Interior Cleaning - Over Chemmed....

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chefwong

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This may not apply for pro's who detail -incoming unknown- cars but this process was also shown on the video I am describing was a pro detailer and how he detailed his own car interior

Am I under doing it or have doing it wrong
The video just came into my feed showed a detailers showing how he cleans his interiors and for alot of surfaces (seats, dash, console, steering wheel etc), he was going to town with interior spray, brushing till it got nice and lathery/foamy for the (you tube video ) .......and then just taking a dry MF and wiping it off.

I'm the opposite when it comes to interiors. Compressor : pencil tip, blow out the cracks and crevices.
I use mainly WATER and alot of MF's to spray and wipe off surfaces.
Some high touch surfaces I may use Cockpit but it's used very very sparingly
On the steering wheel, I do use on average like 6 MF towels but this is just OCD me cleaning , not wanting to spread -hand oils- and doing quadrant areas and fresh MF"s on the steering wheel. It's a pet peeve. I like a uber clean steering wheel.

The only areas that mainly get's chems is generally the lower part of the door panels of the back of the front seats where's it's show scuffing. Chems can by anywhere from a very lite apc but sometimes it may require a High PH straight spray/dwell on said surface to remove show -stuff- that get' marred into the door panels.

I just could not see the whole concept of foam every surface and just wipe off with dry MF.
I pretty much like my touching surfaces as neutral as possible....
 
The foaming seems to be a trend among YouTubers. Personally, I'll wipe down with diluted P&S Xpress.
 
I never let my interior get dirty enough where I have to use an APC. I stick with ONR or an alcohol based interior cleaner.
 
CleanIT said:
I never let my interior get dirty enough where I have to use an APC.
Click to expand...

Same. And if i encounter someone elses "dirty" chit, ill just grab 3D orange degreaser....it does the trick.

Im not one to do someone elses interior, uless i know them and its not all hogged up. No amount of money is worth it. And if ya got pet hair everywhere or mcydees french frys....if the owner cant keep it clean of pet hair or food,dont expect me to do it for ya. Ive told ppl no b4, due to that.

And dont think im just being lazy...cuz i would say the owner of a pigstie is the lazy one...its just down right discusting

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That was my thing. I get a video needs to be entertaining.....to have the viewer watch the *whole video*, etc to make commish

But a pro detailer detailing his own ride....
I would think it would be pretty clean in general.
Lathering, foaming up consoles clusters, seats, shift knobs - literally I would say almost surface just short of the vacuum.....got the full blow whipped cream brushoff.

And non detailers not knowing better but looking to learn the craft, may very well follow the suit.
But I suppose the last sentence I posted goes the same with anything you watch on the internet...
 
I won't use a brush and get it foamy, but occasionally some of our vehicles get dirty enough I need to drag out the APC.

My wife's job turns her car into a rolling office she's in several hours a day going between locations. This leads to minor food and drink splatters or spills and when combined with near constant usage, it gets dirty because I can't clean it up every couple of days. When we still had small children the problem was multiplied. All manner of mystery spots would appear. When I cleaned up the interior, it would usually start with a near-full wipe down/cleaning with an APC followed up by a dressing. A damp rag would not have done mutch.

My car however is a totally different story. It sees far fewer miles, and except for autocross weekends, stays pretty clean. 90% of the time a wipe down with an interior protectant containing a bit of a cleaner is all I need.

It all comes down to how dirty the interior gets.
 
I do use diluted APC's on interiors but follow it with steam and clean mf's. For heavily soiled areas it's apc and brushes (pedals, lower door panels, sills etc.) but, again, followed by steam.

I don't like any residue left...just clean.

I do my customer's the same as mine.
 
Post #7. Nothing wrong with APC IMO for the application at hand....in your case time=$$.
I only really need APC at 20:1, 4:1 and if the shoe scuffs still ain't coming out, I'm breaking out the uber high PH cleaner straight, but everything get's rinsed cleaned afterwards. The uber PH always get's the scuffs out with nil-no scrubbing on the pesky scuffs that just won't come out with ease

Again, time=$ for a pro but IME, and the interiors I do are my own which are maintained, but not a fan of steamers. Probably technique more than anything, but I have seen it do a sight weird color shift on vinyl once (minute and you would have to be super picky to notice), but steaming is just not my thing.
 
