Great Indoors: Examples of Vehicle Interior Detailing by AutoLavish

[jlb85]

Most of our threads focus on the exterior of the vehicle. Paint correction, wheel cleaning, engine bays, etc. But interiors are important as well. Maybe less of a craft than paint correction but as much or more work, interior detailing can be quite involved. Here are some of the recent interiors we have worked on. Most of these cars had little to any exterior work done, and none are repeated in any other threads



The first vehicle we present is a 2002 Volkswagen Jetta TDi. The vehicle has almost 200,000 miles and is running strong.

We start by removing as much of the loose stuff on all surfaces before further cleaning.

The headliner had some staining from a previous attempt at cleaning the headliner. This was removed easily with low strength APC and a hard wipe with a short nap microfiber towel.

Surfaces were sprayed with medium strength cleaner and agitated, then wiped. Next, we used the steamer to "rinse dry" the cleaners and make sure all grime is out of the grain on the plastics.

The steamer is held slightly away from the surface the whole time.

Much better.

Door jambs were bad and 8 years dirty. We used various degreasers and the steamer to get the as clean as possible with the time constraints and budget we were working with.

Notice the black liquid staining the ground. All that came off the door jambs.

Much better:

Its first foam bath ever:

Afters of the interior:

 

[jlb85]

Afters of the exterior after a quick polish with an All In One type product.

The interior took 3 hours, and the exterior took 2 for a claying, clay, one-step polish and seal.





Next up is a 2007 Kia Sorento that belonged to a smoker. Little is to be said of this vehicle other than it was used as an ashtray. All of it. It took some serious cleaning to make it look like new. The vehicle had been cleaned prior to our arrival to the best of the new owner's capabilities. We will not work on a car like this again.

Jambs:

 

[jlb85]

Engine before:

Engine after. No dressings were used per request.

Wheels:

Wheels after:

Exterior:

A late night wash starting:

Paint was polished with an All In One type product.


Starting to clean the interior:

Door panel has APC dweling:

Yep, and it is quite effective:

 

[jlb85]

50/50 after just APC:

Better:

Everything got steamed multiple times:

Carpet got Amazing Roll Off and a god scrub:

Not perfect, but better:

Afters:

 

[jlb85]

In all this interior took 5 hours with another 2 on the exterior.






Next is a PT Cruiser that was caught in a rain storm with open windows. A few days later is was dry, but it smelled. The owner wanted to make sure there would be no mold left in the carpet. We couldn't assure it would be sterile, but we would do our best to get it as clean and fresh as possible.

The plan was to remove the seats, all of them, to gain access to the carpet. The vehicle was in overall good and clean condition, which helped hasten things.

Removing stuff:

 

[jlb85]

The interior was vacuumed, then washed with APC and agitated, wiped, steam rinsed, and topped with 1Z Cockpit Premium in strategic places. The carpet was vacuumed, then extracted using Microban Carpet Sterilizer. After, we applied steam for 15 to 20 seconds to all the carpet, and vacuumed once more.

Ready for leather cleaning:

Always remove any loose debris from the leather before applying cleaners, or it will turn into a mudded solution which can penetrate the seams and perforations in the leather, impossible to remove ever again.

For this rear seat we will try to remove what looks like dye transfer:

Started with the Soft Cleaner:

 

[jlb85]

a little better, but still needs power:

Now, Strong Cleaner:

More stuff:

Jambs were cleaned with strong APC and steam:

Loctite for bolts that hold seat:

seat frames also cleaned:

to factory specs:

The exterior got a quick wash and spray wax"

 

[jlb85]

Total time for this interior was 5 hours. The wash was free







Next is a thrashed SVT Focus that needed so much work it was insane. The vehicle had been sitting for a few years inside a shop. While protected from sun damage, the dust was thick and everywhere. Underneath, though, was a car in decent shape. Once cleaned up this vehicle would be ready for the market.

Wheels needed some love, but were in overall decent shape:

The interior was the main focus of the cleaning:

 

[jlb85]

We started cleaning the engine:

Removing the seats for easier access:

As clean as they are going to get:

Door is coming along nicely after APC and a good scrubbing:

The rest of the interior looks much better. No extractors or steamers were used ☹:

The exterior was washed, clayed, and one-step-polished with Klasse AIO and a white pad under the PC. The result was better than expected! Corrected many of the swirls and added some decent gloss and protection:

 

[jlb85]

Thanks for reading!

g!!

 

[Mike McDonald]

Amazing. They all look excellent!

 

[Rayaz]

Really nice work! Especially nice to see every day cars get such great treatment.

 

[Toymachine2009]

Yup.. I like doing interiors more than exterior personally. I love seeing carpets and mats lighten up and stains coming out. What steamer did you use?

Cant the steamer pretty much be used on all surfaces to make cleaning easier and faster.. and just use a cloth to wipe away all the dirt after the steamer lifts it out of crevices..

 

[papimikey]

WOW very nice work. What kind of steamer do you use. A lot of steam in some of those pictures. Brand and model.

 

[Rob T]

Those interior before and after pics are amazing!

 

[ToySupra727]

WOW very nice work. What kind of steamer do you use. A lot of steam in some of those pictures. Brand and model.

I picked 1 up @ harbor freight right @ $100.

Works great :dblthumb2:


Beautiful turn arounds BTW top notch work sir

 

[jlb85]

Amazing. They all look excellent!

Really nice work! Especially nice to see every day cars get such great treatment.

Those interior before and after pics are amazing!

Thank you, gentlemen!

Yup.. I like doing interiors more than exterior personally. I love seeing carpets and mats lighten up and stains coming out. What steamer did you use?

Cant the steamer pretty much be used on all surfaces to make cleaning easier and faster.. and just use a cloth to wipe away all the dirt after the steamer lifts it out of crevices..

WOW very nice work. What kind of steamer do you use. A lot of steam in some of those pictures. Brand and model.

I picked 1 up @ harbor freight right @ $100.

Works great :dblthumb2:


Beautiful turn arounds BTW top notch work sir

Thank you sirs! The steamer is generic Wagner household steamer, and works great! For the interior I try to keep it away from the softer surfaces or the ones that are coated, like Audi/VW soft-touch consoles. I just keep it slightly above the surface, and just move slow and easy. I also find that although the steamer has good cleaning power, tough stuff and grease needs to be chemically weakened or the steam to be as effective as possible. You do not want to leave the stream of steam constant over any one area to keep it from heating up too much, even on the door jambs and wheels. APC does wonders as an effective agent to break open the grime, wiping with microfiber picks up most of the loosened grime, and steam come in after and removes the rest, leaving a (hopefully) chemically free surface. I wipe dry with a clean MF, and maybe top off with 1Z Cockpit Premium if the surfaces need some conditioning.

Thanks again to all!

 

[LegacyGT]

Great work!

Wanted to give you a heads up, it looks like on the focus you have dust on your camera sensor. It is not in every picture, but a number of them.

See that dark dot at the bottom right ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------^

 

[Detail]

I love looking at super clean high end stuff I'll never touch. But the reality is I enjoy this type of work the best. That KIA was indeed, killed in action. Holy cow...I smoke in my own car and can't IMAGINE it ever looking like that. Just wow. Amazing turn around.

I have a carbon copy of that focus to do in the next months. We'll see what I can do. It's just as bad, dude lives in his car, almost literally.

Only thing I'd like to add is that with as much seat removal as you guys do I HIGHLY recommend getting a cordless impact gun, Makita 18v white ones are the bomb. Get one, you'll never look back.

 

[Grizzly]

You guys are the great detailers.