Cleaning the inside of the car is a simple task, but it requires some time and being clear about which products to use for each type of material. And in the interior of a vehicle there is a wide variety of plastic parts and different fabrics. Generally, we finish the task with a simple vacuum cleaner, but sooner or later it is necessary to undertake a more thorough wash to remove all the accumulated dirt and stains. In this case, we are going to focus on how to clean the car upholstery.
Dust, mud, coffee, chocolate, chewing gum, food remains, vomit… There are many enemies inside the car. Fortunately, there is a long list of specific products available on the market for cleaning seats and other parts of the vehicle made of textiles: aerosols, sprayers, brushes, foams, chamois or foam guns, among other formats. Without forgetting the special interior cleaning services offered by car wash professionals.
Almost all the products sold by specialized stores usually offer good results, as long as we find the ideal product for our car’s upholstery and as long as we follow the instructions in the instructions for use. There are prices for all budgets: from just 5 euros for some cleaning liquids to more than 100 euros for the most sophisticated cleaning kits.
However, you can also carry out effective cleaning of the upholstery with homemade products or with others that we always have on hand. Let’s see how to do it.
To begin, you must inspect the interior of the car to remove all objects from the upholstery: baby seats, bottles, toys, lost coins… The next step is to vacuum the seats, from the head part downwards. and from the inside out, as well as other textile components inside the vehicle. It is also recommended to start at the back of the vehicle and end at the front. In this way we will remove dust and traces of dirt.
On the other hand, we take the mats outside to shake them before vacuuming.
Once we have vacuumed all parts of the upholstery well, it is time to wash it. To do this, there is nothing better than preparing a container with soap and water. For maintenance cleaning, a neutral soap would be enough, although to deal with stubborn stains you could opt for washing machine or even dishwasher detergent.
Next, we soak and wring a sponge well with the soapy water to pass it over the entire upholstery; again from top to bottom and from inside to outside. It should be cleaned with some pressure on the object, but being careful not to damage the tissues. The last step would be to dry the upholstery with a cloth.
And what do we do with the stains that inevitably appear on the upholstery? Here are the two most popular home methods:
We must also take into account what type of stain we are dealing with to choose one or another product:
All of these tricks are designed for fabric or leatherette upholstery. If you have leather seats, it is recommended to use specific products, although you can always use distilled water and neutral soap, moistening the mixture with the cloth with which we will go over the surface. Additionally, you can apply a little body moisturizer to maintain the elasticity and shine of the material.