DIY- Car Interior Detailing

Thank you HomeRight for sponsoring this post! As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

This post contains affiliate links.

I’ve paid to have my car detailed ….once! I was throughly impressed with the service, but after a few months, my car looked the same from before the detailing. I regularly vacuum my car, but it’s still not the same. Starting off the new summer series, I wanted to do something that was fun, inexpensive and had multiple purposes. Today, I will show you my DIY car interior detailing project that I completed in 1 hour using my HomeRight Steamer!

During our summer series, we are aiming to tackle projects that take between 30 minutes to an hour. Time enough to complete while your little ones nap. No kids? These projects can save you time in a busy schedule. But with little ones, make sure you have a way to monitor them during the project because the Steamer can be loud.

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Supplies Needed:

• AutoRight Steamer– comes with 6-7 attachments 
• Extra Rags– for wiping away the excess dirt/debris
• Extension Cord (optional)

Before starting your detailing project:

• Vacuum/clean out your car- Getting rid of loose trash and dirt/debris will allow you to move faster and your steamer will work better on your interior. 
• Remove any floor mats- put them aside. We’ll come back to those.
• Remove carseats/boosters

Now you are ready to start using your steamer!

I started by unscrewing the safety cap, pouring water into the AutoRight Steamer (being careful not the overfill), replacing the cap and connecting the adaptor. Next, I turned the machine on. Then I allowed the product to build up steam pressure under the recommended 8 minutes (again, making sure the product was turned off). Once the steamer was ready to go, the orange pressure light turned off. Time to clean!

The AutoRight steamer comes with around 6-7 attachments. I started off using one of the smaller attachments with a small brush and steamed away. The smaller brush allowed me to scrub smaller areas of the car (i.e. seats, cup holders, etc). The brush was tiny enough that it could reach those “hard to reach places,” working quickly and efficiently. Depending on how the attachment is held, there can be some excess water drip from the steamer. I only had one cloth with me and that quickly became dirty, so I used a paper towel. I recommend having a few cloths on hand to wipe away the extra water from the steamer. 

It doesn’t matter where you start. I started in front so the seats and floor had more time to dry. Since my little one is still in a carseat, damp backseats weren’t important to me. Also, it was a sunny day so that helped to dry the interior faster. 

The rubber mats took the least amount of time to clean! I shook off the excess dirt and then used the brush attachment to clean between the grooves on the mats. When finished, they looked brand new.

I was impressed how well the steamer worked the interior of the car. I had some tough seat stains to remove, which resisted previous stain removers. Using the steam cleaner (and brush attachment), I removed the stain within seconds. Now, the steamer sometimes blows around some of the dirt so I would also recommend a light vacuum after the steamer if you want to take your clean to the next level. 

How long did it take?

It took me roughly an hour to steam my car. After I gathered all my supplies, I set a timer on my phone for 1 hour and worked until the timer stopped. When the timer stopped, I was pouring warm water over my mats to rinse off the dirt and laying them in the sun to dry, which was my last step. Having the flexibility to do it yourself also allows you to pace and deal with the most important areas of your car. 

What are the recommended/required supplies? 

I used the AutoRight Steamer and microfiber cloths. Here is a list of some optional items that you can use to achieve that “new car” feel (i.e. car scents, backseat organizers, etc).

Would this project wake my kids? 

It depends. If your kids are in close range and asleep, then yes. Although slightly quieter than a vacuum, there is still a chance that it could wake up the kids. But noise cancellers and walls should help to avoid disturbing naps.

Would I do this project again?

Yes, I think it’s worth having a portable steam cleaner, especially if you have more than one vehicle. I set a timer for an hour for this project and I was happy with the results. Also, my seats/fabric dried faster than they did when a company detailed my car. Also, detailing my car myself gave me the flexibility to skip areas that weren’t important to me (i.e. the roof of our car which usually stays clean) and focus on other areas that I wanted clean like the cup holders and backseats.

 

So what do you think? Will you try your own DIY car detailing project?