How To Thoroughly Clean Car Upholstery Like A Pro

By Cornelius Nunev

Your vehicle's upholstery will become soiled by everyday grime, food, smoke, sweat and other fluids, sprays, powders and salves. Continuous contact with the blazing sun only makes things worse. Here's the best way to clean your vehicle's upholstery so that you will not be humiliated for your date to see just how terrible you are when you're cruising by yourself.

Driving only please

When you are trying to keep your vehicle clean, you need to keep away from doing anything other than driving in the automobile. The vehicle needs your full attention, or you can take a break to get something such as food if you need to. This will keep your vehicle much cleaner.

Fire up the vacuum

You have to have a day-to-day cleaning routine with your home, and your car should not be any different. If you use a vacuum in the car regularly, it will lift the upholstery fibers which make it harder for dirt to set in later on. Vacuum the mats separately from the rest of the automobile and make sure you get under the mats. You can use different vacuum parts to make sure that you get all the little places in the car.

You can shield your vehicle with spot repellents such as Scotchguard. Even if you think it is a little bit expensive, it is worth it in the end.

Cleaning leather

One nice thing about leather is that it is water resistant usually. That means a spill will not seep through as long as you take care of it right away. All you need is a damp cloth and you can clean anything. Do not use leather-cleaning goods unless you have a more severe spot. In fact, you can get away with just water unless you spill something such as ink or nail polish.

Dealing with rubber and vinyl

Specialty cleaners may also be needed for rubber and vinyl upholstery surfaces. Some home remedies will even work. With vinyl, try baking soda on a damp rag, followed by a rinse with dishwashing detergent and water. Considering that rubber and vinyl are even more susceptible to sun damage, an interior protectant could be a good investment.

A couple of extras

Dilute coffee spills with cool water and blot. If the spot remains, soak with glass cleaner and blot dry after 5 minutes

Let greasy stains sit in paint thinner and salt or cornmeal overnight and then vacuum the area. Make sure you test it in a different area first

With salt or hairspray, you can get rid of stain from ink

To be able to dilute the acid in vomit, you can use club soda or baking soda and water

Getting rid of blood is simple with dry laundry starch and cold water mixtures. Just put it over the blood and let dry. Vacuum in the morning

Dilute alcohol spills with cold water

When brightening fading carpet, all you need is a mixture of half-cup of ammonia and one pint of water. This only works if you do not have wool carpet. Just sponge the carpet with the mixture after vacuuming

Getting rid of fleas and flea eggs will take two applications of Borax. Just let it sit for an hour and vacuum. It will even get rid of smelly carpet

Hate carpet static? Mix five parts water and one part liquid fabric softener and spray on carpet upholstery

If you are sick of carpet imprints, you can use iron on low over a damp towel to get rid of it. You can melt things if you leave the iron there though.

Keep the mats on your car looking good with liquid shoe wax polish

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