The best way to clean your car interior

Posted on 20 Feb 2017 Share:

That new car smell shouldn’t just be for when you first get your motor. Each car interior is different and, just like your clothes, requires different techniques to make sure you get it as clean as possible.

Bringing your car interior back to life shouldn‘t be a chore and trust us, it’s easier than you would have first thought! Follow our great tips and tricks to get your car interior back to its shimmering best.

Fabric Upholstery

Possibly the most common interior of any car, fabric upholstery requires plenty of TLC to get it back to its original cleanliness. We always recommend giving the upholstery a once over with a vacuum before you start to get down to cleaning it to remove excess dirt. Use the brush attachment to make sure you don’t scratch the fabric. This collects any loose dirt that may be lying around in the seats.

Grab a bucket of cold and hot water and add normal laundry detergent to the hot water (around a scoop).  There are other specific products for cleaning car interior, however we recommend a normal detergent, as this would be the cheapest option.

You can then dip your sponge into the hot water and start to dab the seats, making sure they don’t get too wet. After this ring out the sponge and scrub the seats with the hot water bucket. Once finished, grab a towel, making sure again it’s not too wet, use the towel and cold-water bucket to scrub at the seats, making sure you lift off any of the remaining dirt.

You can then sit back and relax while your interior dries. This is the cheapest and possibly easiest way to get amazing results for your fabric seats. If you want clinical results and really need your fabric interior to sparkle, this is sure to get them looking great again. For awesome results you should repeat this process once or twice.

Leather Upholstery

When dealing with leather upholstery you really need to take great care. It is more delicate and you really should always use a specialist-cleaning product for this. They aren’t really expensive and you can pick a wide selection from any garage.

Same as with fabric upholstery you should try and give your leather interior a once over with a vacuum before you start to use any products on it. Always making sure you read the label we then advise to use a moist chamois and the cleaning agent to wipe down the seats. Always make sure to use your product sparingly and follow the instructions! Allow the seats to dry naturally and make sure there are no soap spots or anything that may mark the seats once dry.

For even better results make sure you use leather conditioner to maintain the quality of the leather, much in the same way you would for your hair!

Another Couple of Tips

For really tough stains always make sure you let them dry in first. Rubbing the stain will just push the dirt into the interior and make it harder to get out. Use preventative measures to make sure that if you do spill anything on your seats it is always easier to get out. May seem like a bit of effort but it will save you a massive amount of time in the long run. Also, make sure you use a good quality sponge or chamois to help bring out the best of the cleaning product you are using.

Dabbing a stain may lift more dirt off your interior than scrubbing or wiping. We have already mentioned this, but always make sure you read the label! It seems simple but using too much product can end up ruining your car and you may have to pay more money to get it back to normal.

Cleaning your car interior doesn’t have to be annoying. It can be done easily and cheaply. So follow our tips and tricks and you’ll be on your way to having that amazing, new car smell in no time! 


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