How To Clean Car Upholstery

How to clean car upholstery is an area of car care that is often neglected. Many people are confused with proper cleaning car upholstery techniques and products. With so many materials used within your cars interior, it is no wonder so many find this area overwhelming to the point where they do nothing.

• Do I need to bust out a steam cleaner just to clean my carpeting?
• What do I use to clean my car seats?
• How can I clean all the vents and gauges on my dash that collects so much dust?
• It would be nice if I simply knew how to clean my floor mats.
• Any help for baby car seats?

If you are looking for answers to any of that above, then you have come to the right place. I have taken an often confusing area of car care and simplified it for you with "How to clean car upholstery".

Tools of the Job

First you will need to assemble a few tools; most of which people tend to already have around the house.

• Terry cloth towel
• Plastic scrub brush
• Tooth brush
• Make-up brush

Believe it or not, these four simple tools will be all you need to do 98% of all your interior cleaning needs. The only exception would be for big liquid spills which a carpet extraction machine comes in handy for; for most people, this will be never be needed.

The Secret Upholstery Cleaner

This might be anti-climatic to you, but the big secret upholstery cleaner is not much of a secret. There are many choices out there as far as upholstery cleaners go, but since I am keeping this "How to clean car upholstery" topic basic as possible, I make this suggestion to people since it is such a universally well known and available product.

Simple Green

• Custom dilute to suite your cleaning needs
• Bio-degradable
• Non-toxic
• Non-flammable
• Non-abrasive
• Economical

The Technique

How to clean car upholstery is no rocket science here either people...just like the tools; basic and simple! Start simple and go from here. I recommend a mix ratio of 1:30 to start with. This means 1 part Simple Green to 30 parts water; using distilled water is even better if you have some of that around the house.

• Spray area to be cleaned
• Scrub with scrub brush
• Mop up with cloth
• Repeat if needed

You can use this cleaner and technique on virtually every surface and every material within your cars interior. The only exception as per product warning is to avoid the clear plastic lens of your cars gauges located behind the steering wheel. Follow the "How to clean car upholstery" tips and I will discuss specific areas to help out further:

Carpeting, Cloth, Fabric

• Vacuum first.
• Spray cleaner on area to be cleaned.
• Scrub using scrub brush to break down dirt.
• Mop up dirt and solution using firm, back and forth pressure.
• Repeat as necessary; better to do repeated light applications rather than one heavy application.

Leather, Vinyl, Plastic

• Spray area to be cleaned.
• Scrub with scrub brush; those green Scotch-Brite pads are also very effective instead of the scrub brush here; but tread lightly when using.
• Wipe up cleaning solution and dirt with cloth.
• Cleaning the steering wheel with the Scotch-Brite pad is especially effective and easier than the plastic scrub brush.
• The Scotch-Brite pad is also very effective on any of these materials where often there is textures that dirt gets into; like hard vinyls, soft vinyls, and leather. Yes, this is completely safe on the smooth, finished leathers of most car interiors. Suede is an un-finished leather and not recommended here.
• Apply common sense, and avoid scrubbing sensitive materials like plastic gauges, fine wood, metallic plastic trim pieces, etc.

Vents and other tight areas

• Use the make-up brush to dust the vents and controls of your dash area.
• The tooth brush is effective as a scrub brush in all the tight recesses of your cars interior.

Baby Car Seats

Because cars and kids go hand in hand, I have added these additional "How to clean car upholstery" tips to include a little something regarding baby car seats. Because car seats can be disassembled, your car interior cleaning can often be more thorough. The following steps offer additional tips of cleaning these "urchin restraining devices."

• Washing appropriate covers and padding in the clothes washer is the most ideal.
• If you are unwilling to disassemble, then spot cleaning will tide you over.
• Most mom's and dad's underestimate how much liquids such as milk, juice, etc., actually spill, so lingering smells often reside underneath the cloth liners of the seating areas of the baby seats.
• Make sure you clean hard plastic base of baby car seat with cleaner to remove any spills that may have seeped through.
• Treat area after cleaning with Febreze or other odor control spray as needed.
• Seat belts of the car and baby car seats are especially difficult to thoroughly clean. Use soda water to flush and clean seat belts as well as possible. If smell lingers, try application of Febreze product.

Additional Tips of Upholstery Cleaning

In my "How to clean car upholstery" tips, I have done my best to simplify and area of car care that most people neglect due to uncertainty of product selection and technique. I find most people feel overwhelmed by the many materials within their cars interior, and therefore end up doing nothing.

• Consistent maintenance is king when it comes to a clean and fresh interior; a little concentrated effort goes a long way.
• It is never too late; if you have neglected the interior, start small and clean one section at a time and be amazed at your results.

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