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man showing how to clean a car’s interior

Car Interior Detailing Ultimate Guide: Tips & Best Products For How To Clean & Avoid Damage

February 2022

Cleaning the interior of your car will certainly not make it run faster or shine brighter. But it will definitely improve the air quality and your overall driving experience. Here's how to clean a car’s interior using Nexgen products.

Considering how often we use our cars, regardless of whether it’s for commuting or for the sake of adventure, it’s no wonder they need regular upkeep.

But when it comes to car care, it seems like every little thing — think dust, dirt, salt, sun — can easily become a threat. Fortunately, these challenges can be met with a bit of know-how and the best car detailing products available.

Whether your four-wheeled friend is a sexy convertible or a reliable SUV, it will still need regular maintenance, from the mechanical and electrical systems all the way up to its aesthetic finishes.

A clean car interior will add to both your pleasure and the vehicle’s longevity, not to mention it will help maintain its resale value.

The Importance Of Interior Car Cleaning

Just as the exterior of a car gets dirty, its interior also suffers the consequences of wear and tear.

In the end, it’s the interior that gets in constant contact with our clothes, our pets, our skin, our children, and everything else we might bring inside that can leave stains and marks. There’s so much going on inside a car that's no wonder why the signs of wear and tear are quick to show.

In other words, a clean car doesn’t just happen by magic. You make it clean.

Whether you’re a new vehicle owner or you’ve been behind the wheel for some time, at some point, you’ll want to know how to clean your car's interior properly so that it looks as impeccable and fresh as day one.

Sure, you can spoil your car with a professional detailing session. But why pay all that money when you can do it all by yourself?

Don’t know where to start? Let’s dig a bit deeper into this and see how you can clean your car’s entire interior using just two products from Nexgen — that won’t cause any damage.

What To Include In Your Car Interior Cleaning Session?

A car’s interior has plenty of surfaces that need cleaning, and it’s important to know what you’re dealing with from the get-go.

If you want to master the know-how on how to clean a car interior, here are the surfaces you need to pay attention to:

The dashboard - This is one of the most obvious and largest parts of a car’s interior. It also includes the steering wheel.
The upholstery - Your car’s upholstery is the one surface that can take the biggest hit when it comes to wear and tear, so it requires extra attention.
Carpets and mats - Even if you are the only one using your car, its carpets and mats are the ones to attract all the dirt and debris from your shoes, clothes, and other objects.
Windows and window seals - Cleaning the windows is an obvious requirement. Be sure to also include the window seals in your car interior cleaning session.
Air vents - It’s essential that you clean air vents properly as they are the path through which you get fresh air inside the cabin.
Air Refreshing - And, since we’re at the part of cleaning air vents, it would be a shame if you don’t refresh the air by using an air freshener.

What Is The Easiest Way To Clean a Car Interior?

If you wonder how to clean your car’s interior fast and without hassle, you need powerful products created especially for this purpose.

However, you still need to be careful and remember that not all that works for your upholstery will also work for the windows or the dashboard. Research before buying and using a new product. Not paying attention to this may cause irreversible damage.

Thankfully, the Nexgen Interior Cleaner is designed to clean and protect many of the car interior’s surfaces: leather, plastic, carpet, vinyl, wood, and cloth. With this product and a window cleaner such as the Nexgen Glass Cleaner, you’re more than ready to clean your car's interior like a pro.

How Do You Clean a Car Interior?

Wondering how to clean the car’s interior?

Let’s take the entire process step by step. Car interior detailing may seem fancy at first, but, actually, all you need to do is follow these simple tips and use the right cleaning products.

1. Start By Clearing Up The Interior Space

You’d be surprised by how many things your car’s interior can collect over time. From empty packaging, extra layers of clothing, papers, leftover foods, and so on, our cars have seen it all. So make sure that before you proceed to brushing and sweeping, you first empty out your car by discarding everything into a garbage bag.

