How to clean your car's interior like a pro

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A clean car is a happy car. Your car deserves to be happy. For some it’s therapeutic (raises hand) and for others it’s a necessary evil. Whichever end of the spectrum you fall on, cleaning the inside of your car is necessary maintenance that isn’t difficult to do. The hardest part is deciding to do it. Keeping the interior of...

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[64 kiwi boni]

Oh, i have been putting off cleaning my wife's Mini, its a mess, and i have been waiting for a rainy day as it will take me 4 hours to completely detox it.

Half of the issue is that its black, and Black shows up every scratch, even with its ceramic coating 

Dont get me wrong, she is a good girl but man can she trash her car.... 🤣

my work van is cleaner than the boss's car😜

Edited April 11, 2020 by 64 kiwi boni

[JUSTA6]

Must be something they all do.  Can't wait for them to clean it......inside or out.   Worst is the ever growing pile of drive through napkins. Glovebox, armrest.....good nite!

[Ringo64]

I refuse to set foot in my girlfriend's car because she treats it like a trash can. I seriously don't get it... at all. I would be so grossed out driving every day in a trash can.

[TWO LANE BLACK TOP]

Guess I must be lucky...Mrs. Two Lane is actually pretty good about keeping the trash and debris shoveled out of her car...Her thing is running on empty all the time..Has me wondering if there is some obscure law somewhere that says it's illegal or immoral for women to put gas in their cars...Everytime That I get in her car it is always 99.99% of the time nearly out of gas and I'm lucky to make to the gas station...Without having to walk...Have actually had it run out in the driveway or just as I pull up to the pump a mile away....More than once...

Edited April 12, 2020 by TWO LANE BLACK TOP

[64 kiwi boni]

8 hours ago, TWO LANE BLACK TOP said:

Guess I must be lucky...Mrs. Two Lane is actually pretty good about keeping the trash and debris shoveled out of her car...Her thing is running on empty all the time..Has me wondering if there is some obscure law somewhere that says it's illegal or immoral for women to put gas in their cars...Everytime That I get in her car it is always 99.99% of the time nearly out of gas and I'm lucky to make to the gas station...Without having to walk...Have actually had it run out in the driveway or just as I pull up to the pump a mile away....More than once...

Thats just what happens to me too!! 

i now have a drum of petrol in the shed just for that reason!! HAHA

[Frosty]

I think my wife is allergic to washing her car or cleaning it out. She waits for me or the kid to do it. Oh sure she may get the occasional car wash to get the road salt off during the winter but never in the summer. 

As for pumping her own gas - FORGET ABOUT IT. She will literally drag me or the kid to the gas station with her to pump it for her. Grrr....

Naturelly she complains how dirty my truck gets all winter.

[Ringo64]

48 minutes ago, Frosty said:

Naturelly she complains how dirty my truck gets all winter.

Seems about right  

[Frosty]

3 hours ago, Ringo64 said:

Seems about right  

Stay single Ringo.

[64 kiwi boni]

Bit the bullet and cleaned the wife mini today, little car, piece of cake !!! NOT

i started at 10 am, and its 3.45pm and finished😡 

 i even found the garage door opener she lost 2 years ago, covered in chocolate glued to the blind side of the passenger seat😦

 oh and one little thing that i wont be telling the boss about...... a rat has chewed the sound insulation under the hood !🤨

 

 

any way its beer o clock 

stay safe everyone 

[Stewy]

7 hours ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

i even found the garage door opener she lost 2 years ago, covered in chocolate glued to the blind side of the passenger seat

LOL 😄

 

7 hours ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

i started at 10 am, and its 3.45pm and finished

That's actually pretty good! When I detail any of my vehicles (I'm the "car cleaner" in the family), I budget at least a week of down time for the vehicle (detailing typically only in the evenings - can't forget the day job!) while I detail the outside and inside. Even with keeping the cars (in and out) clean year-round, I still do a "full detail" every six months so if the cars were really dirty I have no idea how long it would take me to do a "deep clean".

For Ren (show car), I used to budget 40 hours for an in-and-out full fall detail (and that's even with keeping her METICULOUSLY clean year-round) right before her winter hibernation however that time allotment has been totally blown out of the water to the point where I start her fall detail the second week of October each year and hope I'm done by October 31st. My spring detail, however, typically takes less time as when her cover comes off around the beginning of April I just need to do a "sprucing up" from her winter sleep (don't get me wrong, spring detail still takes a while!).

So question to everyone (@Ringo64?), is there a dedicated detailing section of the site? After making multiple checks, I don't see one (and thought about starting one) - but I've been known from time to time to miss things right in front of my nose -  and I want to make sure I'm not duplicating anything. I've been doing automotive detailing for 20+ years now and it's something I LOVE doing. It's exhausting but I LOVE the shine at the end!

