Dilutable Interior Cleaner

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DetailZeus

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I'm looking for a dilutable interior cleaner to use for regular light cleaning. 3D LVP cleaner is my front runner but I can't figure out what the correct dilution ratio is supposed to be. I see 1:1, 4:1, 10:1. I also read that the small bottle is RTU but the gallon is supposed to be diluted? I'm also eyeing Griot's Interior Cleaner but I don't think that has a recommended dilution. AMMO's "Lather" looks nice but is too expensive for my use. A bit of foaming action when agitating with a brush would be good but not a must. I'm leaning away from just using a rinseless wash or diluted APC and more toward a dedicated interior product. I'm looking for more "interior cleaner" rather than "interior detailer" but I don't want to split hairs over the difference. I don't need SIO2 or graphene in my interior product. Any luck with these above or other recommendations?
 
DetailZeus said:
I'm leaning away from just using a rinseless wash or diluted APC and more toward a dedicated interior product. I'm looking for more "interior cleaner" rather than "interior detailer" but I don't want to split hairs over the difference.
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Why would you lean away from those products if they work well and are most likely products one already has?
I'm of the opinion if a product works well then use it. Don't need five different products to accomplish a task. Unless having endless products is ones thing. We all know how that plays out. End up chasing the ultimate product and accumulating a bunch of products that go unused. But the car detailing products industries will love it.
 
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Optimum Power Clean has been in my collection for 13 years

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BLM said:
Why would you lean away from those products if they work well and are most likely products one already has?
I'm of the opinion if a product works well then use it. Don't need five different products to accomplish a task. Unless having endless products is ones thing. We all know how that plays out. End up chasing the ultimate product and accumulating a bunch of products that go unused. But the car detailing products industries will love it.
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Agree on all points. For my personal vehicles I use DIY Rinseless since they are well maintained and never need more than a wipe down. Every 3 to 4 months I dress with CarPro Perl for protection and keep it moving. On customer vehicles I use P&S Xpress since it has a bit more cleaning power for less maintained vehicles. A gallon is pretty cheap and can be diluted 1:1 making it an amazing value.
 
one thing for sure....it aint rocket science to figure this one out.
Keep it simple.....

Super clean @ 10:1....is a great light duty cleaner.........cost next to nothing at that dilution...
 
BLM said:
Why would you lean away from those products if they work well and are most likely products one already has?
I'm of the opinion if a product works well then use it. Don't need five different products to accomplish a task. Unless having endless products is ones thing. We all know how that plays out. End up chasing the ultimate product and accumulating a bunch of products that go unused. But the car detailing products industries will love it.
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It doesn’t seem unreasonable to me to have a basic interior cleaner on hand. Rinseless is perfectly fine with a microfiber (I have Wolfgang Uber) but doesn’t agitate well with a brush. APC might be overkill as my interiors stay pretty clean. But I imagine a diluted non-caustic APC isn’t all that different from the product I’m looking for. I do like to keep a tight collection of products.
 
If you are looking for a safe, effective and dilutable interior cleaner, then Koch Chemie Pol Star will have you sorted across all surfaces except glass.

Pol Star was primarily designed for carpet and fabric, but its so versatile. For absolutely filthy interiors, I use it at 6:1 and it does everything an alkaline APC can do but in a safer pH neutral formulation. That neutrality means you can use it safely on leather as well, eliminating a separate leather cleaning product. I've also found Pol Sar doesn't seem to dry out interior plastics and leather like APC does.

I know one of the drawcards of Pol Star is the ability to have it mixed up at a heavy and light dilution, but if I'm reaching for an interior cleaner, I clearly need something more than what a typical interior detailer or rinse-less can do, so I only have it mixed on the strong side.

I also really like Xpress as it too is pH neutral, lathers up just as well as Pol Star and I actually like the scent (Pol Star is fragrance free, which might suit some people). The drawback to Xpress is its less concentrated, so even if you dilute it, so you end up using more to do the same job.
 
DetailZeus said:
It doesn’t seem unreasonable to me to have a basic interior cleaner on hand. Rinseless is perfectly fine with a microfiber (I have Wolfgang Uber) but doesn’t agitate well with a brush. APC might be overkill as my interiors stay pretty clean. But I imagine a diluted non-caustic APC isn’t all that different from the product I’m looking for. I do like to keep a tight collection of products.
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I shudder at thought of using strong APC's on interiors, because unless you are dealing with mud caked carpets and oil deposits, you just don't need APC. Considering the high alkalinity of these heavy-duty APC's, you are basically spraying a wheel and tyre cleaner on your interior, that doesn't compute for me when pH neutral will do the job just as well without smashing your interior.
 
