Tidy Up Your Car's Upholstery

By Cornelius Nunev

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

Driving only please

Whenever you try to keep your automobile clean, you need to stay away from doing anything other than driving in the vehicle. 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 car much cleaner.

Every little thing needs vacuumed

General day-to-day maintenance of your vehicle's upholstery begins (and sometimes ends) with the vacuum. Do this regularly, just as you would inside your home, as it lifts the upholstery fibers upright. This makes it more difficult for future dirt to set in. Use a specialized car vacuum with interchangeable parts that are intended to reach into the contours of vehicle upholstery. Whenever you do this, remove all floor mats so that you can vacuum underneath, and then vacuum the mats separately before returning them to the floor.

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

Keeping the leather clean

One nice thing about leather is that it is water resistant generally. That means a spill will not seep through as long as you look after it right away. All you need is a damp cloth and you can clean anything. Do not use leather-cleaning products unless you have a more significant stain. In fact, you can get away with just water unless you spill something such as ink or nail polish.

Solution for cleaning

There are a ton of other things in the vehicle, such as vinyl and rubber that need to be cleaned. It might be a good idea to get an interior protectant to be able to help with the vinyl and rubber to defend them from sun damage. If you use baking soda on a damp rag, you can clean vinyl effortlessly. Just make sure you use dishwashing detergent and water to rinse it afterwards.

More about upholstery cleaning

With cool water, you can dilute coffee spills. After that, you can soak in glass cleaner for 5 minutes before blot drying if the stain stays there

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

Use hairspray or salt on pen ink stains in carpeting

In order to dilute the acid in vomit, you can use club soda or baking soda and water

Mix laundry starch and cold water to cover blood. After letting it dry, you can vacuum it away

Dilute alcohol spills with cold water

Brighten fading carpet by first vacuuming, then sponging it lightly with clear ammonia and water. The mixture is a half-cup of ammonia to one pint of water. Note: Do not use ammonia on wool carpet

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

Static carpets can be rid with a fabric softener/water mixture. Just mix five parts water with one part softener

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.

Use liquid shoe wax polish on your car mats to keep them looking brand new

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