a hose to clean them.

Automobile Cleaning Checklist

Want a helpful, printable checklist to make clean your car'south interior? Tap the paradigm below to print or save it.

Printable checklist to detail and clean car's interior