A clean and tight car interior is not just a matter of beauty and comfort. While sitting inside a clean, organized, nice-looking interior, you feel more relaxed. It inevitably affects your driving style, making you a more attentive, patient, and careful driver. So, technically, you may say that clean car upholstery is a significant safety matter.
Let’s see how various products and tricks can make maintaining your car interior clean, simple, and affordable.
Choosing proper stain remover
The modern market does not lack various cleansers and upholstery stain removers. However, some interior materials may be more delicate and require more attention. Once you are using a new upholstery stain removing product, make sure to test it on a less-visible part of the upholstery before applying and rubbing it all over the interior. In this case, you hall notice if the solution damages or stains the material before doing some significant damage to a vehicle’s interior.
Once dealing with stubborn staining on your leather upholstery, try to apply a leather conditioner on the stained area before using the actual stain remover. Let the product sit for at least 30 seconds, then wipe it off thoroughly.
Now let’s go over particular kinds of upholstery staining and handy tips to remove them.
Ink Stains
Ink cannot resist alcohol. Try using an alcohol-based hairspray or several drops of first-aid-kit alcohol diluted with water. Let the solution sit on the stain for several seconds, then wipe it off the holster carefully. Make sure not to rub the ink in-between the holster fibers or spread the stain with circular moves.
Oily Stains
Once you notice greasy stains from food, hand creams, or lotions on your upholster, try using several drops of watered-down paint thinner and a soft cotton cloth. After applying the solution and rubbing it softly into the stain with a cloth, sprinkle it with salt and sit overnight. Salt is a powerful absorbent, so you will need to vacuum the stained area in the morning. Make sure to check the paint-thinner solution before applying it to the upholstery to avoid staining and damage.
Coffee Stains
Coffee stains are quite common on vehicle upholsteries. However, they are pretty easy to clean. Most of the time, some cold water will be enough to forget about the stain. Once it appeared to be more stubborn than you expected, spray some glass cleaning product on the stay and then blot it with a soft cloth. Make sure to blot and not rub the stain. Otherwise, you risk pushing coffee particles deeply between the fibers of your upholstery. They will be impossible to clean in this case.
Vomit Stains
If you are a parent, most probably, you are not a stranger to vomit stains on the upholstery of your car. Incredibly frustrating, those stains are pretty easy to clean once you deal with them right away. Dilute the stain with cold water and blot it thoroughly. Then spread some club soda all over the stain. Soda will absorb the remaining elements of vomit, and you will get rid of it quickly after simple vacuuming. Make sure to ventilate your vehicle thoroughly after cleaning off the vomit. Its smell is much more sustainable and annoying than staining.
Blood Stains
Removing blood stains from upholstery may become tricky. The main thing you should remember is to avoid using hot water. Heat only makes blood set, and the stain may become impossible to clean. Use cold water or an ice cube to dissolve a bloodstain, then blot it carefully with a soft cloth.
Here at OHS Body Shop, we know how important it is for our customers to keep their vehicles neat and clean. While taking care of your car’s perfect maintenance, we are always happy to advise you on cleaning the interior of your car fast and easy.
OHS Body Shop serves the Greater Flathead Valley and offers auto body repairs and more at our service centers in Kalispell, Whitefish, Columbia Falls and Polson. Visit the closest to you to get comprehensive consultation from our qualified mechanics and the best prices in the area for all kinds of service.