Washing Guide: Interior

Sometimes it's surprising how dirty the inside of people's vehicles often is—it's said that the steering wheel is dirtier than a public toilet, for example. Would you spend several hours in a public toilet? Probably not many of us would…

We start by emptying the car of everything—throw out sunglasses, mail on the floor, trash, rubber boots etc. and the floor mats. Then we begin with a thorough vacuuming. Here too, a brush can be useful since gravel tends to get stuck everywhere. Vacuum until you feel you could eat ice cream off the floor, more or less.

If the mats and seats are especially dirty, you can rent an upholstery cleaner—these usually cost a couple of hundred kronor to rent, and the results tend to be fantastic. Then you'll also see just how bad it was before!

After this, we take a microfiber cloth and some kind of interior cleaner and wipe down all, and I mean all, surfaces in the car. I use dish soap and water in a spray bottle, which usually works at least as well as any ready-made products. Some spots, like the steering wheel, might need a small brush to scrub the dirt loose.

The windows are always a nuisance—how do you actually get the windshield clean? If only we had the answer, but sometimes you just don't manage it at all (read: never), but try not to spray too much product and wipe the window in small sections, which reduces the risk of it looking like a horror film in sunlight afterwards…

Does the car have vinyl, leather, or synthetic material that looks similar? Treat it with leather cleaner—these rehydrate and, besides reducing the risk of wear on seats, steering wheel etc, it'll look just like she did when she came from the factory.

Last but not least, we should wipe down the door sills—if you've already hosed them off, it's usually enough to wipe with a damp cloth.

But now the floor mats are lying on the pavement, that's right! Bring out the alkaline degreaser and a brush, spray it on and scrub before rinsing them off with a high-pressure washer—if you have rubber mats, tire/vinyl shine is a match made in heaven.

Have you checked out the article about washing the exterior? If not, you've still got that left to do now, but with a clear conscience on the inside!