DFB said:
If you are looking for a safe, effective and dilutable interior cleaner, then Koch Chemie Pol Star will have you sorted across all surfaces except glass.

Pol Star was primarily designed for carpet and fabric, but its so versatile. For absolutely filthy interiors, I use it at 6:1 and it does everything an alkaline APC can do but in a safer pH neutral formulation. That neutrality means you can use it safely on leather as well, eliminating a separate leather cleaning product. I've also found Pol Sar doesn't seem to dry out interior plastics and leather like APC does.

I know one of the drawcards of Pol Star is the ability to have it mixed up at a heavy and light dilution, but if I'm reaching for an interior cleaner, I clearly need something more than what a typical interior detailer or rinse-less can do, so I only have it mixed on the strong side.

I also really like Xpress as it too is pH neutral, lathers up just as well as Pol Star and I actually like the scent (Pol Star is fragrance free, which might suit some people). The drawback to Xpress is its less concentrated, so even if you dilute it, so you end up using more to do the same job.
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This does seem like what I’m looking for, especially since it can be diluted pretty heavily. Bonus that it can be used on fabric.
 
DetailZeus said:
This does seem like what I’m looking for, especially since it can be diluted pretty heavily. Bonus that it can be used on fabric.
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This is how it lathers on leather.





It also works really well with one of those scrub ninja pads.







Be it plastic or leather, I like how it wipes away and doesn't leave a sticky residue behind.

You can also put it into one of those pump action foamers, which is nice for leather, or preventing over saturation of Alcantara and suede.

 
LOVE my scrub ninjas 🥷

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I have never used it but people dilute carpro's inside down to 1:5 for light cleaning.
 
Bosko said:
H2O and a few microfiber towels goes a looooooong way when light cleaning interiors ....just a thought... 😉
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I do this on the garage queens, especially the Mustang and XR8.
 
If you haven’t tried Meguiars D101 APC Concentrate @10:1 I think you’re missing out. That’s what I’d recommend, especially over any PH neutral interior detailer product because IMO you end up having to work harder and even then things sometimes just don’t feel/look as clean as they should be.

On maintenance vehicles, D101 can usually clean things up on the 1st try with a simple wipedown without the need for aggressive scrubbing or harsh pads, but it can also knock out some pretty grimy situations at that same dilution when paired with a brush + it foams pretty good.

The only thing it doesn’t do at a top level is finish completely streak free on glass or clear plastics. It’ll clean them, but you’ll probably want to follow those areas up with a separate finisher product of your choice whenever you’re going for perfection.

The main areas I do a last spot check after APC is usually the door handles, woodgrain, center console/radio buttons, infotainment screens, and instrument cluster clear plastic.

9/10 I Only use a finisher product on infotainment screens & instrument clusters.
 
Eldorado2k said:
If you haven’t tried Meguiars D101 APC Concentrate @10:1 I think you’re missing out. That’s what I’d recommend, especially over any PH neutral interior detailer product because IMO you end up having to work harder and even then things sometimes just don’t feel/look as clean as they should be.

On maintenance vehicles, D101 can usually clean things up on the 1st try with a simple wipedown without the need for aggressive scrubbing or harsh pads, but it can also knock out some pretty grimy situations at that same dilution when paired with a brush + it foams pretty good.

The only thing it doesn’t do at a top level is finish completely streak free on glass or clear plastics. It’ll clean them, but you’ll probably want to follow those areas up with a separate finisher product of your choice whenever you’re going for perfection.

The main areas I do a last spot check after APC is usually the door handles, woodgrain, center console/radio buttons, infotainment screens, and instrument cluster clear plastic.

9/10 I Only use a finisher product on infotainment screens & instrument clusters.
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Good to know when I finish my gallon of Poorboy's APC. Poorboy's feels a little strong for the interior. I don't see sodium hydroxide in D101 which already makes me think it'll be better. I finish the interior by wiping the inside glass with glass cleaner anyways so a quick pass on the nav screen is no big deal.
 
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