Interior Detailing Tips

[Forrest]

Although I am reasonably fastidious about cleaning the outside of my cars I must admit I rarely put much effort into the inside. Having recently bought a good condition but well used Volvo estate I decided as a bit of a one-off to valet the interior. I thought I’d share these two tips; both from the same YouTube source, which I found effective. Don’t shoot the messenger and try at your own risk. All I’m saying is they worked for me.

Carpet Stain Removal

https://youtu.be/JJrNqINzNjM

The main thing here is the wonderful mixture of chemicals he uses. I used a similar but slightly different combination comprising Fairy Liquid, generic Oxi-clean powder, methanol and household ammonia. I’d argue you could use any aliphatic alcohol but IPA (per the video) or ethanol are probably safest. I used a carpet cleaner loaded with clean warm water for the rinsing phase.

If anyone is fool enough to use the same mixture as me don’t make the mistake of screwing the cap down on the bottle. Mine started to blow up like a balloon!

COSHH assessment; don’t even go there!

Leather Restoration

https://youtu.be/gI04exWUkKI

This is essentially using an industrial solvent laced with a small amount of dye. Not one for the purists but a lot less effort than some of the restoration methods on YouTube.

Unfortunately, I neglected to take “before” pictures but a couple of pics of the end result attached.