How To Clean The Nook And Crannies Of Your Car

There are several reasons why you should do a thorough cleaning of your car. You carpool your kids or you often bring your pets with you on a road trip. Your car may be a constant carrier of supplies which seldom spill or drip that may cause some foul odor or a messy stain. You won’t have to think hard to see the value of a clean vehicle for your commute.

There are a lot of things that you can do on your own in your car. Simple maintenance and checks can go a long way to keep your vehicle in top form. As seen on DetailDIY, removing stains, polishing over minor scratches, or eliminating stench from your car can be done in the comfort of your home with commercially available devices. When you’re unsure of how to do things correctly, you can always read up to learn some tips and hacks for some of your projects in your car. For more details check pressurewasherify.com.

Here are some tips on cleaning your car’s interior:

Scrape of Stickers

Good stickers are easy to take out when you can lift a corner and carefully pull them out at a 90-degree point. However, others will leave a sticky buildup and require more attention. You can apply a degreaser with a rag and put it over the residual sticker. After a while, you can remove it with your regular suds.

Right Suds

Even though liquid dish cleanser is an extraordinary degreaser, it’s not the thing to use on your vehicle’s finishing. Although it’s effective against dirt, oil, and old wax, it takes significant oils out of the paint’s finish. If you use it often you might find yourself in need of another paint job.

Rather than dish cleanser, use a cleaner designed for vehicles. You can have two containers, one is where you’ll mix the shampoo and the other will be your rinse water. Frequently rinse your mitts with the rinse water to remove dirt and stain.

Foul Odors

You can use baking soda not only for stains as well as for getting rid of smells in your vehicle. You can sprinkle some baking soda on your seats and carpet and leave it there overnight.

The next day, just vacuum it up and you’ll be able to get rid of the foul stench that was absorbed by the baking soda. If you have leather seats, you can fill small plastic containers with baking soda. Apply them all over the vehicle, mainly on the nook and crannies, and at the very back of the interior to cover most of the area.

Remove Carpet Stains

The most ideal way to thoroughly clean your interior, particularly the floor carpet, is to use a portable cleaner. These equipment don’t remove dirt like a standard vacuum, yet they use a mixture of water and a cleaning material that douses into the floor carpet and is then sucked up by the machine — together with the stains. They are generally available for rent, but you can purchase smaller models as they’re worth it considering how regularly you use them.

If you want to use a natural compound and avoid a chemical-based carpet cleaner, you can soak it with vinegar, and then apply baking soda lightly over it. Bubbles will be then visible on the stained carpet and it’ll lift the grime. You can help the process along by scrubbing on the stained area with a stiff brush. You can also use this method on upholstered seats, but make sure you don’t soak too much vinegar as it’ll go through into the foam padding, and you will have to dry it out.

Slide the Seats

Everything you find behind car seats will amaze you. You can find a missing mobile phone, several pens and pencils, and enough cash for a few meals. You should slide the seats so you’ll have access to the area below it. Also, use the brush attachment for the door panels, dash, and other pockets.

Enzymes

When you live where there’s a winter season, you’ll most probably be dealing with road salts all over your carpets. These substances almost always harden when it dries. As an alternative to using a chisel on your carpets, you might want to use a spray-enzyme formula cleaner, designed to break down the hardened salt formations. These enzymes will make it easier for you to scrub it off and soak it out of your vehicle.

Polish

Polishing is often confused with waxing. However, they generally have different procedures. The former is done to get rid of surface imperfections and scratches. This process buffs the finish to have a shiny finish. Waxing, on the other hand, adds more gloss and the wax protects the finish from the outside elements. More often than not, people don’t do polish because they don’t want to spend the extra money on a polisher or the elbow grease to do the hand polish. However, pros never skip it because they believe that it’s the key to getting the best gloss for your car’s finishing.

You can apply a dab of polish to the pad and wipe it across an area of 4 square feet. Then use the polisher slowly to spread the compound over the entire surface. You can then increase the speed and let the machine do the job for you.

Windows

Since we’re talking about every nook and cranny in your car, you might want to check on places that you don’t normally notice unless you happen to have your gaze upon it. When you roll your windows down you might notice that line of grime that sticks along the top edge of the windowpane. You can use a surface cleaner to soften the grime and wipe it off with clean soft fabric.

Air Vents

Your louvers usually collect the most dust in your interior next to the carpet. It’s a little tricky since the vacuum and its brush attachment don’t actually get the job done. However, a cheap artist’s brush is fine, soft bristles can give your air vents a decent cleaning. Brush off the dust in the crevices and as the brush collects the dust, wipe it with a rag.

You can read more about certain articles if you have other concerns with your car’s detail or maintenance. But with these ideas, you can be assured that you’ll feel clean and fresh when you drive your car and that’s just a convenience that’s hard to pass.