2. Clean The Dashboard, Center Console, And Door Panels

Apply the Nexgen Interior Cleaner product on a microfiber towel and wipe everything clean — the door panels, the center console, the steering wheel, and the dashboard itself.

Take another clean microfiber towel and wipe off any excess product from the surfaces which have been previously cleaned.

You can even use a cotton swab for those extra tight spots you feel are too tiny to reach with the cleaning cloth. Be sure to also clean the glove box. Do this on both the outside and the inside of the glove compartment. While at it, wipe the interior surface too.

3. Remove The Carpet Mats

As you may have already noticed, your car’s carpets are protected by the mats on top of them. Remove the mats and clean them thoroughly before you get to the carpets, which may be full of hair, dirt, grime, and anything else you can imagine.

4. Vacuum

Before you get to the deep cleaning part, use a powerful vacuum cleaner to remove all the debris and residue. Vacuum carpets, mats, and seats.

Next, attach a crevice tool and get into all fthe car’s hard-to-reach places, including the seating’s odd angles. Start with the back seats and work your way to the front.

5. Clean The Leather And Vinyl Surfaces

To get started, get your detailing brush ready since you’ll be dealing with more delicate surfaces. When learning all the ins and outs of how to clean a car interior like a pro, taking care of its leather surfaces needs special attention.

Gently use a soft brush on all the vinyl in your car, as well as on your seats, if they’re dressed in leather. Be gentle on the leather seats, even if they show stubborn spots. It’s better to be steady and persistent rather than quick and aggressive — you may damage the leather to a point of no return.

At the end, apply a leather conditioner like Nexgen Interior Conditioner to hydrate and prevent the leather from losing elasticity and cracking.

6. Clean The Carpets

Once you have the carpets in clear view, be sure to clean pet hair off if there’s any. This tends to sink deep into the fabric and ends up being quite pestering to remove.

For this part of the process, you can use either velcro or duct tape to lift all the hairs right up. In the meantime, be sure to have a container with warm water handy because you’ll use the Nexgen Interior Cleaner to clean the carpets too. Once you finish, let them air dry, if possible, and make sure to also have clean floor mats ready to put back inside the car too.

7. Clean The Windows

Apply the Nexgen Glass Cleaner on a microfiber towel or directly on the window and then use it on the interior and exterior windows of your car — don’t forget about the rear window. When drying the windows, make sure that you dry each side in different directions — this is an extra tip that adds to your efficiency.

Follow all these steps above, and you’ll be able to proudly say that you know how to clean the car interior like a professional detailer.

Are Household Products Any Good At Cleaning a Car’s Interior?

There are, of course, alternative options you can use to clean the interior of your car, and some involve household products. Don’t expect them to be as efficient as a professional product, but if you are in a hurry or want to learn how to clean the car interior using natural products, it pays to know these tips and tricks too:

You can use a mix of vinegar and water in a ratio of 1:3 and use this cleaning solution on the car’s dashboard.
A few drops of flaxseed oil or olive oil can enhance the shine of the center console and dashboard.
For stains and tough odors, baking soda is the one household ingredient that can make it all go away. Identify the spot you want to work on, sprinkle the baking soda on it and let it work its magic for a while.

A Final Word

Regular washing and detailing services for your car, inside and out, will not only maintain its appearance but will help protect it from oxidation and other damages.

A clean car is a happy car. The more your vehicle is maintained and protected, the longer it will last — and the less you’ll be spending on trying to bring its looks back.

Although it may sound complicated, cleaning your car’s interior is far from being a difficult job. In fact, with a bit of patience and the right information, you too can master the know-how of how to clean a car’s interior without causing any damage.

All you need is the right cleaning products and dedication to follow all our recommended steps. By the end of the cleaning process, you’ll have a squeaky clean car interior with a fresh scent and an enviable shine level.

At Nexgen, you can get top-quality car detailing kits and ceramic coating products that have been tried and tested by thousands of users. Become a VIP customer and get 40% off all future purchases and free express shipping — we deliver all across the US. If you have any questions, just contact us!