Interior car cleaning: Are you tired of sticky residue, pet hair, and snack crumbs all over your car? Then it’s time to give your car some love.
Freshening up your vehicle’s interior is not only a sign of your passengers’ well-being, but it also helps extend the life of your car.
Good car maintenance means taking good care of your car, both inside and out. Learning how to clean your car’s interior will help you keep your vehicle in better condition and protect your investment.
Whether you use your car to transport pets, children, guests, or just for yourself, if everything is sparkling clean, you and your passengers will enjoy driving.
Plus, dirt, dust, and grime can build up over time and damage the materials in your car’s interior, causing you even bigger problems than just strange odors and unsightly stains.
Ready to get started? We’ll help you clean the inside of your interior car cleaning like it just came from the dealership. We’ve put together this guide to help you give your car’s interior the attention it deserves.
Say goodbye to last month’s cracker crumbs and spilled soda with these steps, tips, and products.
Jump straight to:
• What you need
• Recommended products for your car
• Step-by-step: detailing your car’s interior
• How to keep your car’s interior clean
Requirements What You Need
To ensure that the interior of your car is cleaner than the day you drove it off the lot, you need to know what tools to use.
You can reuse many household items for your car, but you can also buy cleaning products that are specifically designed to thoroughly clean your car while protecting the materials.
Be aware that some household cleaners can contain harsh chemicals that can damage your vehicle’s surfaces over time.
These chemicals can damage leather, plastic, and fabric materials. So avoid them or dilute them to protect your car.
Instead, we recommend that you use products and cleaning agents that are specifically designed for thorough and material-friendly cleaning of your car.
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Recommended products for your interior car cleaning
Here’s what you’ll need to remove stains, kill bacteria, and get rid of musty odors:
• Disinfecting wipes
• Invisible Glass Ammonia-Free Glass Cleaner
• Leather Cleaner
• Carpet Cleaner
• Upholstery Cleaner
Cleaning equipment
Make sure you’re well-prepared before you start. Here you will find everything you need to take care of your car:
• Microfiber cloth
• Car vacuum cleaner with accessories
• Sponge
• Hard-bristled scrub brush
• Bucket
• Duster
• Spray bottle
• Crevice tool
• Duster
Step by step: detailing your car’s interior
Once you have gathered your supplies, you can get started. Follow these steps to clean every nook, cranny, and cranny in your car:
1. Remove and clean floor mats
Once you have removed all the dirt from your car, take out your floor mats.
If you choose to wash your floor mats with water and dish soap, you should do this step as early in the cleaning process as possible so that the mats have time to dry while you clean the rest of your car’s interior.
When you take out your floor mats, shake them out to remove large crumbs and other debris. Use your vacuum to remove any dirt that has stuck to your mats.
If you have carpets, use a carpet or upholstery cleaner according to the product’s instructions.
You can soak and scrub your carpets in a bucket of water with a few drops of the product before rinsing and hanging them to dry.
You can also check if your floor mats are suitable for machine washing. If you don’t have a good place to hang your carpets, lay down a tarp or drop cloth instead of laying them on the ground.
For non-matted mats, such as those made of rubber, silicone, or vinyl, you can rinse off excess dirt and soil with a garden hose. For a more thorough cleaning, use a cleaner made for rubber floor mats.
Alternatively, you can add a little dish soap to a bucket of warm water and scrub the mats with a scrub brush. Rinse thoroughly to remove soap residue and allow to air dry.
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2. Vacuum the interior
Once you have removed the floor mats, vacuum the entire interior of your car.
Use the attachments to get into hard-to-reach corners, like your cup holders and the area between the windshield and the dashboard. Don’t forget to vacuum your seats to pick up any dirt and crumbs.
3. Vacuum and disinfect the dashboard
Interior car cleaning : While a vacuum cleaner is great for picking up dirt and dust in your car, it may be too big for the smaller areas of your dashboard.
Use a duster or microfiber cloth to clean your dashboard and air vents of smaller particles.
Dusters and microfiber cloths are soft enough not to scratch your air vents and are designed to capture dust rather than spread it throughout your interior car cleaning vehicle.
Once you’ve removed dust from your dashboard, use disinfectant wipes to kill germs and bacteria on it. Don’t use bleach, and always read the product label carefully before using any chemicals in your car.
Crumbs, spills, and everyday use can cause bacteria to grow on your dashboard, especially on surfaces that are frequently touched. So make it a habit to disinfect these areas regularly.
