Auto detailing...

[shmike]

I've seen lots of comments on here from various detailing "gurus".

Everyone has their own product, method, etc. for keeping the vehicle exterior in pristine condition but you rarely see anyone talk about the interior.

Share your knowledge here:

Specifically, I want to clean up the interior of my truck. It is 2.5 years old and needs some freshening. It's not terrible but almost 65k miles of track weekends, muddy shoes, road trips and commuting have led to a few spots on the carpet and seats (cloth).

Give me some ideas on tools, techniques and products to make it like new again.

Thanks! :twfix:

[marko138]

I use a Macquiers quick mist interior detailer to freshen mine up. And sometimes some armour all on the dash.

[MILK]

The best tip ever came from watching a former next door neighbor. He had 4 kids. On the weekends he would open the doors on both sides of the minivan and take a leafblower to it!! :lmao:

[marko138]

The best tip ever came from watching a former next door neighbor. He had 4 kids. On the weekends he would open the doors on both sides of the minivan and take a leafblower to it!! :lmao:
Not a bad idea.

[Rider]

The best tip ever came from watching a former next door neighbor. He had 4 kids. On the weekends he would open the doors on both sides of the minivan and take a leafblower to it!! :lmao:

Reason #586 why you shouldn't have kids.

[Tsunami]

Good idea on the leaf blower, with a pug shedding copious amounts of fur, its everywhere and now btwn foster pugs and my pug, my car is really gross.

[JoJoYZF]

I usually just use armor all for the dash and door panels, and vacuum the inside. If theres bad spots I just use whatever carpet cleaner I have in the house.

[shmike]

I usually just use armor all for the dash and door panels, and vacuum the inside. If theres bad spots I just use whatever carpet cleaner I have in the house.

Getting warmer...

Thanks Jojo!

I am well aware of armor all, vacuums, leaf blowers etc...

My shit isn't a pigsty, I just want to get the carpets and seats back to a like new condition.

[Cutty72]

Simple Green and a brush for bad stains.

[shmike]

Simple Green and a brush for bad stains.

I'll give that a shot.

Do you vacuum it out after or just let it air dry?

I love Simple Green. We buy it by the gallon.

[Cutty72]

I'll give that a shot.

Do you vacuum it out after or just let it air dry?

I love Simple Green. We buy it by the gallon.

Vacume it out before you apply simple green to take care of the loose dirt, then again after it drys to remove any new loose dirt.

[Flexin]

It depends on how dirty you interior is...a good automotive carpet cleaner is good for spots. If your interior is really dirty and/or dusty nothing beats a carpet extractor but not everyone has them sitting in their garage.

James

[Mr Lefty]

It depends on how dirty you interior is...a good automotive carpet cleaner is good for spots. If your interior is really dirty and/or dusty nothing beats a carpet extractor but not everyone has them sitting in their garage.

James

carpet extractor? that a machine or a solvent?


I use McGuire... though I haven't worried about it for about 5 years... as that was the last time I had a truck with a nice interior... I just bought some today actually...

I stay away from Armorall... as last time I checked that shit was water based... and dries out plastic... ie your dash... but that was 8 or so years ago... and McGuire shit's always done well for me...

[Flexin]

carpet extractor? that a machine or a solvent?


I use McGuire... though I haven't worried about it for about 5 years... as that was the last time I had a truck with a nice interior... I just bought some today actually...

I stay away from Armorall... as last time I checked that shit was water based... and dries out plastic... ie your dash... but that was 8 or so years ago... and McGuire shit's always done well for me...

Its a machine. About 180 degree water and soap solution, dual vacuums.

I love Meguiar's products. That was pretty much all I used before I opened the shop. And I did use some of there products when I had the shop open.

I believe Armo all is water based now but wasn't back in the day. I like the water based interior products and I don't believe they cause cracking. The product I used in my shop was water based. It was made by Malco.

James

[Homeslice]

Get a horse hair brush for dusting all the little nooks and crannies on the dash.