Edited April 13, 2020 by Stewy

[Frosty]

Stewy I'll let you demo on Lucy or the Roadmonster when we get out of this mess! Cash could be involved. Nah, scratch that - beer and pizza is the universal currency amongst hot rodders.

[Ringo64]

9 hours ago, Frosty said:

Stay single Ringo.

Think at this point, more harm will come if I don't propose to her

1 hour ago, Stewy said:

So question to everyone (@Ringo64?), is there a dedicated detailing section of the site? After making multiple checks, I don't see one (and thought about starting one) - but I've been known from time to time to miss things right in front of my nose -  and I want to make sure I'm not duplicating anything. I've been doing automotive detailing for 20+ years now and it's something I LOVE doing. It's exhausting but I LOVE the shine at the end!

We have quite a few independent car wash/detail topics, however, nothing official for all users to post in. 

We do have the Car Show forum which is really any pics about your Pontiac. Could be a good place for this: https://foreverpontiac.com/forum/7-the-pontiac-car-show/ 

[Frosty]

2 hours ago, Ringo64 said:

Think at this point, more harm will come if I don't propose to her

Wounds heal. You'll be able to walk again - unaided - eventually. It's amazing what you can live through and not die.  

[Last Indian]

4 hours ago, Stewy said:

LOL 😄

 

That's actually pretty good! When I detail any of my vehicles (I'm the "car cleaner" in the family), I budget at least a week of down time for the vehicle (detailing typically only in the evenings - can't forget the day job!) while I detail the outside and inside. Even with keeping the cars (in and out) clean year-round, I still do a "full detail" every six months so if the cars were really dirty I have no idea how long it would take me to do a "deep clean".

For Ren (show car), I used to budget 40 hours for an in-and-out full fall detail (and that's even with keeping her METICULOUSLY clean year-round) right before her winter hibernation however that time allotment has been totally blown out of the water to the point where I start her fall detail the second week of October each year and hope I'm done by October 31st. My spring detail, however, typically takes less time as when her cover comes off around the beginning of April I just need to do a "sprucing up" from her winter sleep (don't get me wrong, spring detail still takes a while!).

So question to everyone (@Ringo64?), is there a dedicated detailing section of the site? After making multiple checks, I don't see one (and thought about starting one) - but I've been known from time to time to miss things right in front of my nose -  and I want to make sure I'm not duplicating anything. I've been doing automotive detailing for 20+ years now and it's something I LOVE doing. It's exhausting but I LOVE the shine at the end!

You should do something on there! I like to see other folks approaches to things! My cars don’t take me that long, but I have always been called very anal, with good reason I guess! 
If you add up all the time I spend on a particular car it might be that much! I wash and wax a car in the winter each time It goes out, plus I clean the interior, front to back, each area with its own type of treatment. All also clean the engine compartment and use special treatments there as well. In the summer, at least once a week if it doesn’t get rained on! The Indian  - - - that’s a whole other story!

[64 kiwi boni]

9 hours ago, Stewy said:

LOL 😄

 

That's actually pretty good! When I detail any of my vehicles (I'm the "car cleaner" in the family), I budget at least a week of down time for the vehicle (detailing typically only in the evenings - can't forget the day job!) while I detail the outside and inside. Even with keeping the cars (in and out) clean year-round, I still do a "full detail" every six months so if the cars were really dirty I have no idea how long it would take me to do a "deep clean".

For Ren (show car), I used to budget 40 hours for an in-and-out full fall detail (and that's even with keeping her METICULOUSLY clean year-round) right before her winter hibernation however that time allotment has been totally blown out of the water to the point where I start her fall detail the second week of October each year and hope I'm done by October 31st. My spring detail, however, typically takes less time as when her cover comes off around the beginning of April I just need to do a "sprucing up" from her winter sleep (don't get me wrong, spring detail still takes a while!).

So question to everyone (@Ringo64?), is there a dedicated detailing section of the site? After making multiple checks, I don't see one (and thought about starting one) - but I've been known from time to time to miss things right in front of my nose -  and I want to make sure I'm not duplicating anything. I've been doing automotive detailing for 20+ years now and it's something I LOVE doing. It's exhausting but I LOVE the shine at the end!

i for one would be keen to hear some detail tricks👍 Stewy

Edited April 13, 2020 by 64 kiwi boni

[Stewy]

8 hours ago, Frosty said:

Stewy I'll let you demo on Lucy or the Roadmonster when we get out of this mess! Cash could be involved. Nah, scratch that - beer and pizza is the universal currency amongst hot rodders.

