Ditch the household cleaners

Like we said in the beginning of this article, the dirt that winds up on your couch is different from the kind of dirt that becomes embedded in your upholstery. So while it may be tempting to repurpose your household cleaners to detail your car upholstery, this «lifehack” will actually slow down the cleaning process. In fact, many household cleaners contain ingredients that can get stuck in your fabric upholstery and cause it to get dirtier a lot faster in a process known as re-soiling.

Start with the gentlest products

Cloth upholstery can take a lot of abuse, but you still want to clean it using the gentlest products possible to help make it last. Start with a general cleaning by spraying an interior detailer all over the panel you’re trying to clean, then use a soft, cotton cloth to wipe the entire area. A white cloth will make it easier to see how much dirt and stains you’ve lifted from your upholstery. Repeat this process on all your upholstery, concentrating on one section at a time and switching to a fresh cloth as needed.

Gently scrub the stitching

Lots of dirt settles into the stitches of your upholstery, so it’s important to give this thicker material some extra care to get the deepest clean. After you perform your light-duty cleaning, spray the stitching of your upholstery with more of your detailer and use a soft-bristle toothbrush to gently scrub up and down the stitching, removing as many stains and soils as you can.

Do it often

Most car owners wait until their upholstery is looking worse-for-wear before taking care of it. By then, your upholstery is going to require a lot more time, money and effort to restore. Instead, you should clean your upholstery at least once every season to maintain the fresh, like-new appearance of your car interior.

One way to see if your upholstery needs detailing is to compare the front and rear seats and upholstery, especially if you don’t have a lot of passengers in your back seats.