Table of contents: Salon care products ↓ Smoking in the car? ↓ Interior cleaning ↓ Cleaning the inner surface of the… ↓
For interior care, it is best to use special car care products. Forget about soap solutions and household cleaners: glass, upholstery and plastic surfaces are subject to extreme stress due to atmospheric conditions, dust, dirt and moisture, so special products will cope with them better. These special cleaning products are not cheap, but, as a rule, they are worth the money spent on them.
For a thorough cleaning of the interior you will need:
- Rags (better without fringe) for wet and dry wiping.
- Clothes brush or upholstery brush.
- Vacuum cleaner with various attachments (brush with handle and dustpan).
- Chamois for wiping window glass.
- Fine-pored polymer sponge for plastic parts.
Salon care products
Care product for plastic products. For plastic surfaces. Cleans and refreshes paints, provides gloss. Has an antistatic effect, so the surfaces will be protected from dirt and dust for a long time.
Fabric care product. For soft upholstery, door upholstery and interior. Reliably removes dust and dirt. Thanks to this, the colors of the soft upholstery are refreshed. In addition, many products remove difficult to remove stains.
Glass cleaner (also as a foaming cleaner). Suitable for all glass surfaces, dissolves even difficult to remove dirt, such as insect remains, nicotine, fumes from polymer materials and oil deposits.
Care product for rubber products (containing silicone). For door, window and trunk seals, as well as for mats. Provides elasticity to rubber, prevents hardening at low temperatures, refreshes paints.
Anti-fog glass aerosol. Preserves glass after cleaning for several days (depending on the weather). After application to the glass, the aerosol forms a foamy film on it within a short time, which can be wiped off with dry soft paper. Glass cleaning wipes and window cleaning sponges are only auxiliary means.
Smoking in the car?
We will not speak for or against this topic. However, even if we ignore the fact that analyses have established a high risk of accidents when smoking while driving, we should warn that cigarette smoke in the car creates a dangerous concentration of poisons. Passive smoking increases the risk of bronchitis, asthma and allergies in children.
Nicotine deposits on the windshield impair visibility, especially at night and when the sun is low on the horizon. In this case, a glass cleaner and a rag can help, but air fresheners will not do much good. Products such as Febreze, Rauch-frei-Spray and Smoke-Ex, which are sold in stores at petrol stations, are good against the bad smell that accumulates in the soft upholstery. If a lot of smoking has been done in the car, it is recommended to treat it with neutralising ozone before selling it, although this procedure will take two days and will cost you 100 euros.
By the way, if the car has an air conditioner, then when the air conditioner is running in the air circulation mode, it is better not to smoke. The smoke that is sucked in from the cabin settles on the evaporator and causes a persistent smell.
Interior cleaning
1. Clean your car. Empty and wipe out ashtrays.
2. Fold the mats inside and take them out. Shake and beat the mats, vacuum if necessary.
3. Wipe the rubber mats. Note that the underside of the mats in the car dries poorly. A damp mat can cause a bad smell and mold stains on the fabric upholstery. Therefore, you should take into account the drying time.
4. Remove large dirt from the interior with a vacuum cleaner. For soft fabric upholstery, use fixed attachments, and for hard plastic surfaces, use attachments with a brush. In the case of smooth rubber upholstery, wet-clean the floor.
5. Clean the seat upholstery with a brush or vacuum cleaner, wipe off dust from other plastic surfaces. The heater fan drives dust primarily into the corners - here a brush will serve you well.
6. Clean with a brush (without using water) seat belts. If heavily soiled, wash the belts with a mild soap solution. Do not clean the belts with chemical cleaners, as these can destroy the fabric. Also, do not allow caustic liquids to come into contact with the belts.
7. Clean plastic parts, lamp diffusers, matte black castings and the instrument panel with a damp chamois. When doing general cleaning, never use gasoline or other solvents! Plastic may become stained and cannot be removed. Use care products for plastic products. Spray the surfaces, then rinse with clean water and wipe with a cloth. You can use a cabin spray, which smells good and has an antistatic effect.
Cleaning the inner surface of the roof
8. The inner surface of the roof - a shaped part that is usually upholstered with fabric - should only be cleaned if it is heavily soiled, and never wetted. Spray the roof surface with fabric care product, then wipe it with a sponge and terry cloth.
9. Repeat the treatment if necessary. Note: If you limit yourself to cleaning only the dirty areas, this may cause unsightly stains, so you should always clean the entire roof surface.
10. Treat the soft upholstery of the seats, as well as the fabric inserts in the side parts and interior trim, with foam for cleaning upholstery. Only special leather care products can be used to clean leather seats; these products also ensure the elasticity and flexibility of the seams. While the soft upholstery is wet from the cleaning agent, thoroughly vacuum it - this is the best way to clean the upholstery from dirt.
11. Spray the door seals with silicone care product for rubber products, the sealing and sliding surfaces can also be sprinkled with talc. This will also prevent creaking and cracking when closing the doors. By the way, you can also get rid of these noises by applying a creamy soap to the corresponding surfaces.
12. Clean the inside of the windows with a damp chamois or a clean soft cloth. If the glass is heavily soiled, treat it with ethyl or ammonia alcohol and warm water; you can also use a special glass cleaner. Then polish the glass with dry corrugated paper.
Upholstery care product removes dirt, dust and fresh stains. Apply foam to the surface to be cleaned and rub it with a damp sponge. Do not rub too hard, otherwise dirt particles will get back into the fabric. You can also use carpet cleaning foam.
It is necessary to inspect the condition of rubber door seals not only when the doors are already frozen in winter. Regulatory maintenance using silicone extends the service life of the seals. Replacing such seals can be quite expensive.