If you use Armor All or something like that, keep the car well-ventilated because that crap evaporates onto the windshield and leaves a film on it.

[2up]

carpet extractor? that a machine or a solvent?


I use McGuire... though I haven't worried about it for about 5 years... as that was the last time I had a truck with a nice interior... I just bought some today actually...

I stay away from Armorall... as last time I checked that shit was water based... and dries out plastic... ie your dash... but that was 8 or so years ago... and McGuire shit's always done well for me...


I heard the same thing about Armour All and won't use it because of that. Especially here where dash's tend to crack because of the heat.

About simple green, I tried to use it once to clean a spot on a car seat and ended up with a bigger stain than the spot had been. Just FYI.

[Tsunami]

I heard the same thing about Armour All and won't use it because of that. Especially here where dash's tend to crack because of the heat.

About simple green, I tried to use it once to clean a spot on a car seat and ended up with a bigger stain than the spot had been. Just FYI.

What should us desert folk use then? Cleaning is not a strong point of mine. My car is really gross, so i either spend the money and get someone else to do it while i wait like an hour, depending on the wait, or i clean in myself (which i need to suck it up and do).

[Mr Lefty]

I heard the same thing about Armour All and won't use it because of that. Especially here where dash's tend to crack because of the heat.

About simple green, I tried to use it once to clean a spot on a car seat and ended up with a bigger stain than the spot had been. Just FYI.

What should us desert folk use then? Cleaning is not a strong point of mine. My car is really gross, so i either spend the money and get someone else to do it while i wait like an hour, depending on the wait, or i clean in myself (which i need to suck it up and do).

I'd use meguires... haven't heard a bad word about them... :idk:

you can get wipes or a spray that you wipe off with your own towel...

I like the wipes for the dash just so you don't get over spray on the windshield... or you can out smart the spray and spray it on the rag THEN wipe the dash (don't ask how long it took me to figure that trick out :whistle:)

[Flexin]

I'd use meguires... haven't heard a bad word about them... :idk:

you can get wipes or a spray that you wipe off with your own towel...

I like the wipes for the dash just so you don't get over spray on the windshield... or you can out smart the spray and spray it on the rag THEN wipe the dash (don't ask how long it took me to figure that trick out :whistle:)

Spraying the cloth (rags are for the garage floor not detailing. :P) is a good way to keep it off of your window. You can still end up brushing the window with it. So its best to do the windows last. But be careful with the window cleaners. Some will leave spots on the dash that you just made look nice so you will have to give it another wipe.

James

[Flexin]

What should us desert folk use then? Cleaning is not a strong point of mine. My car is really gross, so i either spend the money and get someone else to do it while i wait like an hour, depending on the wait, or i clean in myself (which i need to suck it up and do).

If you don't like doing it yourself, you can just try to find a good detail shop to take care of it for you. If your car is really dirty it can take more then an hour for a shop to detail it. Plus if they extract it you will need time for it to dry. But where you live it should dry really fast.

When its cold here we had it take up to 4 hours to just dry the interior. In the summer heat it could be as quick as a half hour.

James

[Flexin]

What should us desert folk use then? Cleaning is not a strong point of mine. My car is really gross, so i either spend the money and get someone else to do it while i wait like an hour, depending on the wait, or i clean in myself (which i need to suck it up and do).

Does your car look like this?

James

[Flexin]

If you car is really dirty you can rent a carpet extractor, just make sure they have a small handle. The long ones to do your home carpets are too long for a car. Or you can just clean the rest of your car yourself and get a shop to extract it for you.

An extractor can make doing a car interior so much easier.

James

[Tsunami]

Does your car look like this?

James

Ok, i guess gross is subjective. My car doesn't look that bad! Theres no stains, just a lot of pug fur and dust from being in the desert.

[racedoll]

An extractor can make doing a car interior so much easier.

I've never heard it called an extractor, but I was going to suggest a carpet cleaner (same thing) with the upholstery attachment since it is smaller.
They work really nice on the couch and chair, don't see why you couldn't use them on your car.

