# Back to basics interior cleaning



## Clean_Image (Oct 26, 2005)

I recieved the following e-mail today,



> Hello Clean Image
> My name is Tom, a 16yr old with a nice little earner cleaning cars in my village, I am desperate to expand my range of skills.
> At the moment I clean windows with proper window cleaner, shampoo and dry and that's it, my customers ask me about inside cleaning but I'm not sure what I need to do this to a valet standard
> Can you help me please with what I need to offer a proper valeting service?
> Your help will be much appreciated.


I think this is a good place to answer this question, and get some ideas.
Obviously, I can tell Tom the methods, equipment and chemicals we use, but seriously doubt that he wants to spend out on an extractor (at around £400+) or buy carpet shampoo in 55 gallon drums.
However, I really don't think he will want to go out and buy the whole Meguiars range either, Tom is running this as a business as young as he may be. So I'll try and give some simple cost effective solutions and you guys can chip in your suggestions.

You will often hear that household products should not be used on cars, but the rules change when it comes to interiors. There are plenty of household products you can use and these are often far cheaper than car care products, and often missing from car care product ranges.

The first product you should think about is a Shake'n'Vac type product (I use Neutradol). They work in your house and there is no reason they won't work in a car. When you start a job, sprinkle the product over the inteior and then go do the outside of the car, then come back and vacuum it up once you are done waxing the paintwork.
The only problem with this product is they do have an odour of their own, some people might not like it if you make their car smell like a house - the alternative is to use bicarbonate of soda (you will pick up many useful tips watching Kim and Aggie  ).
Of course, this suggestion much depends on you having a vacuum cleaner, one of those Henry type vac is pretty much the industry standard, even for extractors. http://www.henryplus.co.uk/

But that's about as far as you should go unless you really want to go professional and get yourself insurance. These days the car manufacturers pack the cars full of extras to make the car more saleable, leather upholstery, heated seats, MP3 players, computers galore and air-bags all over the place. Unfortunately, they don't need to build this stuff to last as most people who buy new cars get a new one every three years, so often the build quality and design quality leaves a lot to be desired. If a seat has heating and sensors and all that other electronic nonsense, don't expect it to be waterproof. On some other cars, the computers that control all the air bags are under the passenger's footwell, so forget about shampooing the carpets!
We pretty much have to carry out an inspection on every car to try and locate all the electrics, these will dictate weather we can use a shampoo machine, steam machine, foam cleaner, or just a damp cloth. 
Another problem is the actual quality of the fabric and leather on modern cars. The leather often isn't leather, it's vinyl on the backs of seats, door panels etc. Often it's only the base and the upright this is leather. As for the leather, this is often very very poor quality. With older cars, they would take a hide and shave it into three layers. The bottom layer is suede and the top two layers can be used for various parts of the upholstery. But these days they use a chemical process to swell the leather, and then computer controlled machinery to shave the leather into ten layer (yes, 10 layers). This leather is then pressed and stamped with a leather texture (general rule of thumb is that the heavier the leather pattern, the lower quality the leather as the texture is used to hide imperfections). The Leather is then laminated between fabric and a clear breathable vinyl. So in effect, your leather is just vinyl with a leather veneer sandwiched in between.
The fabric on many cars is terrible and often suffers from drying marks. If you pour a clean glass of water onto a car seat, there is a very good chance it will cause a stain/ring as the water dries. I'm afraid that we neither know the cause or the solution to this, except to use dehumidifiers and special chemicals to aid drying.

So you should stay way from shampoo or making upholstery wet, and take great care with any leather.

Never underestimate the power of good old fashioned soap and water. This will solve most interior problems. I suggest you get a bucket of soapy water and synthetic chamois leather and a large Microfibre cloth and wash your interior. It is essential to wash the windows if you want your glass cleaner to work well. Wipe them over and then leather them off to remove all the grim, this way you won't find yourself pushing this stuff around with the glass cleaner.
You should also wash all the interior plastics with your damp leather - please note that I say 'damp'. You do not want to have water dripping down the dashboard and going into the electrics!
This should be enough for most interior plastics - most people don't actually like the plastic dressed and shiny. But if you do find an interior dressing that you like, that gives a subtle sheen, then make sure you spray it onto a cloth and not directly onto the dashboard - wet stuff makes electrical stuff explode.
And again, a damp synthetic chamois leather or a large Microfibre cloth will do a reasonable job of cleaning upholstery, especially a Microfibre. For more stubborn stains or really dirty areas you can get a spray foam cleaner.
If you can find a trade supplier, you can get these products for very little money. A general purpose cleaner would be a good start. And you may be able to get spray foam for about £2 a can if you buy 16-24. One spray can will pretty much do one car, so charge an extra £2 and you haven't lost anything.

Actually, having a good supplier is essential for getting good results AND not wasting loads of time with the wrong products. I'm sure that many of the guys here will recommend that you use Meguiar's and AutoGlym products etc, but these are retail products and sold at premium prices - unless you can charge premium prices for your services, you are better off buying trade and buying in quantity (5ltr or 1 gallon) from a company such as www.valetpro.co.uk - I have tested many of their products and they are good quality. 5ltrs of Multi Surface Cleaner will cost you £8.50 and probably last you all of next year. The other good thing about having a good supplier is that you can pick up the phone or send an e-mail and they give you the benefit of their experience and be able to recommend products and the best way to use them.

There is another important tip I have, and that is not to rely on products, instead rely on knowledge. There are articles on the internet that will teach you about different kinds of dirt, and different kinds of soaps and solvents. Always start off with the safest option and don't be in a hurry to plaster loads of product all over your customer's upholstery. If you let them know that you are still learning and that you would rather be safe than sorry, they won't mind if you don't remove that stain or mark and let you have another go next time when you are better equipped.

