Detailing your car’s interior is an essential part of maintaining and preserving your vehicle as a whole, and since we, as car owners, spend almost all our time in the interior cabin while driving, it’s important to ensure it’s a well maintained, clean and sanitary environment not only for ourselves but also for our passengers. 

Now being that most of us spent a lot of time in our cars commuting every single day, drinking and even eating in our vehicles at times as well as accumulating dirt and dust in our car interiors from nothing more than normal use, it’s important to stay on top of their maintenance not only for their appearance but also for our own well being and health. 

So just like our homes and workspaces, car interiors also need regular cleaning and maintenance to make them pleasurable, inviting, and safe environments to be in. A car interior can quickly become an overwhelming task to clean or detail if left untreated for long periods of time, but with just a minimal amount of time, effort, and just some basic interior detailing products, it can be an extremely quick, affordable, and satisfying process to give your vehicle’s interior cabin a weekly or even monthly clean depending on your particular needs and circumstances.

What's involved?

Your first step should always be removing personal items that sometimes get in the way of cleaning your car’s interior as well as floor mats to ensure you have access to all the areas that need cleaning. This should be followed by a good vacuuming of all the seats, carpets, and areas that contain dust and dirt, and you can even use a little brush to dust out more intricate areas as you vacuum. 

Next, it’s time you use an interior cleaner such as Auto Finesse Total to breakdown and remove surface grime. In many cases, you can simply spray this onto a microfibre cloth and proceed to wipe down your car’s interior plastics, vinyl and even cloth seats and carpet, but if your car’s interior requires it, you can also use your cleaner with an interior detailing brush for increased cleaning abilities and then use your microfibre cloth to wipe the area down. 

Now although a general interior cleaner should be fine for almost all car surfaces and materials, for those of you with leather seats and trims, it’s really best to use a dedicated leather cleaner for them. Although a quality leather is quite a strong and durable material, it can also be quite sensitive to cleaning chemicals that can strip its protective coating, or in the case of older uncoated leather, certain cleaning chemicals can remove its dye. 

A gentle but extremely effective car leather cleaner such as Nv Cleanse is perfect for cleaning your leather seats and trims and can be used much in the same way as your general interior cleaner by applying some to a microfibre cloth and wiping your leather down or alternatively using it with a leather brush for increased effectiveness. Additionally, a leather cleaner such as Nv Cleanse can be a perfect total interior cleaner for almost all surfaces if you are someone that regularly cleans and maintains the interior cabin and doesn’t require anything more aggressive. 

(CarPro Inside | CarPro Inner Scrub)

Finishing off

Your final step for your basic interior clean should be using a light interior dressing or detailer to both enrich the plastic, vinyl, rubber, and even leather in your cabin as well as lay down a little protection to help preserve it. A product like Auto Finesse Spritz will help re-saturate and bring a little vibrancy to your interior surfaces but without leaving a greasy or shiny finish. It additionally contains UV filters to help prevent sun damage and will also help rehydrate plastics, rubbers, vinyl, and leather. Additionally, Spritz can also be used with a microfibre cloth to give your entire interior cabin a quick wipe down and remove dust in between more thorough cleans. 

(Economax Round Brush 5pk)

There you have it. A quick vacuum followed by a wipe down or brush with an interior or leather cleaner finished with a quick detailer and protectant and your car’s interior will thank you for it! 

Additionally, a product such as Nv Clarity can be used with a glass cleaning microfibre cloth to give your interior windows, mirrors, and even display screens a wipe down and you’re all set! 

No two car interiors are the same, nor is their use condition and your particular needs, but these basic car interior detailing products and methods used as needed will help you enjoy your vehicle’s interior cabin and make it a more pleasurable and nice place to be.