Tips for very dusty/sandy interior?

ShaneB

ShaneB

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Got burned today by this one. First time I couldn't finish a job in the time I set aside for it.

Long story short, got the upholstery under control but the interior plastic/vinyl is taking awhile and I'd like to know if anyone has some tips to speed it up. I'll be going back to finish the job in a couple days and would like to work a little quicker.

So far the only thing that's worked to remove the dust that settled into the textured parts of the interior is to spray them with APC and scrub them with a stiff bristle brush. The entire interior looks like this and I was able to finish one door panel and the dashboard before having to call it a day. Spray and wipe with microfiber did nothing. Spray and use a soft brush was ineffective. Steamer had no effect. I'm using megs APC @ 10:1 (4:1 showed no improvement). I've been basically spraying with APC and scrubbing a lot with a tuff shine tire brush or a stiff nylon detail brush.

I've got 5 1/2 hours into this already and probably another 2-3 more at this rate. Any suggestions?

The guy said he's a brick layer so I'm wondering if there is some kind of binder mixed into the dust that's made its way into the interior that is making it adhere to the surface like this.
 
ShaneB said:
The guy said he's a brick layer so I'm wondering if there is some kind of binder mixed into the dust that's made its way into the interior that is making it adhere to the surface like this.
Click to expand...

If that's true, then what you're dealing with isn't just dust, it's mortar. Essentially concrete without the gravel. Yeah, you've got your work cut out - sorry.
 
That may very well explain it then... Crappy. At least he's already got me lined up to do the exterior as well. And he also said he would have me detail his wife's Audi as well. So its worth it :)
 
I did a jeep last year that was driven on a gravel road daily for probably 3 years, most of the time with no top on. Hate to tell you, but it took me almost 30 hours total (this was very tedious and included cleaning seat belts, roll bar covers, etc.). I removed all the carpeting and cleaned the quarter inch of dust there before I even moved on to the rest. Spots like you show up above took 4-5 attempts with APC 1:10 and various types of brushes. These are not fun jobs.
 
I was given an old Toyota 1/2 ton by my father-in-law when he was done with it. He too was a bricklayer and there was at least 10 lbs of sand in between the double-walled bed and another 5 lbs inside the interior. Using a strong APC, the floors (rubber) and the dash (soft vinyl) cleaned up easily enough using a scrub brush and wet-vac. The SEAT however was a different story. Try as I might, I could not get the crud out of the "quilted" texture sewn into the seats. It made the seats look like it had black spots where the stitching crossed.

From the sound of it and the pic, the texture in your detail isn't as deep as mine was and yours appears to be coming out. Good luck on the rest of it.

Maybe you could try "pre-soaking" it with a foaming cleaner and let that work while you're doing another panel. Maybe that will loosen up the dirt for you.
 
Spray a panel down and scrub. Finding the right brushes is crucial, not too soft or aggressive (ask David F. how many brushes he has lol). Do a panel or area then move on, to let dry. Come back to touch up any areas. An example of why a dry dusting is needed before liquid is used to clean an interior, only takes a couple minutes to dust 90% of interior.
I then go over the whole interior with a light protectant and detail all the interior nooks and crannies. After all it is a detail.
 
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Shane, if you have access to compressed air, I can see that as a starting point on a task like this.

Good luck with it!
 
I'd be all about prolonging the dwell-time of my APC and I'd be using hot water and that steamer (even though it didn't seem effective before, it oughta be good for rinsing things). Wonder if a slightly acidic cleaner (most APCs are alkaline AFAIK) would help...
 
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