Did you know that the average American spends more than 290 hours behind the wheel of a car?
For a lot of us, our cars are an extension of our homes. We spend many hours in them on the way to and from work, dragging the children to school, weekend trips, cross country trips, and visiting friends and family. We spend so much time in our cars. Yet, so few of us keep the inside and outside of our vehicles clean. Keeping your car interior clean is more important than you would think.
Surface cleaning is also important. Don’t forget that bacteria and fungi are very good at hiding. Cars being an enclosed space are a haven for bacteria growth and ambient conditions to make it spread rather quickly. That is why it is important to prioritize car interior cleaning.
Keep reading below to find some of the best ways to keep your car clean.
1. Car Interior Cleaning: Know What To Use
The first thing is first. Before you start, remove all accumulated loose junk, coins, papers, and other bits and pieces that don’t belong in the car. Make sure you don’t miss a thing, check under the seats, under the mats, and in the glove compartment.
Most of us already have what is necessary to clean our car at home. So let’s get started, shall we?
- Vacuum Cleaner with all the attachments
- Cleaning Products for vinyl, plastic, leather, upholstery, and glass
- Clean Detailing clothes one for each application
When using car cleaning products for the interior of your car, make sure that you use the right cleaner for the right surface, for example, keep wood cleaner for wooden surfaces, keep leather cleaner for leather surfaces, and so on.
2. Focus On Floor Mats and Carpets
That is the space that has the most traffic, tenaciously holding on the most dirt. The best method for attacking the floor area of your car is to remove all floor mats and shake them well to get rid of loose dirt and dust. To loosen more stubborn grime, use a stiff brush and vacuum.
Once in a while, it is a good idea to wash the mats. Use a strong jet and let them dry completely before replacing them. Let them dry in the bright sunshine. After all, the sun itself is a sterilizer.
Vacuum all of the fitted cabin carpet. Make sure to reach into those nooks and crannies around and in between the seats. If they are in a bad way, you can hire a steam cleaner to make them clean and smell fresh.
You may have to look for a specialized cleaner for more difficult stains. Maybe even call in an expert.
3. Knowing How To Clean Different Types of Seats
Most car seats will come in three different types of material. Leather, upholstery, or vinyl. Some seats are even a combination of these, making the choice of a cleaning product not so easy. Each one, is cleaned using a different method. The first step is to vacuum your seats thoroughly.
Leather Seats
Use a good leather-cleaning product.
Apply leather-cleaning product on the seats and rub it clean with a soft towel. Make sure to turn the towel over, always using a clean piece. When you have finished cleaning the seats, dry them with a microfiber cloth and allow them to dry thoroughly for a couple of hours. It’s a good idea to apply a leather conditioner every other wash to keep the leather soft and pliable.
Vinyl Seats
Vinyl seats are much easier to clean.
Most cleaning products in the home can be used to clean vinyl. Go through them and read the labels to see that they are compatible with vinyl.
Spray the car seats with the vinyl cleaning product and wipe with a cloth or rag. Make sure to stick to vinyl areas only. Lastly, wipe down with a clean cloth and dry. Let car seats dry, and then you are ready to go. Make sure the seats are dry before you go for a drive, some products are soapy may leave a slippery residue.
Cloth Seats
Vacuum seats thoroughly. Check for tough stains.
Use a soapy solution. Be careful not to use too much and soak the seats as this will take longer to dry and could even cause mold. Rub thoroughly with a sponge or cloth and dry with a clean towel by pressing down on the wet area.
If you accidentally use too much water, you could put a small heater in the car or level it direct sun with all the doors and windows open. Drying usual takes a couple of hours.
4. Wash Method For Windows and Mirrors
Use glass cleaner and a microfiber cloth to clean glass surfaces. To reduce the streaking, spray the cleaner onto a cloth first.
Be careful if you have tinted windows. Do not use any products that contain ammonia or any harsh chemicals on tinted windows. These can damage the tint, which is usually a plastic film applied to the glass. When in doubt, contact a professional who will help you with this particular cleaning job.
Streaks can be annoying. You can never quite see which side of the window the streaky marks are on. Here is a helpful hint. When drying, wipe the outside horizontally and the inside vertically. This way, you will have no doubt!
5. The Front Panel of the Car
The front panel is the most visual part of your car. With all its pieces and vents, it can be a bit more tricky to tackle. Use an old toothbrush that is soft and not likely to damage the paint.
The Dashboard
For obvious reasons, the dashboard tends to be the dirtiest and dustiest part of the car.
Vacuum or wipe all the dust before you start applying the product. Make sure to reach right into the corners where the windshield meets the dashboard. Once clean, you can apply the appropriate conditioning product for the dashboard material. That will help to keep the dashboard crack-free and looking like new.
The Console
Anyone who has cleaned their console before will know that it’s a nightmare waiting to happen. That is where the dust and grime will settle around all the buttons and controls.
How do you get around to clean these small areas? Here is a tip. Wrap a thin cloth around a toothbrush. That will allow you to clean around each knob and control. Or easier still, you could also use cotton buds.
The Air Vents
Cleaning air vent grills is a tedious job, but it has to be done. Use a long bristle brush and brush them to release the dust. You can use compressed air canisters to help you with this job. These are not too expensive, and a quick spurt will go a long way to keeping the air vents dust-free.
Thereafter, vacuum with the appropriate attachment to pick up any leftover dust. Give the air vents a quick wipe with a damp cloth.
6. Dashing Door Panels
Door panels are often a blend of different types of material already in the car. It could be a combination of vinyl, upholstery, or cloth. Use the same products used for those areas as in ‘The Seats’ section above.
Make sure you do not overflow product meant for one material onto another. Remember that cleaning products are manufactured specifically for certain surfaces. If these are incorrectly used on another surface, it can spoil it.
7. Battling Bad Odors
Residual smells from pets, spillage of foods, and pets can be hard to remove. Luckily, some good odor removal products will remove smoke odor from car interior.
Nonetheless, check to see there is no food or rubbish hidden that is causing the bad odor in the first place.
To improve the smell in your car, buy hanging car deodorizers and hang them from your rearview mirror or strategically around the inside of the car. Another way is to put a container under the car seats with baking soda. The baking soda will absorb the smells and leave your car smelling clean and fresh.
Keep It Clean
Let us be honest. A car can collect so much junk, sand, and dust in no time, almost as quick as the ‘roadrunner’ getting from one place to another!
Professional detailing can be costly, but car interior cleaning, yourself, can be surprisingly rewarding, inexpensive, and painless. All it takes is a little time and effort. For many of us, a car is not a small investment. Keeping your car hygienically clean, and maintained will certainly, protect the resale value.
Most of us don’t need to spend long hours in our car. However, some people like traveling sales reps do. So, for most of our cars, a deep cleanse, as we have described, should be okay twice a year. If you detail your car at regular intervals, each clean is less work, and it will maintain that wonderful “new car” look and last longer.
Our cars are so much part of our lives, so take care of them!
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