We have some glass cleaner/wax stuff for the windows. It does a really nice job but you have to be patient because you have to apply similar to wax on the exterior. Just time consuming.

Ok, i guess gross is subjective. My car doesn't look that bad! Theres no stains, just a lot of pug fur and dust from being in the desert.

That is like my car - full of dog hair from Max!

[Flexin]

Ok, i guess gross is subjective. My car doesn't look that bad! Theres no stains, just a lot of pug fur and dust from being in the desert.

It is very subjective. We had someone drop off a van and as it was pretty dirty but wasn't real bad. I used a large rubber maid garbage can and one office garbage can to clean out garbage just so I could start to vacuum. We had other that we were told that were not dirty and they were just nasty.

Then we had a woman give us a car and called an hour later. She sounded embarrassed on the phone. She felt bad for giving us such a dirty car. This car could be washed, wipe your hand across the dash once, and then pull out the floor mats, shake the and then put them back in the car. After this you would have a car that was cleaner then 90% of most use cars. But to her this was nasty. I wish all the cars we got looked like that.

Dog hair can be a pain. VW Jetta's and Golfs were a bitch. The hair would dig into the seats and carpets and they won't let go.

We used a small hand held brush that looked like the sweepa for removing dog hair. It works well on most cars.

We did one Jetta that took over 4 hours to vacuum the dog hair.

James

[Flexin]

I've never heard it called an extractor, but I was going to suggest a carpet cleaner (same thing) with the upholstery attachment since it is smaller.
They work really nice on the couch and chair, don't see why you couldn't use them on your car.

We have some glass cleaner/wax stuff for the windows. It does a really nice job but you have to be patient because you have to apply similar to wax on the exterior. Just time consuming.



That is like my car - full of dog hair from Max!

They are basically the same. They just call them carpet extractors when designed for car detailing. And your right a carpet cleaner with upholstery attachment will work nice.

You should see some of the water that comes out of them. One day we did three smoking cars in a row. The nasty water that came out of that machine was sick. The other businesses around us closed their doors because of the smell.

James

[Flexin]

This is what I used most of the time for pet hair.

James

[shmike]

Does your car look like this?

James

James,

That is amazing!

My truck looks nothing like that first pic but if it weren't for the hole in the driver's seat, I'd swear that was a different car.

I'm assuming you used the extractor on the seats and carpet. What did you use on the vinyl and plastic bits?

Excellent job! :rockwoot:

[Flexin]

BTW if you don't have a extractor you can clean dirty floor mats by spraying the with carpet cleaner, scrubbing the with a brush, then hanging them on a wall spraying them with a hose. By hanging them it allows the dirt to fall out of them. I used to do this for really bad mats before extracting them. If you do this leave them hanging to get the water to drip off of them. This will allow them to dry faster.

James

[Flexin]

James,

That is amazing!

My truck looks nothing like that first pic but if it weren't for the hole in the driver's seat, I'd swear that was a different car.

I'm assuming you used the extractor on the seats and carpet. What did you use on the vinyl and plastic bits?

Excellent job! :rockwoot:

Thanks. I looked at it and said wait thats not the right after pic it has a hole in the seat. I had to look at the first pic again to find the hole in that pile of dirt stains.

On that Saturn Vue we would have sprayed the seats and carpet with a degreaser and scrubed the hell out of them with a carpet brush. Then we cursed and scrubbed again. Next we extracted the seats and carpet. Let the dry a bit and realize that the damn this still has some stains so we would re scrub those spots and extract them again.

The vinyl and plastic was cleaned with a degreaser mixed 5-1 and a microfiber. Then we used a water base interior dressing called Apeal that was made by Malco. That was mixed at 5-1 as well. It had a bit of a banana smell. It didn't leave the dash greasy or shiny. It made the dash look like it did when it was new.

James

[marko138]

You do one hell of a job man. Really nice work.

