What You Should Know About Interior Detailing

**RareSpirits** · 04-22-2010, 11:13 AM

I thought this would help, so I cut & pasted this blog. I will attempt this for the 2knd week or MAR. for the Eibach car show in Riverside, CA. Good luck for those of you that attempt.

By Keith Duplessie

While a great deal of emphasis is placed on paint finishing in detailing, little information is disseminated about what is needed to properly clean vehicle interiors. This article is an attempt to provide detailers with an entire process for interior detailing including: interior materials, detail chemicals, detail equipment and tools.

When a detailer attempts to clean the interior of a vehicle, he must know all of the different materials involved. each material will require different cleaning procedures. This means the detailer must have a full understanding of all these various materials and what the problems might be and how to solve them. The materials are: fabric or vinyl (headliners); fabric, vinyl or plastic (trim); vinyl (dashboards); vinyl, plastic and clear plastic covers (panels); nylon (carpets); and vinyl-protected leather, fabric or vinyl (seats) I will not address the particulars of each of these materials, but as a detailer you must have a complete knowledge of what they are, the problems you can encounter and the knowledge to correct the problems.

Interior chemicals

Professional detailers should only use chemicals that are formulated to clean a particular interior material. Carpet shampoo should be used for carpets, leather cleaner for leather, glass cleaner for windows, etc. Too many detailers and chemical suppliers encourage the use of chemicals formulated for other purposes as interior chemicals. This can have harmful effects on the material. For example, a typical practice of many detailers, encouraged by misguided and unprofessional chemical suppliers, is to use an engine degreaser for interior cleaning on carpets, vinyl and leather. Will it clean? Yes, this chemical will clean, but the difference is that the materials in an engine (metal, rubber, etc.) are much different than more delicate interior materials. It would be like washing your car with dishwashing detergent or taking a bath in laundry detergent.

An engine degreaser has a pH of 12 to 14, due to the inclusion of caustics, like sodium hydroxide, which can destroy carpet and upholstery fibers and damage leather very easily. even the use of a less-aggressive, all-purpose cleaner on carpets is not a good practice because they lack the brighteners and softeners that are formulated into the carpet shampoo for obvious reasons.

The list of chemicals a detailer should use for interior cleaning includes: carpet and upholstery shampoo; vinyl cleaners; leather cleaners; low pH all-purpose cleaners; stain removers (protein, grease, red dye, coffee/tea, rust and pet stains); glass cleaner (ready-to-use or concentrated); leather conditioners; protectants; water-based silicone dressings; biological odor eliminators; fragrances; equipment and tools.

Many detailers cannot afford all the equipment and tools listed below, but they are listed so you know what a professional detailer should have in his arsenal to do the work correctly. These items are: air compressor with blow guns (an essential); wet/dry vacuum; heated soil extractor (absolutely essential); vapor steamer (not essential, but very useful for cleaning hard surfaces and removing stains); ozone generator (not essential, but does wonders in removing odors and mold spores from air-conditioning systems); air or electric rotary shampoo tool; nylon scrub brushes; small detail brushes; Scrubbie pads (a Teflon-net-covered sponge for scrubbing vinyl, leather and plastic surfaces); applicator pads (for dressing and leather conditioners); and towels (different colors for cleaning chemicals and windows).

The process

With a working knowledge of all the materials and problems you can encounter in detailing the interior and a knowledge of the chemicals, equipment, tools and supplies needed to do the job, the next thing you need is a process that allows you and your employees to get the job done correctly and quickly without sacrificing quality.

The following procedures are intended to give you a step-by-step process to completely detail the interior of a vehicle. They are not intended to teach anyone how to detail, but simply to show you what steps to follow to avoid missing anything and wasting time and motion.

Interior cleaning procedures:

1. read a job service order for instructions on specific thing to do.

2. open doors and evaluate condition of interior.

3. remove floor mats (front and back and give to person cleaning trunk or clean/ shampoo immediately and place near the rear of the vehicle to dry).

4. Push front seat all the way back

5. use loose-items bag for loose items (front and back), use a separate bag for glove box and one for console. Set bags on rear seat.

6. remove ashtrays (front and back). Clean and dry them. before replacing, clean area around ashtray.

7. Flip down sun visors.

8. With the air blower, blow out the entire interior (front and back), concentrating on dash, panel, vents, under the seats and cracks and crevices in seats.

9. Vacuum the entire interiorâ€”carpets, seats, panels, etc.

10. Apply appropriate stain removers (front and back) to all heavy stains on carpets, seats, door panels, etc.

Cleaning steps:

11. Start on the driverâ€™s side and clean headliner, front half.

12. Clean sun visors, visor mirror and rearview mirror.

13. Clean trim around doors and front window.

14. Clean/scrub dashboard.

15. Clean panel and steering column and glove box.

16. Scrub spots/stains on front carpets

17. Apply shampoo and friction-shampoo carpets (if necessary).

18. using extractor, extract all shampoo and dirt residue

Fabric seats:

19. remove spots/stains on fabric seats.

20. Apply shampoo and friction-shampoo seats (if necessary).

21. using extractor, extract all shampoo and dirt residue.

22. using Scrubbie, clean/scrub center console.

Vinyl/leather seats:

23. Scrub vinyl/leather upholstery with Scrubbie or rotary shampooer and wipe dry.

24. using Scrubbie clean/scrub center console.

25. Clean/shampoo front seat belts.

26. Push the front seat all the way forward.

27. Scrub spots/stains on front door panels.

28. Clean/shampoo door panels using either a Scrubbie, nylon scrub brush or rotary shampooer. Wipe dry and/or extract residue.

29. Spray door jamb and door edges with all-purpose cleaner and wipe dry.

Rear:

30. Place loose-items bag on front seat.

31. Clean the headliner, back half from front to rear.

32. Clean rear window deck (be sure to blow out dirt near window).

Fabric seats:

See steps 19 through 22

Vinyl/leather seats:

See steps 23 to 27

33. Clean/shampoo back of front seat following procedures for either fabric or vinyl/leather upholstery.

34. remove spots/stains on rear carpets.

35. Apply shampoo and friction-shampoo carpets (if necessary).

36. using extractor, extract all shampoo and dirt residue.

37. Scrub spots/stains on rear door panels.

38. Clean/shampoo rear door panels using either Scrubbie, nylon scrub brush or rotary shampooer. Wipe dry and/or extract residue.

39. Spray door jamb and door edges with all-purpose cleaner (as needed) and wipe dry.

Dressing/conditioning procedure:

40. Start on the driverâ€™s side and move front to back, dressing all vinyl, leather and rubber in the interior. Wipe off with dry towel for satin finish.

Window-cleaning procedure:

41. Spray all interior windows and mirrors with glass cleaner.

42. using window towel, clean each window individually and dry.

43. Put all windows down and clean top edge, put up again.

Final inspection procedure:

44. make complete check of interior, looking for dirt on carpets, improper application of dressing, dirty/smeared windows and correct.

45. Do a final vacuum (if necessary).

46. Spray deodorizer under front seats.

47. Put in plastic floor mat, seat cover, litter bag.

48. Put in window sticker reminder (if used).

Keep in mind that this is my approach to interior cleaning. It is not the only approach and may not be the best, but it is a proven methodology that you might want to use that saves wasted motion and ensures everything is completed properly the first time.