On customers vehicles who are asking for a “detail” apc & brush is definitely 1 way to go about it and I would consider it normal operating procedure.
On my own vehicle APC might not be needed, but I’d rather use an interior detailer i.e. Blackfire Leather Complete vs. plain water because I feel like water alone won’t get the surfaces as clean as a cleaning product will. And even if you maintain your vehicle clean it will eventually build up just from driving with the windows rolled down.

-8 towels to clean your steering wheel? How dirty can it possibly be? Lol.
I usually get through even a dirty steering wheel with 1 towel sprayed with APC. Maybe 2 towels tops.
 
On the SW, I divide the wheel in about 4 quadrant. Clean one, new towel x4.
That's the 1st pass.

Then a second pass with another fairly heavy spray of H20 and wiping. *in my mind, I don't like spreading hand oils around*....
But like I said, I am OCD clean about a clean -matte- steering wheel.

Eventually, where the hands holds it the most, it will still patina over time...
 
I'm using ONR 256:1 and/or Opti Power Clean 5 or 10:1
 
opie said:
Same. And if i encounter someone elses "dirty" chit, ill just grab 3D orange degreaser....it does the trick.

Im not one to do someone elses interior, uless i know them and its not all hogged up. No amount of money is worth it. And if ya got pet hair everywhere or mcydees french frys....if the owner cant keep it clean of pet hair or food,dont expect me to do it for ya. Ive told ppl no b4, due to that.

And dont think im just being lazy...cuz i would say the owner of a pigstie is the lazy one...its just down right discusting
Click to expand...

+1. My wife's daughter is a slob. I occasionally offer to clean her car but never unless she removes everything from the interior. It usually looks like a homeless person lives in it. I've seen videos from a couple of different detailers who seem to do some really disgusting cars and I just don't see how people can actually be that dirty, especially with a late model car. I mean, you just spent a ton of money on a new car and you basically turned it into a trash can.
 
Youtubers would probably be further ahead to use a brush to dislodge dirt first and then spray and wipe. They are probably just smearing dirt around.
 
chefwong said:
On the SW, I divide the wheel in about 4 quadrant. Clean one, new towel x4.
That's the 1st pass.

Then a second pass with another fairly heavy spray of H20 and wiping. *in my mind, I don't like spreading hand oils around*....
But like I said, I am OCD clean about a clean -matte- steering wheel.

Eventually, where the hands holds it the most, it will still patina over time...
Click to expand...

Try and Autofiber scrub ninja interior sponge. Even after you clean you’d be surprised at what it picks up.


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The detail brush takes to long. Scrub ninjas or MF towels do the job. I use an interior detailer when I’m just cleaning up and P&S Xpress when I apply something.

Just did interior couple days ago and I like my interior products.

PBL L&V coating applied and letting dwell.

81b87e0ca09a5c326328720f667c2da6.jpg


After wipe off

1dd63f56b10ab175a7e7e4f0e9d2eea3.jpg


Just leaves the interior looking stunning.


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To keep in line with the OP... I spray my interior detailer enough to moisten/dampen all the surfaces and then wipe clean with a MF towel. My interior is never dirty enough to require a brush. Right now I spray all plastic surfaces with Meguiar's Quick Interior Detailer, wipe down and let dry and then hit them again with Meguiar's Natural Shine protectant. The Natural Shine protectant says it "cleans" also so I may be adding a little work to the process. I'm looking at doing the "clean" - "Shine" procedure about every other time and then in between just the Natural Shine. I really like the way the Natural Shine product looks on Honda plastic.
 
Funny I came across this thread. Listen to the latest episode of Pint and Polishing Podcast. And not many people on the internet/youtube/tik tok actually know what they are doing
 
For my personal vehicles, I'm in the camp where they never get trashed enough to need anything more than Meguiar's Quick Interior Detailer for upkeep.

While I do like the look of some interior dressings, as long as they are just a subtle enhancement and not too shiny, I refrain from their use on my personal stuff due to the outgassing effects. Since I quit using such products several years ago, my windows stay cleaner much longer and are so much easier to clean streak-free, if and when necessary.

It's a worthy trade-off for me... No interior dressings = Crystal clear, streak-free glass with very little effort.
 
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