I couldn't give you one good piece of advice on keeping your exterior clean, but I do have a few quick tips on keeping your interior looking fresh.

I caught a slight case of OCD from an old friend when it comes to keeping your cars interior fresh, and every time I work on a customers car, 99% of the time they are dirt bags, with dusty, filthy, and shiny a$s interiors.

Since you're obviously in the car every time you drive, you look at the interior more than do you do at the exterior, and I love having a clean, dust and shine free interior, and love getting complimented from girls saying how my car is so clean for a mans car.

1. Stop using ANY Armorall product, if you have one in your car... do yourself a favor and go throw it out right now. You have no clue how many countless products of Armorall I see in customers back seat or trunk. I can't tell you what it does to the vinyl/leather/plastic in long term, but it sure does look like ****... your car didn't come all oiled up from the factory first day you got it, it was nice and dull... keep it that way.

2. Cleaning the edges and gaps between panels... every time you wipe your dashboard/center console/door panels, you end up pushing dust and dirt into the creases and gaps between the panels. Get yourself a paint brush from home depot, 2-3" brush is good enough, make sure it's not too soft because it'll be harder to pick up the dirt from the gaps. Run the brush through every line of dirt you see, and you'll notice how easy it picks all the dirt out of there. It's great on air vents as well. If the base of the brush is metal, wrap it in something to keep it from scratching the plastic panels on your interior, electrical tape should work fine.

3. Once you stopped using Armorall, and cleaned out the dirt out of your gaps between the panels, air vents and seats it's time to wipe down the interior. The following product is the only product I use when it comes to wiping down my interior of any dust, or stains.

Murphy's oil soap
Murphy's is your boy when it comes to cleaning leather. It is usually intended to clean hardwood floors and furniture, so you won't find it in the automotive stores, but you will find it among the household cleaning products in places like Home Depot, or any local HardWare store. It's cheap and it works like a charm.

- Mix 1/4 cup Murphys oil soap to 5 cups of water in the container you have available.

- Take a clean (I use a new microfiber every time) microfiber cloth and submerge it in the solution and ring it out, you want it damp, not wet.

- Pick an area to start and clean in sections, using a circular motion and gently pressing on the panel/seat.

- After cleaning your area, take the dry cloth and gently buff dry, using the same circular motion. On plastics and vinyls like the doors and dashboard, it will dry on it's own, so drying it isn't mandatory, but it is on your seats.

I use this method to clean every panels on my car, it smells nice, doesn't damage anything, and gives the interior and nice dull look like it does straight from the factory. If your interior happens to be shiny in some of the places, take a magic eraser from Mr. Clean, and lightly scrub that area, clean it with with Murphys and it should look much better.

4. I like to always keep a fresh microfiber or two in my door panels in case I see any stains, I wipe it down right away so it doesn't do any damage to the seats or vinyl.

5. Vacuum the interior at least once a week, otherwise your new dirt just pushes the old dirt further underneath your seats where it's impossible to get to unless you remove your seats. In general... key is to clean as often as possible, so next time you're cleaning up, it's a lot quicker and easier.

6. Try keeping anything other than papers and magazines out of your back seat pouch, it stretches the **** out of those pockets, and when you take all your crap out, they sag like a grandmas vagina.

7. If you're a smoker, keep your ash tray closed whenever you're not smoking, I see way too many smokers leaving their ash tray's open with ash all over the interior.

8. Keep a box/pack of wet wipes in your car. I carry a pack of Kleenex Moist Wipes in my glove box all the time, every time I get in the car after working on a car, or eating food, or doing anything dirty... I wipe my hands down. Keeps all that dirt away from your shifter/steering wheel and w/e else you often touch in your car, once in a while I'll take a wipe and wipe down my steering wheel and shift **** as well. Having a small bottle of Purell Hand Sanitizer works well too.

9. Keep an air freshener, or spray in your car for a refreshed smell... Here's a small tip you guys didn't hear from me.... every time you're in a bathroom or a restaurant (usually a nice one), check to see if they have the automatic air freshers that spray every 15 minutes... they should be high up on the wall, if you can reach the box and open it... you'll find a small cute bottle of some banging a$s scent, most of the time it's a fruity scent that smells great... and they're not sold in any stores, it's sold to commercial businesses only. If the bottle has a nozzle that you can push, pocket it... if it's just a small pin with no nozzle, leave it... it's useless. Bitches love fruity scents, and it's icing on a cake with your clean interior.

That's pretty much it for now without going too crazy into detail... I love having a fresh interior, and so do my passengers. Stop being dirt bags and clean your interiors a little more often... I get disgusted every time I ride in someone elses filthy *** car.

 

"1. Stop using ANY Armorall product, if you have one in your car... do yourself a favor and go throw it out right now. You have no clue how many countless products of Armorall I see in customers back seat or trunk. I can't tell you what it does to the vinyl/leather/plastic in long term, but it sure does look like ****... your car didn't come all oiled up from the factory first day you got it, it was nice and dull... keep it that way."

I would put this on the one dollar bill if I cold. Armorall caused increased fading on my A4's leather seats.

 

...........

Thanks for the tips, I'll try the brush one!
Some people still love that new car smell, that's why I haven't switched to any scents yet.

 

Just a suggestion, maybe you can offer a detailing service with your customer when they bring in their car. So when they come to pick up their newly modded car, it's also in brand new clean condition.
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I don't even know the smell of the new interior anymore... I've driven about 15 different brand new cars that I put over 1000 miles on each just this year alone, so this brand new smell people speak off... I don't even smell it anymore, I didn't even smell it in my brand new G.

If I only had the time, I'd offer a professional photoshoot with it as well. Most cars that get big jobs done end up getting a free hand wash, and full interior clean up.

 

Thanks Igor. What would you suggest on how to clean dirt stains off the beige cloth headliner??

 

No new car smell here either. Just the open top smell. Some good tips. I need to vacuum on the next wash I do.

 

i use this great stuff....the smell is awesome (rich leather) and lasts a long time...i forget now but may have been put on to the product from these forums...

i buy two products, the Z-10 which is a leather cleaner and the Z-9 which is a quick spray cleaner. From company called Zaino. google it!

 

+1. Mine is SUPER dirty from all the dust we get over here. not easy to clean either.

 

try these out

303 Cleaner & Spot Remover - 32 oz | Detailed Image
303 Fabric & Vinyl Cleaner - 32 oz | Detailed Image
Chemical Guys Fabric Clean - 16 oz | Detailed Image