Detailing a car’s interior requires more than the usual vacuum and wash job. It means that you need to be more attentive to the tiny details that add up to make the car look show-worthy. Start first with the interior so that you don’t have to worry about messing up the exterior while detailing the inside.
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Steps on How to Detail a Car’s Interior
- Remove and vacuum the mats, floor, trunk, upholstery, rear parcel shelf, if you have one, and the dash. Slide the seats all the way forward and then back to thoroughly vacuum the carpet underneath.
- Start from the top and work your way down. Dust or dirt that has accumulated up top could fall; dust or dirt that has accumulated at the bottom will rarely fall up.
2. Clean carpet or upholstery stains by applying a foam cleanser and rubbing it in with a damp cloth or sponge. Allow it to sit for a few minutes before blotting dry with a towel. If the stain doesn’t come out, repeat. After your final cleaner application, wash the area with a damp sponge and do final blotting.
- Make sure to try to get as much dampness from the fabric as possible. Any excessive dampness may promote molding and/or mildew, which does not fall under the definition of detailing a car.
3. Repair carpet holes, burns or small permanent stains by cutting the spot out with a razor blade or scissors. Replace with a piece you’ve cut from a hidden place, such as underneath the seat. Use a water-resistant adhesive to keep it down.
- Warning: Always ask the owner of the car for permission before doing this step. If you want, have a sample repair that you can show the owner of the car of what the process will look like. If it’s done well, this sample will be reassuring.
4. Wash rubber floor mats and dry. Apply a non-slip dressing so that the driver’s feet don’t slip and slide while they’re trying to do important things like braking.
5. Use compressed air and detailing brushes to get out accumulated dust from the buttons and crevices on the dash and interior doors.
6. Wipe hard interior surfaces with a mild all-purpose cleaner. Use an interior dressing like Armor All to finish it off.
7. Detail car air vent grilles with detailing brushes. If you’re not going to use liquids afterward, your detailing brushes should be a super-absorbant material like microfiber cloth, which picks up dust and dirt efficiently. Lightly mist some spray-on vinyl dressing onto the vent grilles to make them look brand new.
8. Clean or shampoo the seats. Cleaning the seats is essential for a good detail. But different seats require different methods. Note that after cleaning, you may have to vacuum out the seats or surrounding area again, as dirt will be loosened up by this process.
- Cloth interiors: Interiors with nylon or other cloth can be shampooed with a wet-vac extraction machine. Cloth should be adequately dried after extraction has taken place.
- Leather or vinyl interiors: Interiors with leather or can be cleaned with a leather or vinyl cleaner and then hit softly with a leather brush. Cleaner can be wiped away with a microfiber cloth afterward.
9. Condition your leather seats, if necessary. If you’ve cleaned leather seats with product, now’s the time to condition them so that the leather looks visually appealing and doesn’t dry out or begin to crack.
10. Spray glass cleaner on windows and mirrors and wipe clean. For stronger build-up removal, use 4-ought steel wool on windows. Use plastic cleaner if the gauge cover is made of plastic.
- Stick with microfiber cloth when you’re washing and wiping. If not microfiber, use a clean, lint-free cloth. You don’t want to leave fibrous residue all over the inside of the car in the process of cleaning up.