How to Detail Your Car's Interior

How to Detail Your Car's Interior

Has your vehicle been dirty recently? Have you considered getting a detailer but want to get the job done yourself? Here are the 3 steps to doing your own interior details.

What You Need to Know About Interior Detailing.

Doing the dirty work sounds easy enough, but don't know how to get started? First, you'll need to find the chemicals, equipment and tools you need for the job.

When it comes to chemicals, you'll need an all-purpose interior cleaning chemical. This will be used for your general surfaces. Then, you might need a window cleaner, avoid window cleaners with ammonia. This will damage the tint. For the carpets you'll need a reliable car shampoo and stain spot remover.

Equipment is easy! Depending on the level of clean you want your car do have. A regular shop vacuum (with a few attachments to get to the small crevices in the car), will get the job done well enough. If your stains are bad enough, you'll need to invest in an extractor. This can cost up to hundreds.

Your basic tools might include a small brush, microfiber cloth towels, and even a drill (we'll touch on this later).

How To Detail Your Car's Interior.

So, you have got the chemicals, you have got the equipment and the tools. So how do you actually get started? From start to finish, here is how to clean your car's interior.

1. Remove all trash; Creating a clean slate is important so while you are detailing, there is no trash in the way of any surfaces that need to get cleaned or protected. There is also no chance for any drink leaks or others to re-create the mess.

2. Time to Vacuum! Once there is no big pieces of trash that your hand can grab, time to pull out the vacuum, and take out the trash your hands cant grab. If you want to get better results from your vacuum; use a drill around the spot you'd like to vacuum, agitate and loosen the dirt for about 15-30 seconds. You'll have picture perfect details every time.

3. Wipe Those Surfaces! Ideally, you are sitting in a car that is mostly dust free, and free from large pieces of trash. The biggest tip I have for car surface cleaning is; to really clean car stains, you need to apply your chemical and LET IT SIT! I cant explain enough how important it is to let chemicals break down the stains. Let chemical sit for 1-2 minutes, before agitating with a brush. Once spot is agitated, wipe with microfiber cloth.

4. How to Protect Car's Interior. If you really want to ensure that detail you put blood, sweat and tears in sticks, You're going to need protection. Interior dressing and leather conditioner are good options when it comes to surface protection. Some protectants are applied differently so ensure you read directions before starting.

   
   

What Not to Do While Detailing Your Car's Interior

Now that you know how to detail your car's interior, here is what to look out for.

Generally, your vehicle's electronics don't like water. Using too many chemicals on the vehicles electronic components can seriously harm your car. So make sure you don't apply chemicals directly on electric surface.

Headliners are held on to the top of your car by a very fragile glue. When you're detailing your interior, and you notice stains on the headliner (the fabric on the top of your car), be very careful to how you clean it. Headliners should never have chemicals applied directly on them, this is how to protect the glue.

As stated previously, choose carefully which window cleaner chemical you use. Especially if you have tinted windows. Many window cleaners with ammonia, will damage the tint on the windows. Ensure that your window cleaning chemical is ammonia free.

Vehicle care information was made available by Refresh Mobile Detailing, and made for helpful advice, not as set in stone ways to preserve your vehicle. For more information be sure to check your vehicles manual for diagnostics and repair.