Most of us spend hours in the car every week, so it doesn’t take long for crumbs, dust, sand and coffee spills to build up. A properly cleaned interior feels better to sit in, smells fresher and helps your car hold its value. The good news is you don’t need a detailing studio to get great results — just the right order of work and a few basic supplies.
What you’ll need
- A vacuum with a crevice tool and soft brush attachment
- Several clean microfibre cloths
- A soft detailing brush (an old make-up brush or paintbrush works well)
- Mild all-purpose cleaner or interior cleaner
- Upholstery or carpet cleaner for fabric seats
- Glass cleaner
- A bucket of warm water
1. Empty everything out
Start by removing rubbish, loose items, child seats and floor mats. It sounds obvious, but cleaning around clutter is where most people lose time. Check the door pockets, under the seats and the boot while you’re at it.
2. Work from the top down
Professionals always clean from top to bottom so dust and crumbs fall onto areas that haven’t been cleaned yet. Use your soft brush to loosen dust from air vents, buttons, the steering column and seams around the dashboard, then vacuum it up straight away.
3. Vacuum thoroughly
Slide the front seats all the way forward and vacuum underneath, then slide them back and do the front. Use the crevice tool along seat rails, between the seats and the centre console, and in the gaps around the seat belts. Finish with the carpets, working in overlapping strips.
4. Clean the floor mats
Rubber mats can be scrubbed with warm soapy water, rinsed and left in the sun to dry. Carpet mats should be vacuumed on both sides, then treated with a little carpet cleaner on any stains. Make sure they are completely dry before putting them back, or you’ll end up with a musty smell.
5. Wipe down hard surfaces
Spray cleaner onto a microfibre cloth rather than directly onto the dashboard, so it doesn’t drip into electronics. Wipe the dash, console, door trims, handles and steering wheel. These are high-touch areas, so they collect more grime than you’d expect. Use a second, dry cloth to buff away streaks.
6. Treat fabric and leather seats
For fabric seats, lightly mist upholstery cleaner, agitate it with a soft brush and blot with a clean cloth. Don’t soak the fabric — less is more. For leather, use a dedicated leather cleaner and follow with a conditioner to stop it drying out and cracking in the Aussie sun.
7. Do the glass last
Clean the inside of the windows and mirrors after everything else so you’re not getting dust or overspray on them. Use one cloth to apply the glass cleaner and a second dry cloth to finish. Wiping horizontally on the inside and vertically on the outside makes it easy to see which side any streaks are on.
8. Deal with smells at the source
Air fresheners only mask odours. If your car smells, look for the cause — food under the seats, a damp mat or spilled drink in the carpet. Once it’s cleaned, leaving the windows down for a few hours on a warm day helps clear the air. A small open box of bicarb soda under a seat will keep absorbing odours between cleans.
Keep it clean for longer
Keep a small bag for rubbish in the car, give the dash a quick wipe once a week and shake out the mats whenever you fill up with fuel. Little habits like these make the next deep clean much faster.
Short on time? While we focus on homes and businesses, the same top-to-bottom method is how our team approaches every house clean. If your carpets at home need the same treatment, take a look at our carpet cleaning service.
