When it comes to standard interior detailing, there are many more complicated areas and more types of materials involved compared to standard exterior detailing. Those with personal experience say that interior detailing takes a lot more time than standard exterior detailing.
It is just a more complicated process. As a matter of fact, although it takes more equipment and labor hours to perform, a number of professionals surprisingly do not charge very much for a la carte interior detailing. There are certain tips and tricks that you will find helpful when cleaning your car interior.
Taking on Pet Hair
Air purging and vacuuming the loose debris inside a car can be a time consuming task. If your car has excessive pet hair, the detailing technician will find the job particularly frustrating. This is especially true if compressed air and a vacuum are the only equipment you have on hand.
Removing pet hair can be an easy task if you have some type of tool or device that can grab pet hair and pull them out of the fibers on the carpet. To that end, there are a number of small tools available, including gloves that come with a rubberized “hand”, a rubbery pet hair sponge, a brush with rubber bristles as well as the pumice block.
When it comes to pet hair removal, the typical technique is raking the pet hair toward you with one of the tools mentioned above in one hand and the hose end in the other hand – get a hose end with a crevice tool for extra suction if possible. As you loosen the pet hair with the raking motion, the hair gets sucked away by the vacuum and that is what you want.
You want to do this once a month or a couple of times a year. If you ride with your pets in your car all the time, then perhaps you should do this once a week. You do not want your car’s interior ruined with pet hair all over the place and in places you can never clean out properly which could happen if you do not clean the interior of your car regularly. On top of this, paying someone to do this all the time could be expensive.
Moreover, while each of the tools and devices mentioned above will help a lot with pet hair, the most exceptional is the pumice block, which is why it is preferred by many professionals. One disadvantage of this tool is that it can lead to scratches on hard plastic trim pieces that you find around the carpeting. However, with careful use and proper training, this should not really be a problem.
Regardless of the tool you choose to remove pet hair, it is likely that the amount of time you spend on the job will be reduced by 50% to 70% compared to if you did not use that tool. Keep in mind that if you use a professional detailer, this could be costly.
Cleaning Carpets
Using a hot water extractor is an excellent way to deep clean the carpets and mats in your car. Experts recommend removing loose dirt with a vacuum first. Some professionals prefer dry scrubbing the carpet first, which tends to effectively loosen more dirt from the carpet fibers.
After you have vacuumed, use a non-foaming carpet cleaner to pre-spray the carpets. These cleaners are designed to be used with a hot water extractor. Next, scrub the carpeting with a brush-equipped polisher or by hand. This scrubbing step will do a lot to improve the extractor’s effectiveness.
You should make sure that the high-quality extractor’s heated water is enough to rinse the soil as well as the cleaning chemical you used from the carpet. Experts recommend not adding any cleaner to the extractor’s solution tank. If you use chemical-laden hot water to rinse, it will infuse that carpet with that chemical. The chemical that remains in the carpeting will attract dirt, which in turn causes the carpets to re-soil much faster.
Extractor-cleaned carpets will need additional drying. You can use high-volume air movers inside the car before taking it out on a drive again or you can just nature do its thing combined with time. Also, after you move the vehicle outside, you can use the climate control system in your vehicle to dry the carpet, using both the heat and air-conditioning to ensure that moisture is properly removed or again, just allow nature to take its course combined with time.
Carpets and mats that are only lightly soiled can be thoroughly cleaned with the same techniques – just replace the extractor with a powerful dry vapor steam machine. The steam machine will ensure that the top of the carpet fibers are effectively cleaned, leaving them clean, sanitized, and dry.
Move Things About
Interior detailing involves taking care of everything in the car’s interior, including areas that most drivers neglect. This is why you need to move things around inside the car – so you can get access to all those areas. This includes moving the front seats to the most extreme positions, ensuring that you adjust them all the way back and all the way up. When you move the seats, wipe off the tracks of the seats with a paper towel, a soft clean cloth, or utility towel that you can just discard after use.
With these tips and tricks, you can make sure that you effectively clean your vehicle’s interiors and have it looking and smelling good. Make your car clean and shiny both inside and out with a few simple tips.