Funny you mention that - I've been toying with the idea of starting a side hustle in the area of detailing 😉

 

25 minutes ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

for one would be keen to hear some detail tricks👍 Stewy

 

This is last year's spring detail to-do list (the fall detail list is longer...). This is actually outdated as I have added a few steps but have yet to update my spreadsheet. Even though I have the columns broken out into "Days", each "Day" actually takes me multiple days (2 - 3 depending on the specific steps). I mainly use this list not to schedule the detailing steps but to 1) remind me what to do and 2) remind me the order things need to be done in; I should really ditch the "Day" schema and restructure things to just be in the order they need to be done in.

 

I saw this meme a while back and got a kick out of it because it's SO true. What I should post (but don't currently have) is a picture of my shelves of detailing products and tools... I'm actually designing a new shelving unit (likely build it out of 2x4's & OSB) so I can house everything in one location.

Edited April 13, 2020 by Stewy

[Ringo64]

There's another meme which explains all the things briefly for the car and then for the shampoo the reason they use it is "It says 'shampoo'"

[Last Indian]

1 hour ago, Stewy said:

Funny you mention that - I've been toying with the idea of starting a side hustle in the area of detailing 😉

 

 

This is last year's spring detail to-do list (the fall detail list is longer...). This is actually outdated as I have added a few steps but have yet to update my spreadsheet. Even though I have the columns broken out into "Days", each "Day" actually takes me multiple days (2 - 3 depending on the specific steps). I mainly use this list not to schedule the detailing steps but to 1) remind me what to do and 2) remind me the order things need to be done in; I should really ditch the "Day" schema and restructure things to just be in the order they need to be done in.

 

I saw this meme a while back and got a kick out of it because it's SO true. What I should post (but don't currently have) is a picture of my shelves of detailing products and tools... I'm actually designing a new shelving unit (likely build it out of 2x4's & OSB) so I can house everything in one location.

I know exactly what you mean! Believe it or not this is just some of my stock! Right now I can’t get to some of the rest of it to snap a pick. 
 

these are only about a forth of the towels and micro fiber towels I have the rest are stored in the attic or in my shop.

 

this goes back 2 1/2 feet waxes cleaners polish etc.

Edited April 13, 2020 by Last Indian

[Frosty]

14 hours ago, Stewy said:

Funny you mention that - I've been toying with the idea of starting a side hustle in the area of detailing 😉

 

I could be part of that.

...and on the sixth day God created pigeons!!!

[Stewy]

LOL - love how the lint roller looks like it's on display 😁

 

 

I'm looking forward to building a much larger cabinet setup so I can keep all of my detail products and tools in one place AND have room to grow! Only thing, though, is I'm waiting, in part, until "recent events in the news" are no longer in the news so I can go to the lumber yard at a normal hour (and not be there right when they open) so I don't have to wait in line to get in 🤪

[Frosty]

Midnight Lumber? 😁

That's a lint roller? Looks like a empty TP roll !!! LOL!!!

[JUSTA6]

WOW.    Meguiars #7, Turtlewax chrome cleaner, Mothers mag (aluminum polish), Brillo (steel wool) for underside chrome and exhaust cleanup before polish, Windex, spray degreaser   (spray on rag for engine cleanup/plug wires), Armor all (interior), 303 for exterior trim/tires and about 8hrs of arm workout for ISCA show ready on my Sunbird.  1/2 that time for GTO top to bottom.  Daily drivers are cleaned but not detailed to the extent of the Bird or GTO.

Edited April 14, 2020 by JUSTA6

[Last Indian]

8 hours ago, Stewy said:

LOL - love how the lint roller looks like it's on display 😁

 

 

I'm looking forward to building a much larger cabinet setup so I can keep all of my detail products and tools in one place AND have room to grow! Only thing, though, is I'm waiting, in part, until "recent events in the news" are no longer in the news so I can go to the lumber yard at a normal hour (and not be there right when they open) so I don't have to wait in line to get in 🤪

Believe me Stewy, it’s not the cabinet space I lack! It’s just impossible to shove 1000 lbs of s- - t into a half quart bag! I JustA got way to much stuff! This is JustA in my shop that’s a separate room at the rear of my garage. I quite literally have enough engine oil, tranny fluid, antifreeze, solvents, lacquer thinner, nitrile gloves, kemtech precision wipes, SS bolts, nuts, washers, end mills, lathe bits, drill bits, and on and on! Then when I add in the car care products, steel stock of every metallurgy, shape and size, I don’t think I will every use half of it. And yet I still buy here and there! 

So you see there is no room at the inn!

No place to build a bigger cabinet!

 

I really need to start weeding out stuff!

Edited April 14, 2020 by Last Indian

[Frosty]

11 minutes ago, Last Indian said:

I really need to start weeding out stuff!

Pffhhhttt......as if. 

That's your heir's job pal!