Car detailing is just not about getting the outside of your car looking new.
Getting our cars washed and cleaned is a part of owning a car. But this is often limited to just washing the exterior. Interior car detailing is when we get the inside looking brand new!

What about the inside of your car, that we are sitting on and constantly touching?
We spend a lot of time confined in a small space.

Do you sit on your car seats after exercising?
Do your children eat in the car?
Do you have pets in the car?

All of these situations leave dirt and grime inside your car.
Every time you get in your vehicle, you pull in more dirt.
Every time you eat or drink, you add a few more crumbs and spills.
When you just sit in your car, you drop hair, dead skin cells and droplets from coughing and sneezing.

If you have sheepskin car seat covers – Wait until you see what comes out of those covers when we clean them.

Cleaning Fabric Surfaces

Fabric items that we use regularly need to be cleaned. Some things need frequent deep cleaning, like the clothing we wear, our bedsheets and towels.

Soft furnishings like carpets and sofas are regularly cleaned with vacuuming or spot cleaning.
At certain times, they will need a deep clean to remove built-up dirt and dust in the fabric weave or maybe a stain that requires a deep clean.
We book our carpets in to be shampooed, or steam cleaned once a year or if we are planning to sell our home.

Our Cars Should Be No Different!

Some of our clients will detail the interior of their car yearly, and other customers will book their car in when they are wishing to sell it.

Interior Car Detailing Steps We Take

Getting your car’s interior clean is often a more intensive job than expected.
The car’s interior consists of many different fabrics and finishes.
There is the added fun of many electrical components to work with and workaround.

Let’s start with how we tackle a full interior Car detailing and interior clean.
Detailing the interior of a car requires cleaning that goes far beyond the usual vacuuming and spot cleaning.
It means paying attention to every tiny detail that makes the car clean and presentable.

Start At The Top

Just like cleaning a house, you start at the top so that all the dust and grime will fall to the ground so that you do not have to go over everything twice.

We do ask our customers to remove all personal items that they can before we start cleaning them. We have found many missing treasures over the years, including mobile phones and we always find spare change

Car Interior Detailing Step By Step

Remove Everything That We Can

Remove floor mats and all removable items.
Pick all the rubbish and check all compartments, seat pockets and items in the boot.
We move car seats back and forwards to check under the seats. ( There is often all sorts of little surprises under the seats.)
If the seats are easily removable, we will remove them to have clear access into the car.
Many rear seats are easily removable, and we will take them out if we can.
Some front seats if they are in terrible condition, we will remove them completely if possible so we can give them a deep clean.
We remove all removable carpets and mats.

Once all the removable items are out of the car, we start brushing!

Start Brushing From The Top.

We start and the top and work our way down to the carpet

The seats
The dashboard
The air vents
The consoles and cup holders
The door panels
The boot area
The floor

Cleaning The Small Tricky Areas

Some areas require more detailed cleaning in this stage -namely, the air vents and dash console.
We use a detailing brush and compressed air to remove all the dust before we wipe them down.

The vents are essential to get clean – this is the air you are breathing in, and where possible, we remove the vent covers to make sure that there is no build-up of dirt or mould.
If the vents are disgustingly dirty, a concentrated cleaning solution with a cotton swab or foam swab is used to get rid of the built-up gunk. We also do the same for around all buttons and controls on the dashboard.

Vacuuming Everything From The Top

Starting at the top again, we vacuum all surfaces to remove dirt and dust.
Often we find tiny crevices that still have dirt in them. Often brushing and vacuuming does not shift it. And that is when we reverse engineer and use compressed air into the area to blow it out.

Ever tried to vacuum your car mats and never get the clean you want?
The reason is that a domestic vacuum just doesn’t have the right attachments to get into all the areas in a car.
We use two main vacuum attachments. They are a crevice attachment and a dusting attachment.
To get under the seats and behind the pedals, we use the crevice attachment.
The dusting attachment is what we run over all the hard surfaces to push out the dirt and dust and suck it away

Deep Clean The Upholstery

Car upholstery is more durable than regular upholstery and carpets. We apply upholstery detergents to remove stains and lift dirt to the surface.
Rinsing is the critical aspect of successfully cleaning your car upholstery.
This is how the dirt and detergents are removed from the upholstery. If it not all removed, it will remain in the upholstery and be even more dirt and grime attracting. Think if you leave soap in your clothing, it just feels and looks dull and sticky.
We rinse and remove the water with hot water extraction.
Using a hot water extractor or steam cleaner is the most effective way to deep clean upholstery and carpet.