Keeping your dashboard clean can help prevent the spread of illness and ensure the safety and health of you and your passengers. A sticky dashboard? Never again!
Your passengers will thank you.
4. Clean the console thoroughly
Just like your dashboard, it’s important to remove dust, dirt, and debris from your console. Be careful when cleaning areas such as your gearshift, infotainment panel, and console controls.
For example, the climate controls and radio buttons built into your console can be delicate. So be careful when dusting and disinfecting.
If your vehicle has an infotainment screen, avoid using products that contain ammonia to clean the surface.
Since most manufacturers use plastic for infotainment touchscreens, ammonia-based glass cleaners can damage the surface, especially if it is treated with an anti-reflective or anti-fingerprint coating.
Instead, you can clean the touchscreen with a microfiber cloth lightly dampened with distilled water.
5. Clean cup holders, door panels, and steering wheel
Maintain your cup holders, door panels, and steering wheel by removing dust and disinfecting these surfaces.
If you have removable cup holders, remove them and wash them in warm water with a little dish soap. Scrub thoroughly with a sponge or soft brush to remove any residue.
You can use disinfectant wipes to clean your door panels and steering wheel. Both areas of your vehicle are touched frequently. No one wants their car to look like a petri dish.
6. Wipe the inside of your windows clean
Wipe the inside of your windows and windshields with an alcohol-based glass cleaner, such as Invisible Glass. Never use products that are not suitable for cleaning glass.
Try using two microfiber cloths when using glass cleaning products in your car. Spray the product onto one cloth and use it to apply the cleaner to the glass.
This will prevent particles from the cleaner from getting onto other surfaces in your car, where they can build up and cause damage.
Wipe the glass clean with the second cloth. This strategy will reduce streaking, and a microfiber cloth will protect your glass from wear and tear.
7. Provide chairs
To clean your chairs, first use your vacuum with the attached hose to remove crumbs and other debris. Then use products appropriate for your chair material to clean it.
Wipe down leather seats with a leather cleaner specifically formulated for cars.
Follow the product instructions and consider following up with a leather conditioner to keep the seats supple, soft, and shiny. Who doesn’t love the clean smell of leather?
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Look for stains on fabric chairs that need to be removed. Choose a stain removal product and follow the instructions on the package for application, leave on, and rinse.
Apply the upholstery cleaner to the entire chair. Using a scrub brush, work the product into the chair for a more thorough cleaning.
Rinse the product with a microfiber cloth soaked in water, but avoid soaking the seat as wet seats can encourage mold growth (again, no science experiments here please).
If necessary, pat off excess water with a dry towel before letting the seats air dry.
8. Deodorize
Finally, remove the musty smell with baking soda, activated charcoal, and air freshener.
For example, you can put baking soda or activated charcoal in a plastic container with a lid and add a few drops of your favorite essential oil.
Cut a few ventilation holes in the lid and store it safely under one of your seats, or use a gel air freshener.
Replace the contents every month (or as needed for very smelly vehicles) to keep your vehicle fresh. Another option is to purchase a commercial air freshener to remove the smell of your last takeout meal from your car.
How often should you clean your car’s interior depends on your driving conditions and lifestyle.
If you often carry dirty passengers (like children and pets), your car’s interior may need to be cleaned more frequently. In addition, it is recommended to perform a thorough cleaning at least twice a year.
For example, you can clean your car at the beginning of each spring to remove mud and road salt that has built up during the winter.
Clean it again at the end of the summer to prepare it for the colder months.
You may want to clean certain areas of your car more frequently. Clean the inside of your windows and windshield monthly or as needed to improve visibility on the road.
Disinfect frequently touched surfaces, especially during cold and flu season. Remember: you want your car to move, not your nose.
Finally, wipe up spilled food and drinks immediately to prevent germs and insects from entering your vehicle.
How to Keep Your Car Interior Clean
With these tips, you can improve the cleanliness of your car’s interior and protect it until your next deep cleaning:
• Buy car gel or putty and keep it on hand so you can easily clean hard-to-reach areas like your air vents.
• Use a small container to collect waste in your vehicle or simply buy a car trash can to reduce waste.
• Buy a silicone baking sheet and use it as a liner for your cup holders to reduce the amount of residue that builds up.
• Invest in a seatback organizer to store travel items, snacks, and entertainment for kids and other passengers.
While regular deep cleaning is important for maintaining your vehicle’s interior, some of these accessories can help reduce interior clutter and keep your car smelling better than the day you got it. ok
