How to Clean Car Upholstery:
Have no fear, help is here!

If you are looking to clean car leather specifically, then you can go to my entire section on car leather cleaning tips.

How to clean car upholstery can be a straightforward process that doesn't have to be complicated. Because of the many materials used within our cars interiors, cleaning car upholstery is an area of auto detailing and general car maintenance people are often overwhelmed by.

Car Upholstery Cleaning Basics

The basics is always a good place to start and unfortunately, many people want to skip basic understanding and jump ahead of the learning curve which only results in poor results when it comes to shampooing a cars interior.

• You do not need a steam cleaning machine to clean car upholstery.
• You do not need a pressure washer to clean your floor mats as many people will demonstrate on YouTube.
• I do not recommend hiring out a professional home carpet cleaning service to try and clean your cars upholstery.
• It really is easier and simpler than most people think.

Finding a Good Car Upholstery Cleaner

Most car upholstery cleaners can be used on every material you will find withing your cars interior. And most car interiors are made with the following materials:

• Cloth
• Carpeting
• Vinyl
• Rubber
• Plastic
• Faux-leather

While I could bury you with hundreds of the best car upholstery cleaners on the market, I am here to offer a simplified solution rather than make matters worse for you.

Car Upholstery Cleaning Kit

Kiits are always a good may to get multiple products that would normally cost more if purchased separately. The kit below is an ideal kit for general cleaning for anyone wanting to know how to clean car upholstery. It comes with a quailty car upholstery cleaner, fabric guard to be used after cleaning, and the scrub brush to use during the cleaning process. I am a big fan of using some form of fabric protector after using the general upholstery cleaner each and every time as it makes subsequent cleaners far easier and more effective. Professionally, I can always tell when the cars upholstery has been treated with a fabric guard prior to my cleaning as the upholstery always comes cleaner and does so easier.

303 High Tech Fabric Guard & Cleaner Combo

Good Car Upholstery Cleaners

If you are really looking to keep things simple and want just an upholstery cleaner for basic car upholstery cleaning, then the following choices represent quality automotive upholstery cleaners. Just follow the product labeling for how to clean car upholstery:

Chemical Guys Lightning Fast Carpet Clean & Stain Remover 16 oz.

Detailer's Pro Series Carpet & Upholstery Cleaner

Car Upholstery Cleaning Tools

Finding a good upholstery cleaner is only half the battle in knowing how to clean car upholstery, the other half is technique and tools. The following tools will help in getting maximum results for shampooing your cars upholstery and detailing the interior in general:

Mat & Carpet Scrub Brush

Clean Vent Kit

How to Clean Car Upholstery Steps

Cloth, fabric, carpeting

As I said at the beginning of this page, cleaning your cars upholstery is much easier than most people think and many people get hung up thinking it requires commercial steam cleaning equipment and so forth. Just follow the steps below for professional results:

• Do a thorough vacuum job on all your car upholstery. Ideally, you have gotten a scrub brush like the one above and I recommend giving your cars upholstery a stiff scrubbing to begin with prior to applying any form of upholstery shampoo, followed by additional vacuuming to vacuum up any new dirt and debris you have broken loose with the dry scrubbing.
• Work by breaking down your cars interior into manageable sections and work this sections one at a time. Don't try and tackle the entire interior all at once.
• Start with the dirtiest areas first, and break each area to be cleaned into smaller sections whether this be a door panel, the floor mats, or each car seat.
• Spray area with 3-4 sprays of upholstery cleaner and agitate aggressively with scrub brush, then mop up aggressively with terry cloth rag or micro-fiber cloth.
• It is better to repeat process in stages rather than over-saturating with upholstery cleaner and trying to get in one shot. For excessively dirty areas, I will often repeat the cleaning process 4-5 times until I am satisfied with my results.
• Rotate cloth each time as you mop up dirt with clean section of rag. Use as many rags as necessary. I usually fold the cloth twice which gives me 8 clean sections of cloth to use; I also use the back side of the cloth.

How to Clean Car Upholstery Steps

Vinyl, plastic, faux-leather

• When it comes to these materials, the only short cut you can take is the first step of vacuuming since we are talking hard-like surfaces.
• Spray area to be cleaned and scrub aggressively with scrub brush. Mop up dirt with rag.
• Once again for excessively dirty areas, you may have to repeat the steps 4-5 times until you achieve desired results.

How to Clean Car Upholstery

Heavy-duty Car Interior Cleaning

Many of you will be faced with excessive layers of dirt and grime build up within your cars interior; either from lack of neglect from the beginning, or because you have purchased a used car in need of help. The only difference here is that you need to up the aggressiveness of your car upholstery shampoo. The product from Meguiar's is what I use professionally as an aggressive all-purpose cleaner that I can use virtually anywhere, and since it is a concentrate, i can custom blend to achieve the exact level of cleaning power I require.

Meguiars D103 All Purpose Cleaner Plus

• All-purpose cleaner than can be used on virtually any cleaning chore of car detailing.
• When you are dealing with excessive dirt and grime.
• Follow mixing solutions on product labeling.
• Follow same how to clean car upholstery instructions from above.

Car Upholstery Cleaning Tips

The following pictures demonstrate the dramatic abilities of using a quality heavy duty cleaner like the D103 from Meguiar's as can be seen in these leather cleaning pictures:

This interior cleaning job was taken from a Lexus RX where the leather had never been cleaned in years of use. As you can see with these dramatic pictures the type of results that are possible using the right techniques and products.

This car interior cleaning job was taken from an '06 Corvette where the leather had never been cleaned in the 6 years of use. Another example of results that are possible using the right techniques and products.

Important Tips to Cleaning Auto Upholstery

• The biggest problem for most people is they allow their cars interior to go too long, and become too dirty before they attempt any car upholstery cleaning. This will generally mean you will have unrealistic expectations from general car upholstery cleaners.
• If you are dealing with normal levels of dirt within your car from normal use, the general car upholstery cleaners will do just fine.
• If you are trying to make up for lost time and are dealing with excessive levels of dirt, I would recommend the D103 product from Meguiar's.
• Do not underestimate the importance of pre-vacuuming and dry brushing your upholstery first prior to any application of car upholstery cleaner.

Pay It Forward

Thank you for visiting How to clean car upholstery tips. I bet you know of at least one other person who would benefit from the information I have taken so much time to produce. Whether this be friend, family, car forum, or car club, please help me spread the word by posting this to your Face Book, Twitter, or forum account! Or just send them the link and pay it forward in that manner. I have made it super easy to spread the word with my “Socialize It” button box at the very bottom of this page.

”Serving Orange County, California for Over Twenty Years”

Home | About | About This Site | Privacy Policy | Contact