DIY cleaning interior

I've got an Interior on my hands with almost 300k miles of loving. I'm wondering what's possible without a steam cleaner or a shopvac (just got a handheld dyson). Ive got carpets, roof liner, and inside door plastics to do. What's realistic expectations and what would be the recommended procedure for cleaning carpets and plastic bits?

I'm sure others will chime in with advice, but go ahead and pick up some 'awesome' at the dollar store. It is in an orange spray bottle. The E36 M3 is AWESOME! on carpets and seats. I also heard hydrogen peroxide is helpful for coffee stains.... Never tried it though.

I like to use a mild degreaser or some sort of armor-all with a small brush to clean panels and switches. A nail brush or toothbrush works well to get in to the texture of plastics and crevices of panels and switches.

A stiff scrub brush can loosen up a lot of dirt in the carpet fibers so that a dustbuster can pick them up.

I think you should soak the carpet in a cleaner, scrub with a brush, and then take it to a car wash with a handful of quarters for the industrial vacuum.

I have some black grease spots on my cloth seats. What works best to remove them?

On carpets what's gonna be the difference between me scrubbing with a brush and vacuuming vs paying someone with a steam cleaner to come out? I might just do that and handle the plastic bits myself.

How much do the carpets cost online?

Coldsnap wrote: On carpets what's gonna be the difference between me scrubbing with a brush and vacuuming vs paying someone with a steam cleaner to come out? I might just do that and handle the plastic bits myself.

If you're considering that, might want to do as much as you can at home and then have them finish the job? Or, if you can, pull them from the car and use a coin op wash. If they are getting old and worn, though, you will probably want to keep the pressure on a lower setting (don't pull the trigger) to keep from blasting all the fibers out of it.

-Rob

Buy your own steam cleaner. It works wonders on grease but I never tried it on carpets.

I have this one.

This one looks better but it wasn't made when I bought mine.

I clean everything that isnt cloth with woolite.

I take two buckets, fill one with hot water and add woolite and another bucket with clean water. wipe with wollite mixture then wipe again with the water micture on another rag. then dry off with a towel.

works really good on plastic stuff. doesnt discolor or leave residue or make it all shiny or slimy and attract dust. also gets built up grime and grease off.

Question. I understand you dont have a machine and your trying to figure out a way to do the best job without one. (thats how i understood the post)

However, Home Depot has a Rug Doctor with upholstery attachment to rent. 4 hours was $29. Thats cheap. And that will net your better results than most other methods. Granted its not a heated water unit but it will accept hot water so that will make a difference.

I would rent one. Had i known that years ago it woulda changed how I did a lot of interiors.

I used to borrow or rent a Rug Dr for carpets after pretreating with Oxyclean or Simple Green but now I just yank them and take them to the coin car wash and pressure wash them. Gets out stains the Rug Dr couldn't make a dent on, my MX-6 carpet looks minty now. Need a pressure washer of my own one of these days.

2nd or 3rd or whatever on the coin op wash. I knew a used car refurb guy who'd do this. Use Simple Green or something like that first to get rid of stains. Let the carpet sit outside in the sun to dry.

Ah interesting.. Wonder how hard it is to rip out the carpet on a Volvo 240. Will see if there's a guide.

Very easy once you take the front seats out (4 bolts each).

Coldsnap wrote:

Ah interesting.. Wonder how hard it is to rip out the carpet on a Volvo 240. Will see if there's a guide.

I just spent a few (5 or so) hours trying to clean the carpets on my 30 year old e30. Used one of those oxy charged carpet an upholstery cleaner concentrates and a spray bottle. Brushed the cleaner in and used a wet dry vacuum to suck up a spray from the hose that passed right before it. Kinda like a ghetto rental cleaner. It did ok but in the end the carpet is still stained from a 10 year old (at least) soda spill and smells like old carpet. And it has a bad case of pattern baldness too on the humps and foot wells. Honestly if the carpet is that old and kits are available just get a replacement. I should have but I spent all my cash on a new ac system instead.

Take the interior and carpets out and arrange them in the driveway. Hit them with a waterhose. Spray on mix of Tide (or whatever) and hot water. Scrub a little. Then hit them with a power washer with a fan tip. Allow to dry in the hot sun for a couple days. Reassemble.

You guys really remove the carpets to clean them?

Holy crap, I feel like just removing the carpets in my last challenge car (bmw 7) was a 3-5 hour affair, and many interior plastics were broken in the process. I was trying to remove it in a way that the carpets could be kept (i.e. not cutting) but in the end it turned out that I got frustrated and just cut them anyway. Might have been a 10 hour job to remove the front carpets alone if you were dead-set on not cutting. They go under the dash and heater core and AC evaporator and gas pedal mounted to the floor etc/etc/etc.

Maybe in an old single cab pickup - but otherwise really?

Robbie wrote: You guys really remove the carpets to clean them? Holy crap, I feel like just removing the carpets in my last challenge car (bmw 7) was a 3-5 hour affair, and many interior plastics were broken in the process.

No big deal on a Miata or MR2, which are my reference points. They both came out looking really really good, too.

The plastic is extremely brittle in my car.. so that sort of sounds like a nightmare. Unless volvo 240 super easy.