You could also buy a detailing brush set, although, any of the brushes we used are designed for de-scaling fish, or for grooming pets! We also use paint brushes and wire brushes.

A 3-4" paintbrush is essential. But remember to wrap some insulation tape around the metal furrel to prevent scratches. Use this for getting dust out of air vents and other hard to reach places.









You should also get a large scrubbing brush (we use fish de-scaling brushes) for use on carpets and upholstery to help remove grime.
And if you can get one, a rubber brush is the best thing for removing pet hair… a pet shop is probably the best place to find one.

Then you only need a good quality leather cleaner and a conditioner. And maybe an air freshner.

And that should pretty much start you off! Elbow grease and good old soap and water will handle the vast majority of interior problems.
There are hundreds of other products to remove odours, add odours, and to clean up everything from smoke damage to flood damage - greasy marks to chewing gum. But before you go out any buy bio-active agents and dry-cleaning fluids, you should probably just start off with some lighter petrol (the kind that goes in a Zippo lighter) or surgical spirit, this will remove most of the greasy marks and rubber/plastic scuffs.


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## WHIZZER (Oct 25, 2005)

dan great write up


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## L200 Steve (Oct 25, 2005)

Very nice write up Dan.

Thanks for sharing 

Steve


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## 182_Blue (Oct 25, 2005)

wow, what a write up, excellent work, i look forward to others on different matters


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## Alex L (Oct 25, 2005)

Great write up Dan,

its funny you mention the leather and vinyl thing as i had to endure QVC the other day( girlfriend beat me to the remote ) and they had some leather clothes that was a leather/vinyl mix and i did wonder to myself if they used this in cars as it was cheaper


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## Brazo (Oct 27, 2005)

Good write up I'm doing my first (customer) interior this week so that was useful!


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## AndyC (Oct 25, 2005)

Fantastic article Dan


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## BENJY (Oct 26, 2005)

great write up mate!


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## DKK (Mar 2, 2006)

Thanks for the info :thumb:


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## PootleFlump (Jan 1, 2006)

Great write up. I'm glad I'm not the only person who thinks that many everyday products designed for the home are just as good as the big names but at a 1/10 of the price.


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## Triple Trouble (Feb 20, 2006)

A thoroughly enjoyable read. Thanks.


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## Benn 304r (Feb 21, 2006)

excellent write up m8!

I work for a landrover dealership and we use diluted tfr on the interior, great for oil stains etc and never had any mishaps with it yet.

For dog hair removale we just use our fingertips lol, works very well though.


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## deadeye (Apr 24, 2006)

Has anyone used saddle soap to bring the matt look back to good quality leather?

The leather in M3's is good quality, but goes shiney very easily (and seems to crease easily)

I thought perhaps that using something like this (my wife has some as she likes naggs) may at least make all the seats look the same.


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## dominic84 (Jan 27, 2007)

I find that evenly spraying seats with a good interior cleaner, agitating with a brush and then wiping clean with a chamois leather works very well. The seats stay dry as very little cleaner needs to be applied and the chamois of course absorbs any excess moisture.

I have a steam cleaner that personally I don´t think can be beaten for cleaning seats - I steam the dirt to loosen it, then wipe clean with either a chamois, microfibre or terry towel.

Only yesterday I used my steamer on the cab of a van, the seats where very dirty but came up great.

Spray extraction vacs are OK for carpets but I personally think they make a real fuss out of cleaning seats. Of course some ´dirt´ such as dog´s mess, mould, sick etc wouldn´t be viable to clean up without one.


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## JSH3 (Feb 5, 2007)

I'd like to add my voices to the throng. Not only was the information useful, but also very well written. Having been a technical author in a previous life (for my sins) I really do appreciate a nicely-composed, well-thought-out guide... Well done, that man! :thumb:


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## micken (Jan 12, 2007)

Excellent article, very readable and a good source of encouragement and information.

Sticky?


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## HeavyMetalHero (Jul 27, 2006)

Never thought about using brushes designed for other purposes until i read this, many thanks mate.


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## TriBorG (Feb 14, 2007)

Excellent Writeup


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## wannabe painter (Mar 6, 2007)

Fantastic write up mate.. 

I got a weekend job at a local dealership just doing the car washeswhen I was at school, then moved on into doing it myself in my spare time. 

I bought a George from the numatic range, about 200.00 but Ive got to say 5 years on and its still going strong. It really does open your range of services. I still have customers from when I was 16 that used to walk past my house and watch me cleaning cars all weekend.. Its great, because they trust that I know what Im doing, and keen to go the extra mile for a top result.. 

All I use for interiors is All Purpose Cleaner diluted 10-1 a hand scrub brush/megs slide lock brush and megs pet hair brush. Then just wizz it all up through the George. Any dressings I use are non silicon unless specifically asked for (super shiney). It just gives a nice odour and makes it feel all fresh on doors cards etc.. 

Its nice to see such a youngen keen to get into this hobby. 

Anyway, Ive waffled enough, so best of luck.


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## HeavyMetalHero (Jul 27, 2006)

Quick question, what's a george?


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## megaboost (Feb 4, 2007)

HeavyMetalHero said:


> Quick question, what's a george?












It's the wet and dry one I think?


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## HeavyMetalHero (Jul 27, 2006)

ah i understand now, thanks


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## wannabe painter (Mar 6, 2007)

Thats the one, its a domestic use wet vac, it does the job for most levels unless your a pro detailer etc.


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