How to clean your car interior (mats, seats, etc.)

As much as we don’t like cleaning our house, maintaining the car fresh and free from different rubbish, dust and stains is even harder. Usually, we have a set-up day or schedule to clean our place, but we never seem to be able to gather our strength and do the same to our vehicle. However, our cars become cluttered really fast. Coffee stains, food crumbs, random bags and clothes, papers, receipts and God knows what else turn our nice and pretty automobile into one huge mess  we’re embarrassed to give someone a ride in. Moreover, feet marks and water brought by shoes make the carpets dirty. Seats become quite nasty if you don’t wash them for a while as well.

We all vacuum the carpets, clean couches and dust the furniture in our house. And, why can’t we do pretty much the same things, but to one little car? I don’t know what the reason behind that is, but we can’t seem to be able to make an effort and actually spare some time to get the car interior cleaned. However, it’s necessary to do that regularly not just because no one likes driving a messy vehicle, but also because it may directly influence our health.

Also, new car cleaning services, products and appliances make the job much easier, so you may totally maintain your car inside clean devoting minimal effort if you develop such a habit. Pick a weekend to carry out a deep cleaning once a month or however often you need it and commit to the task just as to any other house chore. Just like moving a lawn or doing laundry. Quite unpleasant duties, aren’t they? But you still do that, right?

Addressing automobile services to get the car cleaned is actually a brilliant idea if you just can’t make yourself cope with the task on your own or don’t have time for that. But, if you need to get your car nice and spotless in between the usual visits or if you just can’t afford to go to those services too often, then check out car cleaning tips I’ve gathered for you. (And don’t procrastinate, I’m watching you :))

1. Get rid of the trash

The first step is to de-clutter. Check every spot of your car for hidden (and not so hidden) food packages, shop bags, plastic coffee or tea cups, etc. and throw away everything that’s not supposed to be in your car. That will give it much cleaner look already. Pick up the coins and put them away into the coin holder.  Open the car trunk and glove compartment and clear them out as well.

2. Sweep the floor and dust the surfaces

Remove the car mats, take a soft-bristled broom and sweep the floors in your car to get rid of all the small debris, food crumbs, pieces of dirt and whatever appears to be on the car’s floor. If you store something underneath the seats, put it in order as well. Slide the seats forward to sweep all the junk that has accumulated under there.

You may vacuum the car instead of using a broom.

Then, take a slightly damp microfiber cloth to dust all the surfaces and the dashboard. Use a hand vacuum cleaner and a small brush to get rid of the dust in the areas that are difficult to approach (like console, cracks, headliner and door panels).

3. Clean the carpets (mats)

Take them out of the car and vacuum them at first. Then, take a toothbrush or similar tool and the same cleaning solution you’ll use on the upholstery (see below) to make mats even cleaner.

If your mats (rugs) are made of rubber or vinyl, then you may apply some shoe polish on them after you’ve completed the cleaning process to make them shine. Liquid wax will work as well.

4. Take care of the car upholstery

Fabric upholstery

That’s the step where you’ll have to use either a homemade and natural cleaner or purchase the specific type of cleaners at the store. That’s the matter of your personal choice, but if you prefer preparing a cleaning solution at home, I’ll give you some recipes.

For the first one, you’ll need some crushed hard (bar) soap (approximately six tablespoons of that), some borax (around two tablespoons) and several drops of the essential oil of your choice, although this ingredient is completely optional and you don’t have to add it. Then, combine those things, pour two cups of warm water and mix everything together thoroughly. Let this cool down and continue whisking it until foam appears.

Use a small-bristled brush to apply this solution onto the upholstery and rub it slightly to get everything fresh and clean. Rinse the area with the help of a piece of cloth.

 

The second option is to take generous amount of water and dishwashing liquid you have at home, mix them together, and pour the resulting solution into the spray bottle for easier application.

Seams might be cleaned with the help of a regular old toothbrush.

If you can take the upholstery off the seats, it’s good to take them to the drycleaners every once in a while to conduct a deep-cleaning and kill all bacteria that thrive in there.

Besides, you may borrow a steam cleaner to carry out the deep-cleaning at home. That machine sprays really hot water onto the surface and quickly sucks it back. This method is useful to remove dirt, dust and some stains and sanitize the upholstery along with the car mats.

You may rent that cleaner from your local store or purchase it to clean your car in the long run without addressing automotive services (unless you don’t have time for these kinds of jobs or need them to be done urgently).

However, if you were wondering where to find the best automobile services near your local area, then visit HireRush.com to search through the profiles of companies and independent professionals, compare the charges and pick the most suitable service.

Vinyl upholstery

Use simple alcohol-free glass cleaner to take care of the upholstery made out of vinyl. Also, this type of covers is a low-maintenance one, as if you spill something on them, you’ll be able to wipe it off and forget about the stains.

So, if you’d like to make your life easier and your car cleaner on a daily basis, check out car shops and consider changing your upholstery or at least seat covers. You’ll spend some extra money, but save a lot of cleaning time.

How to take care of leather seats

You have to be really careful while cleaning leather seats, as you can’t use ordinary cleaners on them. You may either opt for a special leather cleaning kits or create your own solution out of liquid hand soap and warm water.

After you’ve washed the leather, make sure to go with a dry cloth all over the upholstery to make it completely dry. Apply some conditioner for leather car seats in the end.

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5. Remove spots on the seats

There’s no way that you don’t have either chocolate, or coffee, or blood or other spots on the seats.

If you have to deal with greasy spots, then a mixture of a cup of water and some paint thinner in combination with a regular cotton cloth and salt will save your seats. Just apply the mixture onto the stain, put some salt over it and leave everything like so overnight. Next morning, remove the remains with a vacuum cleaner.

Take paper towels to soak and dab it onto the coffee spot to let it soak up the liquid. Then, spray some glass cleaner onto the stain, let it do its thing for five minutes and blot the stain using paper towels.

Blood stains are the hardest to get rid of. The only thing you can do is to blot them with a regular towel, soaked in cold water until they disappear.

6. Clean the grip

It’s one of the dirtiest places in your car, as you always touch it with your sometimes quite greasy hands. So, depending on the material of the grip’s cover, use one of the suggested car upholstery cleaning solutions I’ve mentioned above.

7. Wash the outside

Wash the outside of your car using a garden hose and a special brush or just go to the carwash to get it done quickly and professionally.

You may even find such car washing services that come to your house and do their job on spot.

8. Make the windows and mirrors sparkle

Regular glass cleaning spray will work perfectly on them. In general, you might use any glass washing technique you prefer.

If you’d like to find out how to clean the windows and make them crystal clear, check out one of my recent blog posts.