[Flexin]

You do one hell of a job man. Really nice work.

Thanks. I'm starting to miss it now.

Here is some nasty leather. This was a Jeep Cherokee, they owned two dogs and they just destroyed this Jeep. They owned a business and were heading to a trade show which they were going to make a business/vacation trip. So they wanted it cleaned up and they were also thinking about selling it soon. I couldn't believe it when I had to quote it. I had to charge them extra for this one.

The first one is the seat almost half done. I had to use a degreaser then a leather cleaner on these seats. This was before the leather cleaner. I did about 90-95% of these Jeep by myself. It took about 8 hours including buffing the exterior which was in rough shape.

James

[Tsunami]

This is what I used most of the time for pet hair.

James

I have one of those! It doesn't work on pug fur. They are like little needles that burrow themselves into the fabric and won't let go. If i pick her up and am wearing a black shirt, i have to bust out the vacuum and vacuum myself. Heck there are times when I vaccuum, I stick the brush attachment on and just vaccuum her!

Since i don't have stains, do you recommend a dust buster? I'm not that good at cleaning and have no clue on effective methods.

[Flexin]

I have one of those! It doesn't work on pug fur. They are like little needles that burrow themselves into the fabric and won't let go. If i pick her up and am wearing a black shirt, i have to bust out the vacuum and vacuum myself. Heck there are times when I vaccuum, I stick the brush attachment on and just vaccuum her!

Since i don't have stains, do you recommend a dust buster? I'm not that good at cleaning and have no clue on effective methods.

A dust buster to vacuum? If so not really. It would be ok for a quick clean up but I can't see it doing much for dog hair. We used big vacuums and still had a tough time with dog hair.

BTW those brushes work just not on 100% of car fabrics. Some just hold the hair. An Toyota Corolla with cloth interior (around 2000-2002 model year) was great for dog hair. You could use a rubber glove and wipe the fabric and remove most of the hair before using the vacuum.

What kind of car do you have?

We have used that brush, rubber gloves, tape, carpet brush to remove hair. All were used along with a vacuum. If you want to remove 100% of the dog hair in your car just jump in front of a Greyhound bus. It will be less painful. If you like pain, use a strong vacuum, a brush or tape (what ever works for you) then when you have done that for hours grab a pair of tweezers and go at the rest.

Once your done that take a vacuum that can be also used to blow are and blow out under your seats. After that you come back on here and tell me what an ass I am for not telling you to do that BEFORE the other steps because you just blew hidden hair all over your car. Even though you just vacuumed under your seats.

We had a car and we were sure we had most of the hair up from the car and we cleaned everywhere. After extracting we put in our high speed carpet air dryer that blows air at a high speed. We when to check on the car it was covered in hair again. We flipped. LOL. Even if we blew it out first we would still get something that will come up.

Dog hair + car interior = pain in the ass

If you live in a small place and don't have room for a good shop vac or just don't want to buy one, then you need to make friends with someone that does have one. Or use the coin op ones at the car wash. You could also use your house vac because some of these are pretty strong. My house vac isn't one of them.


James

[Tsunami]

BTW those brushes work just not on 100% of car fabrics. Some just hold the hair. An Toyota Corolla with cloth interior (around 2000-2002 model year) was great for dog hair. You could use a rubber glove and wipe the fabric and remove most of the hair before using the vacuum.


LOL! I have a 94 corolla. I should just cover my pug in duct tape sticky side up and have her roll around in the car.

My mom has a 2002 corolla, with a beige interior, can't see any pug fur in her car!

[Flexin]

LOL! I have a 94 corolla. I should just cover my pug in duct tape sticky side up and have her roll around in the car.

My mom has a 2002 corolla, with a beige interior, can't see any pug fur in her car!

Your moms car should be ok to remove the dog hair from. Yours like you said is harder. Your mothers is simple with golden retriever hair.

That sounds like a good idea with the with the pug. Once the hair is gone from the car remove the tape and replace it with new tape sticky side down and keep it all at the source.

James