Keeping your car clean can be a struggle sometimes. If you drive your pet to the vet, chances are you’ll end up having fur everywhere (unless you use the Shed Defender) and driving your kids around leads to their snacks and crumbs getting everywhere.
Car Cleaning Tips
If you want to go back to how your car looked (and smelled) the day you bought it, then listen up! It’s not that hard.
Here are ten car cleaning tips that can help you keep all that trash, debris, and those stains at bay. Let’s get started with these car cleaning tips!
Exterior
This may seem like an obvious one when it comes to car cleaning tips but you’ll be surprised how many people skip the right suds and opt for other cleaning liquids for their cars.
Using the right soap will not only keep the exterior of your car squeaky clean but it will also improve the longevity of its paint job. Car wash soap isn’t that expensive and you can get it at most auto supply stores.
Also, when washing your car, have two buckets on hand. One should contain a mixture of water and car cleaner and the other should contain clear water. Use the bucket of clear water to rinse your car cleaning mitt to avoid scratches.
Carpet
Keeping your car’s carpet clean can be a nightmare. The thing is, avoiding stubborn stains is next to impossible between muddy shoes and sudden drink spills.
I just have to stop these car cleaning tips right here and tell you 2 funny spilled drink stories:
Hubby and I were youth pastors for 20+ years so we have lots of fun stories but, the spilled drink ones are great.
I was driving several kids one day home after a car wash. I stopped at the convenience store for them to get a drink. One teen girl (my now dil) got the largest fountain drink they had, like a 44 oz. She climbed in the van and promptly dropped it and it spilled EVERYWHERE…
We proceeded to clean it up while she went in to get a replacement. She returned to the van, climbed up in and… she dropped her 2nd 44oz drink and flooded the floor AGAIN! NONE of us could stop laughing it was so comical.
Story #2:
We had taken several kids to McDonald’s and were getting back in to our new van. I announced as they were climbing in: “No food or drinks int he van.”
Our son was getting in on one side and his best friend was getting in on the other side int he back seat. The next thing we know there is an orange soda flying through the back seat and all over the van. We all stood there in disbelief.
His best friend said “What were you thinking?” He said “I don’t know, she said no drinks and I tossed it to you” (through the van’s back seat)….. how do you argue with THAT logic?! lol
Ok, back to the Car Cleaning Tips:
You don’t have to live with stained carpet for the rest of your life. And no, you don’t have to go out of your way and spend a fortune on replacing it either.
All you need is a bottle of hydrogen peroxide mixed with water at a 1:2 ratio. This simple miracle cleaner can be used to remove tough stains and dirt from your car’s carpet for cheap.
What’s more it’s natural so you don’t have to worry about toxic fumes lurking about your car’s interior.
Tires
Remember when I said you should always use a dedicated car cleanser? Well when it comes to your tires, you don’t have to spend so much.
All you need is to mix baking soda, dish soap, and water for a DIY tire cleaner that can keep your tires looking brand new every time you use it.
Seats
If you’re prone to keeping furry companions like your dog or cat in your car, chances are their fur will accumulate overtime.
If anybody in your family is allergic to dander, the it’s a great idea to stash a lint roller in your car to keep stray pet hairs at bay.
If the fur buildup you’re dealing with is much more serious, then I have an additional tip for you: spritz your car seats with some water and use a squeegee to get most of the hair out of your upholstery before vacuuming.
Dashboard and Console
You don’t have to buy fancy products for these car cleaning tips or for this area to keep your dashboard looking fresh.
Simply mix together white vinegar, dish soap, and water to make an all-purpose cleaner than you can spritz and wipe off to remove dirt from your car’s console.
Air Vents
Dust has an uncanny way of accumulating in small areas like air vents in your car. Before any of this can build up and keep your air-conditioning from functioning well, invest in a foam brush.
You can purchase these at hardware stores or at craft stores and they’re fairly cheap. You can use them to get in between the slats of air vents to keep those dust bunnies away.
Head and Tail Lights
Here’s a simple hack for keeping those lights shiny and clean all the time: toothpaste.
Simply squeeze out some toothpaste onto a soft rag and use it to polish headlights and tail lights. Rinse it with some water after and the wipe it down again to make sure that all the gunk is out.
Cabin
We can’t forget this one in these car cleaning tips: If there’s a stench that just won’t budge from your car, chances are your cabin air filter is dirty. If you’ve had your car long enough, all that dirt, bacteria, and bad smell have been trapped in that filter so you need to replace it.
Alternatively, if there is still a bad odor after replacing the cabin air filter, your air conditioning and heating system might need a bit of cleaning as well. Use an enzyme cleaner to really get rid of bad smells in your car.
Air Freshener
Keeping your car smelling fresh as a daisy doesn’t have to be a difficult thing nor does it have to be expensive. Don’t go for aerosol sprays to keep bad smells away.
Instead, mix together some baking soda and essential oils in a jar, place a perforated cap or use a scrap piece of muslin secured with rubber bands for an odor absorbing miracle you can make for cheap.
Bumper
Dryer sheets aren’t just for keeping your laundry smelling fresh, they can also be used to keep your car clean. Simply wet the surface of your car with water and then use a dryer sheet soaked in warm water to start wiping away the bugs.
After the first few swipes, you’ll notice that those little critters are out of your bumper for good!
For a lot of people, their car is an extension of their homes. They spend so much time in their vehicles and so we shouldn’t neglect keeping it clean all the time. I hope these tips can help you keep your car looking and smelling like the day you brought it home.
Do you have more car cleaning tips you’d like to share? Let’s keep the conversation going. Let me know in the comments section below!
When discussing cleaning, I often get asked “what is 20 mule team borax good for?“. <— To find all the uses I have found, just click the link.
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