Automotive Interior Detailing Process

Cleaning and detailing the interior of a vehicle is something that is often neglected by most people. Most of the time people only clean out the garbage, vacuum it quickly and go. The odd time they will shake out the floor mats, but that is the extent of most people’s idea of cleaning the interior of a car. Interior Detailing is a lot more involved and specific.

The interior of your car is a confined space that gets just as much traffic as your entire house might, but accumulates more dirt usually. You are in and out of your car all the time, tracking in dirt, dust, animal hair, odors, etc. You might even have kids who track in 10 times more dirt it seems at times. Eating in your car usually always results in crumbs or spilled drinks and fries. Lets look at the detailing process to fully detail the interior of your car.

First Steps to Interior Detailing

The first task will be to remove all the garbage, papers, etc in the car. Removing all personal items such as shoes, purses, glove box contents, stuff in the trunk, everything. By removing all loose items, from all compartments, floors and seats, you give yourself the room you need to get to all the surfaces to clean and treat them. In some cases, you might also want to remove the front seats, or back seats too. If you have liquid spills that got into the floor, or under the seats, then removing them will make it easier to get to the stains and clean them up. The next step in your preparation is a thorough vacuuming. Make sure to get all loose dirt and particles with the vacuum as you can. The more you can suck up with the vacuum, the less you have to wipe up with a cloth.

Carpet, Fabric and Upholstery Detailing

Detailing your carpet and fabric can be done both by hand or with a machine. Most Detailers use an “extractor” , which is just a fancy word for steam cleaner. The difference in this case is that an extractor is usually smaller, has smaller attachments and is designed specifically for automotive purposes. What this machine does is super heat water and a cleaning solution, then with high or medium pressure is sprayed from a nozzle into the carpet and fabric. Similar to a home steam cleaner, the unit also sucks the solution out of the carpet, along with the dirt and grim. These extractors also have a higher sucker power then a traditional steam cleaner and can remove nearly 100% of the cleaning solution from the fabrics. The machines make fabric cleaning fast, easy and very efficient. The other alternative is to use a carpet cleaner, a cloth and do it all by hand, but you can expect less impressive results. Deep cleaning the fabric by hand is quite a bit harder, but still effective.

Leather, Vinyl and Plastic Detailing

The other surfaces in your car are usually one of the 3, or a combination of each. Cleaning and detailing these surfaces can be done at the same time or individually, depending on the product you choose. Several all-in-one cleaning products on the market today are safe for all interior surfaces. A professional detailer will usually choose a product like this so that they can save time and still effectively clean and detail all interior surfaces at the same time. Some special care might be needed for stains, leather and clear plastic surfaces, but generally, an all purpose detailing cleaner does very well. I will cover how to care for leather in a more detailed post later. Once these surfaces are clean from dirt and stains, you will want to treat them with a protectant and detailing spray. Most detailers refer to this final step of the interior as the detailing stage, where you will use a product that brings out the finish in the surfaces. Usually most people look for the shine or gloss from these products, but most of the time you can dilute the product with water and apply it different ways to attain the shine that you want.

Glass Surface Detailing

One of the last steps in detailing the interior of your vehicle is to clean the glass. I would recommend you leave this step for last, most of the other products you use on the interior might leave a residue or overspray on the glass. Use a good glass cleaner formulated for automotive care. Do not use ammonia based cleaners, like windex, these usually leave a film behind that you cannot see and eventually makes the glass look hazy. Clean both the interior and exterior surfaces of the glass, use a micro fiber towel and you should be left with a crystal clear window. I would also use the same product on the dash gauges and any clear or polished plastic in the interior, it should remove all residue and finger prints left behind.

Car Care recommended products:
Meguiar's Complete Car Care Kit
Zwipes 6-Piece Microfiber Dusting Kit
ToplessAddict Protect and Clean Convertible Tops, Interior Fabrics and Carpet Ultimate Car Cleaner
Zwipes Microfiber