10 Best Auto Detailing Heated Carpet Extractor

Best Auto Detailing Heated Carpet Extractor in 2023

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Maintaining the Interior of Your Vehicle is a Really Easy Do it Yourself Job for Almost Anyone

Tips on how to clean each major area of your car in order to keep it maintained in good working order, and to save you money on car interior detailing.

There are a few areas that the average Do It Yourselfer can maintain on cars without special tools or extensive training. The most common five are: floor mats and carpets, glass, dash steering wheel and console, knobs, levers, switches and seats.

Lets begin with the simple things that we can do to maintain the interior of your car. First thing we can almost all do easily is to deep clean the interior, which will bring out the shine on all surfaces. I prefer to use Murphy® oil soap on the interior of a car that I am cleaning as it leaves a very nice smell and you get a great shine on things like plastic, vinyl and leather. I mix it in about a five or six to one ratio with warm water. This can also be used in a stronger dosage of about three or four to one for washing the car body as well. Be prepared to re-wax the car when done since this may strip away the existing wax on your car.

I use a small Bissell® carpet and furniture cleaning machine called the Big Green Deep Cleaning Machine. It is the perfect size for using on cars because it is so small. It looks like something out of an old "Jetsons" cartoon television program. This is very portable and when you use it with the cleaners that are sold to work specifically with this system you will get a professional carpet cleaning job done on your car for a fraction of the cost of having an auto detailing shop do the work.

One of the simplest things you can do are to use the vacuum at the self serve car wash and make sure to get in between and under the sets really well. You can use this vacuum nozzle directly on your cloth seats as well. If you use a liquid cleaner you should do it sparingly and only in spots big enough to finish right away so that you do not soak through to the foam padding inside the seat. There is almost nothing that feels stranger on your bottom that a wet car seat right?

If you have leather seats, and want to clean these you can use any mild soap with warm water. Mix up your small bucket of Murphy® Oil soap with warm water then dip a clean towel into the solution, wring out excess liquid then wipe the leather in a circular motion in a few different directions. Once you have wiped the entire area that you are cleaning, take a dry cloth and buff the leather dry in a swift circular pattern.

The dashboard can use the same oil soap treatment as the leather seats. The dash panels and gauges are typically plastic and they can scratch easily so you have to use a very soft clean cloth with a mild non abrasive cleaner. Once the dirt is cleaned away you can use another clean clothe and wipe once with window cleaner. Also cleaning the levers knobs and switches can be tricky since some of these can be recessed and others are surrounded by obstacles which makes it difficult to assess them from all angles. You may need to get creative with cotton swabs a coat hanger and some duct tape to make an extension to get deep into the crevices.

Once you are done with the dash you can use the same cloth that you used on the dash with window cleaner on the all of the glass. This one job can make or break a car cleaning project since it is the one place where even the smallest smudge makes it seem like you never even cleaned the car. Take your time and do the glass inside and out.

One place most people often miss when cleaning a car is the door jambs and the door edges, and these are areas which collect a lot of dirt. This is also the location where you will get grease and grime on your new clothes when heading to that new job interview! For this area and other tight spaces like inside the glove box, center console, and around switches shafts and knobs I will use the Murphy disposable wipes. These are also very helpful to keep in the car for use in between major cleanings.

A specific and simple maintenance item that is perfect for a Do It Yourself person is to re-mount your rear view mirror once it falls off the windshield. This used to be a professional only kind of job but now you can buy a nice little kit which has all the things in one that you need for cleaning and mounting the window and the metal mounting block.

The trick to doing this is to use a razor to scrape off all the residual glue that was left behind when the mirror was initially installed. Then using your mirror mounting kit you can apply the cleaner then the glue per the instructions and then hold the mounting pad against the window for 30 to 60 seconds. It is really important to let this "set up" before you attach the mirror. I have found that waiting overnight usually does the trick.

Another tip is to make sure that the weather is conducive to this kind of project. It helps the glue set up properly if it is at least 70 degrees outside and not raining. I never do this kind of job in direct sunlight. This can cause the glue to dry too fast and then it will not adhere properly.

So in a matter of a few hours and for less than ten bucks in supplies you can clean your car interior just like the professionals do. This is also great exercise since you are outside and off the couch for the afternoon.

For information on Murphy® Oil Soap please visit:
www.colgate.com/

The Bissell Cleaning machines can be seen here:
www.bissell.com

Rear view mirror mounting kits can be found at almost any auto parts store and even at the automotive department of a large retail chain store.