Car Valeting Guide
Interior Care
Odours & Stains
Procedure
Prevention is better than cure
Common upholstery fabrics are more likely to stain than vinyl or leather. The best treatment for carpet and fabric is to use a spray-on fabric guard product on a regular basis.
Stain Removal
Even without protection, you would be amazed at how easy it is to clean up most stains with nothing more than a neutral detergent and water.
A neutral detergent has a pH of 7 (on a scale of 0 to 14). A detergent with a pH of less than 7 means it is acidic, whereas a pH higher than 7 is alkaline. Neutral detergents will not bleach fabric or remove fabric protection. Interior car detailing tools you’ll need to remove interior stains include:
Spatula or putty knife
Clean, white terry cloth towels
Upholstery scrub brush
Wet-dry vacuum
A reliable interior stain remover
(a) Use the spatula or putty knife to remove as much of the solid material as possible. The vacuum can also be a lifesaver by removing large particles of any substance that would stain if you rubbed it or moved it around. The idea is to remove as much of the contamination as possible before you begin wiping or scrubbing.
(b) Next, spray the stain heavily with your cleaner, and allow it a minute or so to work. Don't scrub the stain just yet. Use a towel and blot it up. Again, you don't want to spread the mess.
(c) Spray the stain again, and use your scrub brush with warm water to scrub the stain. This should remove the remaining elements of the stain material. Rinse with fresh water and a terry cloth towel, and then blot dry and vacuum.
Some stains, no matter what you try, will be permanent. If an indelible stain has penetrated the fibres of a material, it will not come out. You might be able to make the stain less noticeable, but no cleaner or method will remove all of the stain. You will have to live with it or have the section of carpet or upholstery replaced.
Odours
Various enzyme based air cleansing products are now available for removing odours, these work by breaking down the molecules of organic smells such as vomit and urine etc.
Quick Links
Exterior Care
Wheels & Tyres
Interior Care
Aberdeen, Bath, Barnsley, Basingstoke, Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Birmingham, Blackburn, Bradford, Brentwood, Bristol, Buckinghamshire, Cambridge, Cardiff, Cheadle, Cheshire, Chester, Chelmsford, Cleveland, Cornwall, Coventry, Crawley, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Devon, Dorset, Durham, Edinburgh, Essex, Exeter, Glasgow, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Herefordshire, Hertford, Hertfordshire, Humberside, Ipswich, Lancashire, Leeds, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Middlesbrough, Middlesex, Milton Keynes, Newcastle, Northamptonshire, Nottingham, Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Perth, Peterborough, Rutland, Scotland, Sheffield, Shropshire, Slough, Somerset, St Albans, St Helens, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Sunderland, Surrey, Sussex, Wales, Warrington, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, Windsor, Worcestershire, Wrexham, Yorkshire
