Everything you should know for Car Interior Detailing

A car interior is a place where every driver spends the most time. You are not looking at your car’s exterior more than you are looking at your dashboard and steering wheel, so why do the majority of people concentrate more on exterior detailing? Everyone should know how to make Car Interior Detailing by themselves.

I want to discuss all steps to make a deep detailing of a car interior. If you notice a strange smell in your car or your hands are sticking to your steering wheel or dashboard, wiping it with an interior detailer will not help. So let’s find out how we can revive the car interior to OEM look.

Why should you make Car Interior Detailing?

I saw different car interiors that smell good, thanks to air fresheners, and the dashboard is shining, thanks to interior dressings. If you look carefully, you will notice that the dashboard shine is too greasy and has some smearing. Once air freshener odors disappear, you will catch some not-pleasant smells.

The reason why such happens is that car owners do not remove sources of smells and dirt on the dashboard, they are just covering them. Even people who take care of their cars make this mistake. When they detail dashboard or door panels, they apply interior dressings, which add shine but do not clean. They cover dirt on plastic with a protection layer, but it’s still there. The same with air fresheners – if your carpet has stains from ten burgers and five sodas, even the most expensive air freshener will not remove these stains, it will just cover smells from them.

Unpleasant odors and a bad interior look are not the only problems. A dirty interior can lead to respiratory diseases. Some spend a lot of time in their cars and breathing all the dirt and dust that your car collects for 5-10 years will not lead to anything good and healthy.

What car care products do you need for Car Interior Detailing?

1. All-purpose Cleaner
2. Interior Dressing (plastic dressings, leather conditioners, fabric protectors)

What detailing instruments do you need for Car Interior Detailing?

1. Brushes
2. Plenty microfiber towels
3. Vacuum wet and dry cleaner and wet cleaning nozzle

Car Interior Detailing Step by Step

1. Car ceiling and headliners cleaning

We start cleaning from top to bottom. So the first going car ceiling. In interior detailing car ceiling gets less attention than other interior parts, as engine bay cleaning gets in exterior care!

It is a dangerous step that requires accuracy. Fabric on the car ceiling is glued to foam, which makes it sensitive to liquids. You may see car ceilings hanging on passengers’ heads. Sometimes it’s because of time, but mainly it’s because they got wet and the fabric unglued.

1. Using a wet cleaning nozzle, try to vacuum the car ceiling. Without any sprays and foam, make a dry vacuum cleaning. If the car ceiling is not too dirty, it will be enough.
2. If you still have stains and streaks, use foam fabric cleaners. Apply a tiny amount on the ceiling, spread with a microfiber towel or brush and immediately remove with dry microfiber. Do not let liquids get too deep.
3. When the first and second steps do not help, use a tornador cleaning gun or visit a professional detailer who can use it. Buying a tornador will cost you more than going a detailer.

2. Interior Glass cleaning

Previously we discussed how to clean car glass.

In simple words, you should use high-quality glass cleaner and a lot of microfiber towels to make your car glass crystal clear. Car glass collects a lot of dirt and creates a thin film on its surface that makes visibility worse and can cause bad smells too.

3. Dashboard, door panels, and car plastic deep cleaning

You admire this part of the car interior the most when you are in your car. The main reasons for car plastic getting dirty are dust and grease. Car plastic usually doesn’t have a flat surface, and dirt is getting deep inside, so wiping it off with a clean microfiber towel will not remove all contaminants.

1. Spray All purpose cleaner on the dashboard, door panels, and car plastic. 
2. Brush it well with detailing brushes. 
3. Collect residue with a clean microfiber towel. 
4. If the plastic still looks dirty, repeat the process. 

Once the car plastic is dry, you can apply interior dressing. Use plastic protection that will add deepness to your plastic color, make it shine, and protect it from UV lights.

If you have such panels covered in leather, prefer to use leather cleaner and leather conditioner.

4. Steering wheel cleaning

The process is similar to plastic cleaning. The only difference is that your steering g wheel can be leather, and it collects more grease.

Spray leather cleaner or all-purpose cleaner and brush it with a horse hair brush. Repeat the process until you will get to needed results. Once you clean it, protect it with leather conditioner or interior dressing for not leather steering wheels.

To make steering wheel cleaning faster and more effective, use a steamer.

5. Car seat cleaning

Find our step-by-step guide for leather car seat cleaning.

A detailed guide for fabric car seat cleaning.

5. Car carpet cleaning

We already explained how to make a deep cleaning of the car carpet.

To keep it short, to make the car carpet clean, you should remove the car seats to reach all hidden places on the car carpet. Make proper vacuum cleaning of the carpet. Spray the car upholstery cleaner, brush the carpet, and collect the residue with a wet vacuum cleaner.

Protect the carpet with fabric protectors to make it hydrophobic and prevent it from getting dirty too fast.

Conclusion. Car Interior Detailing

Car Interior Detailing is a complicated process. Be sure to spend at least one weekend performing it. On the other side, deep interior cleaning is import part of car detailing. Interior Detailing can be a starting point for your car detailing business, so don’t neglect it!

To keep your car interior looking brand new and clean, you should make deep detailing at least once in 1-2 years. In this case, your interior will look and smell fresh.

I hope my bits of advice will save you some money and you will have a pleasant time taking care of your car!

For weekly maintaining your interior, use interior detailers. We shared a list of the best interior detailers.