Interior Protectants, Conditioners, and Cleaners

[Solidus]

So I have been looking into what are the best products for preserving your interior dash, panels, plastic pieces, leather, vinyl and other interior pieces.
I don't really know what would be best to go with so i figure asking to see what fellow members use would be a good idea. Plus it might help others in hopes of keeping their car interior pristine.

What do you guys use to keep your entire interior in MINT condition and to keep it clean and detailed, conditioned and protected?
What do you guys use specifically for dash?
What do you guys use for vinyl?
What do you guys use for leather? Etc

Interested to see what members use.

 

[RedRyder]

Leather - Meguiar's leather conditioner applied with old t-shirt on delicates, terry cloth towel on seats
Upper/lower large dash panels and plastics for door panels/sills, etc - Armor All (light application)
Wood trim, HVAC/radio, door switches, gauge clear cover and black bezel - damp towel, sometimes Windex if something stronger is needed
Various marks on plastics can be removed with Mr. Clean Magic Erasers
Carpet mats - beat against side of house and vacuum, vacuum interior carpet and rear deck as well.
Rubber mats - spray down or scrub if needed

Since my glass is tinted, I use a slightly damp paper towel to remove smudges

 

[CG6Lemon]

Give this link a read, and you will understand what each specific surface requires in terms of identifying problems, know which products to tackle each problem, how to use each product, and to protect your work afterwards.


http://www.detailedimage.com/Auto-Detailing-Guide/Interior-Care/

 

[Wid]

303 Aerospace Protectant

http://www.eshine.ca/303_aerospace_protectant_wsprayer_16oz-200.php

Canadian site but that's where I get mine. It's probably available everywhere in the US of A.

 

[Solidus]

Sorry for a late reply to this. But this is what i do for interior up keep.

Leather - Meguiar's Leather Conditioner (Liquid form not wipes or spray) using terry cloth towel on seats and leather in panels, Can use on vinyl dash components and steering wheel as well due to its perfect PH level balance and has UV protectant
Upper/lower dash plastic pieces and plastic on door/side panels - Meguiar's Interior detailer Natural Finish (light application)
Various marks - Mr. Clean Magic Eraser
Custom Fit Rubber Floor Mats - Vacuum and Hose off, Dry with rag
Tint/Reg Window Glass - Dawn and terry cloth
(If you use windex/or similar you will experience glare and streaks)
Cleaning Leather and Panels - Clorox Natural Green Wipes (Don't just use any clorox wipes as they will leave residue and could lead to discoloration) Plus you must wait at least 48hrs before using any Meguiars/conditioner products after using these wipes

 

[talontsiawd]

I have a cloth interior. However, I still use Meguiar's Leather Cleaner (the one with Aloe). I liked this stuff on leather and found on other cars it works really well on the vinyl too. Easy to use, not too shiny, cleans well, etc.

Carpets, seats, etc...I vacuum and when things get bad, I use spray carpet cleaner. It doesn't seem to matter what brand, just any automotive one works.

Every 5 years or so I seem to have some reason to take out most of the interior, be it for a stereo install or similar. I take this time to throughly clean the carpet, outside of the car. I still use the same carpet cleaner but actually hose down the carpet with water. That really gets a lot more dirt out than just cleaning it in the car. I do the same with floor mats, just more often.


So yeah, I only use two cleaners but that gets the job done. The only reason my interior does not look great is I recovered some panels with suede and that all faded and looks brown and horrible. I find any interior that has not been neglected to the point of things cracking, leather getting super tough feeling/cracked/ripped, and really bad stains to clean up in a weekend. I have cleaned some seriously gross interiors back to new with just carpet cleaner and leather cleaner. I even have a good carpet cleaner vacuum with attachments to do a car and find it to be more trouble than just taking out the seats and carpets and really getting them clean outside the car.

 

[Solidus]

^ Thank You for sharing a nice perspective that will help those with cloth interior.

Cloth interior is really hard to upkeep. Reason being in order to keep it mint you have to continually vacuum and make sure the seats don't get wet at all. There is a special cleaner that is really good that foams up and removes the dirt from cloth like crazy, you'd be surprised. I can't remember the brand I used.

Only downs I think to cloth interior up keep is if seats get wet from rain or what not can cause deterioration of seat cutions and mold. If you get them wet at all or if you wet to clean make sure to blow dry really well right after.

Other member inputs breaking down what they use to keep there interior mint leather or cloth is appreciated for those looking to keep there interior mint.

 

[Brad2274]

for cloth seats with stains at the detail shop i work for we use a universal car interior shampoo for carpets, seats, and panels(for removing grime, not conditioning) i think it's made by car-brite. i spray it on the seats and crub the crap out of them with a brush, sometimes using a vacuum as well, pulls stains out pretty well, same is done on carpets, then open all doors and windows are opened so it dries.

For light colored floor mats with stains and grim i use the same shampoo and/or purple power degreaser on them then pressure spray them and hang to dry, often they come out brand new unless the fabric has a lot of heel-wear