It’s important to spend time detailing the interior of your car as well as the exterior of your car. But many of us are unfamiliar with the steps involved in cleaning the inside of your car, and how to effectively protect your interior surfaces. 

Before anything… remove any rubbish

We are all guilty of it… leaving rubbish in our cars. Whether it’s a single chewing gum wrapper, or whether it’s a week’s worth of food packaging, at some point or other we all leave rubbish in our cars. So the first step is very simply clearing out your car, of any rubbish & even items you leave in your car permanently. Such as mints, gloves, de-icer, or shopping bags.

Hoover 

Next, you need to remove any loose dirt or debris from your car. This could be leaves or just loose dirt. By hoovering this away, you’re cutting down the time you’ll spend cleaning your surfaces. 

Now for the cleaning… 

We’d always recommend starting with your seats when cleaning your car’s interior. This means that if you knock any dirt or grime onto the floors of your car, it won’t matter. 

So, there are a few different materials that your car’s seats could be covered with. The most popular is probably fabric or upholstery, then there is leather, and then Alcantara. 

• Cleaning fabric seats 

Let’s start with fabric or upholstery. When cleaning this it’s important to use an effective cleaner that lifts dirt and marks without damaging the fabric or changing its colour. Our FAB upholstery cleaner is a highly effective, foaming upholstery cleaner. It removes dirt, grime, and watermarks from fabrics. For light marks, spray FAB onto a microfibre towel, and firmly wipe the surface, ensuring to make movements in one direction. Once complete, pat the surface dry with a dry clean microfibre towel. 

For heavy soiling and marks, spray FAB directly onto the affected surface. With an interior detailing brush, agitate the product into the material until foam is created. This lifts the dirt and grime from the upholstery. Then remove the foam with a clean dry microfiber towel, and pat dry. 

• Cleaning leather surfaces 

Leather seats require a little more care and consideration when cleaning. It’s important that a cleaner is gentle, but still effective at removing stains and marks. Our leather car seat cleaner is safe to use on all leather surfaces, including modern and vintage leather surfaces. The formula quickly penetrates into the leather surface and removes ingrained dirt and grime without removing any of the leather’s natural oils. 

If you’re cleaning any leather surfaces within your car, we’d always recommend applying a leather conditioner afterward. Revive, our leather conditioner, restores leather to its original look and feel. This unique blend of waxes and oils enhances your car’s leather. 

• Cleaning Alcantara 

Alcantara is a material much like suede, except it’s made using no animals, and is vegan. However, it’s not very common, which could be because it’s such a delicate fabric. Our Alcantara cleaner has specifically been designed to safely and efficiently remove this kind of material. But without the need for any significant wetting of the surface or over-enthusiastic agitation. 

• Floor cleaning 

Now for the floors, and probably the dirtiest part of any car’s interior. We put our feet into the footwell of a car every day, and our shoes can be covered in mud and all different kinds of dirt. Whilst we understand that your footwells will never always be spotless, cleaning them regularly will mean there is less chance for permanent marks. Cleaning your car’s carpet is made easy with ‘Magic Carpet’. It contains a special odour neutraliser and optical brighteners, as well as a spectacular lemon fragrance. 

• Cleaning your car’s interior glass 

You have a specialist glass cleaner for the outside of your car, so it’s only right to use a glass cleaner inside your car. Since 2005, Crystal has been a popular product with many AD customers. This solvent-based cleaner is a powerful product that removes dirt, grime, fingerprints, grease, and food. Its high flash-off formula means as soon as it’s applied it can be wiped off, and buffed, taking dirt and grime with it. Use alongside our enforcer glass towel, for a great finish. 

• Cleaning and protecting plastic, chrome, and rubber surfaces 

Once your seats, floors, and glass surfaces inside your car are clean, it’s time to tackle all your other surfaces. Plastics, chrome, and rubber surfaces will need to be wiped clean. Our Pink Sheen Finish Plastic Dressing is a non-greasy, anti-static dressing. Simply spray the product onto a microfibre applicator or directly onto the surfaces you want to clean. Afterward, buff away with a clean and dry microfiber cloth. This product cleans, shines and conditions surfaces all in one, It also provides a long-lasting matte/ satin finish for all vinyl and rubber surfaces. 

• Making your car smell great 

The finishing touch to cleaning your car’s interior is using an air freshener. Our aerosol blast air freshener comes in over 10 fragrances. It sanitises the air and removes odours, leaving behind a great-smelling fragrance that lasts.