Dry Brushing your carpets is part of the process we use to get great results. This step loosens the dirt deep from the fibres and gives a better result.
We do not want to use too much water when deep cleaning as we want everything to dry out thoroughly so we do not end up with a damp and musty smelly car.

Leather Seat Cleaning and Conditioning

The three factors that cause premature damage to your leather are.

UV damage
Inground dirt
Oil from your skin

The best thing about leather seating is that they are easier to clean than fabric seats, but they need ongoing care and cleaning to prevent damage.
After we clean the leather, we apply a conditioning balm to keep the leather looking great and prevent them from drying out and cracking.

We suggest that you condition your leather seats every six months.

When we clean leather, we always clean in sections.
Each section has a cleanser applied, and it is worked into the area, and then it is wiped off completely before moving to the next area.
If your leather is very dirty before we start, we spend extra time doing the brushing step.

One thing that may surprise you – Water will not harm your leather.

The leather tanning process is all done with water!
After we have cleaned your leather and it has dried, a conditioner is applied. A conditioner gives that beautifully smooth and shiny finish.
The conditioner will wet the leather, and it gets time to soak in and then the excess is removed.
And we then repeat this process in sections the same way as when we cleaned it.
The most important step in this process is to remove the excess leather conditioner. It will create a slippery film on the leather, not what you want on your leather seats!

The Dash And Console Areas

Vinyl and plastic are the most durable interior materials and require frequent cleaning.
Unlike fabrics, vinyl and plastic surfaces generate static electricity, and this is what attracts dust.
This is why you always see the dust on your dashboard because it is literally a dust magnet!
Fortunately, they are both really easy to clean.
All surfaces are wiped down with a slightly damp cloth. We use a microfibre cloth as it leaves a lint-free, dust-free surface.

We never use sponges!

Sponges are porous, and when particles get trapped within the sponge, they leave fine scratch marks – Just like how paint swirls happen on your paint job!

There are often cracks and crevices on the dash and console areas that brushing and vacuuming don’t always clean out properly. We have to use fine detailing brushes and compressed air to get out all of the trapped dust and dirt.
There is always a lot of fingerprints and oily marks to remove as well.
We clean every button, dial and lever on the dash, console and doors!
We apply the right cleaning products for each component – Work it in and then thoroughly clean it away, and then dry with microfibre cloths.
We also apply a UV protective conditioning treatment.
The dashboard and the parcel tray under the rear window are also heavily exposed to the sun and need regular attention to avoid cracking and fading.

We can suggest what products you can use at home to give these areas a quick wipe down and keep them looking great.

The Windows And Glass

This is the fastest part of the job. We use a commercial glass cleaner to get all the marks off the glass.

If your windscreen is prone to fogging, we can use an anti-fogging product. There are some great new products on the market that are designed for cockpits!
No one wants a pilot to try and land a plane with fogged up windows!

Cleaning Car Carpets

Once all the dust and dirt from the entire car has landed on the floor of the car – we can start the dirtiest and most satisfying part of the job.
The carpets end up with insane amounts of trapped sand and dirt.
We get a lot of 4WD’s that go over to Straddie, so we are well experienced with removing sand from all carpeted areas!
We vacuum and brush all the carpets to try and remove as much as possible before starting the hot water extraction process.

Have you seen the dirt that comes out of typical cars carpets?

car carpet cleaning

Letting It Dry Properly

The cleaned carpets and seats now must have time to dry.
Living in Brisbane, you do not want to leave your car damp!
In warm weather – leaving windows open and making sure airflow will ensure the car dries quickly.
In cool or damp conditions, we speed the process up with heaters to ensure that we get everything dry.