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Detailing The Interior Of Your Car For Sale Or Make Yourself Feel Better About Your Car.


jdnet

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Ok guys as requested here's the write up and it will focus on the dashboard too.

If you are preparing to sell a car one of the best things you could do it detail you car, both outside and inside. This article will cover what you need to do to make your interior look much better than it is, on a budget. Before attempting the entire process it would be wise to make sure you have some time freed up and have all the materials ready.

Here’s what you need:

Rubbing compound (3m or similar, not heavy duty paste in the can). This maybe the most expensive single item you purchase but it will be an asset to have in your garage for future use too. They sell for between 600 (cheaper brands) to 1450 (3m stuff).

Paint brush (the kind you use for paintings, not your wall, one that has stiff bristles and is large enough to dust you’re a/c vents).

Mild shampoo(baby shampoo works fine).

Dash board protectant (I used the cheap STR high gloss stuff which was 200 or something. The other stuff I has was over and this was lying around. You can use want.)

Carpet and upholstery cleaner (again I had some STR stuff lying around that costs about 250 but there’s also a really good foam one which costs around 450 but you will have to air your car out really well after using it as it’s quite strong)

A few clean cotton rags

A microfiber cloth (use a really soft cloth or an old 100% cotton t-shirt it you don’t want to spend 300 on one).

Vacuum cleaner. If you don’t have one you will have to either go get your car vacuumed beforehand.

The Process

Cleaning the car.

1. Vacuum your car really well. Make sure you get the headliner, trunk carpet, under the seats and everything else. Take your paint brush and get the dust out of all the crevices. Such as a/c vents, around the shifter, radio, temp controls, etc. Make sure you inspect every corner for dust. This might seem excessive but even the little details add up to create a better end result.

2. Once everything is nice and clean use the upholstery cleaner to clean the headliner, and any cloth you may have on your door panels. You can use it on the seats too but it’s a pretty tiresome process.

3. If you have a wet/dry vacuum at home you could remove your seats before vacuuming and the shampoo and vacuum the seats. If you need any info on this process just let me know.

4. Wipe down Any areas seen from the inside that are dirty using a wet rag. A common area is the one behind the door there the hinges area. Just act like a housewife looking for signs or her husband cheating.

Restoring the plastic

5. Mix some baby shampoo or other mild shampoo in a tub with some warm water. Take wet your rag with the solution and wipe down all the areas of your dash (except for the radio face) real well then do the door panels and other plastic trim. Wipe everything dry afterwards.

6. Take your microfiber towel or other soft cloth and pour a little bit of rubbing compound on it. You will be using this to clean the dash and other plastic parts. Wipe down on everything softly. Try your best not to apply too much pressure while wiping. Add as much rubbing compound as you may think fit but try to keep it at a minimal. At this point, if your dashboard was really bad you would notice the years of dirt and protectant come off and start to see the color coming back to the dash. Once completing the entire dashboard move on the other stuff shut as door panels and the center console. Make your you get the plastic parts on the bottom such as the door s ills too.

7. Once you have finished with the rubbing compound get some soapy water again and wipe everything down real well and let it dry. Once dry pour some protectant onto a rag and coat everything with it. Make sure you are real generous with it as your dashboard will have had all the old protectant removed in step 6.

At this point the interior of your car should be looking a lot better. If you are selling your car and have ugly floor mats, make sure you toss them out. Cut out some white Bristol board and place it on the floor instead. The first thing people notice when entering a car is the floor. I will make a post about detailing the exterior later today or tomorrow.

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Forgot to mention that the test vehicle had a had plastic dashboard and only a few areas of vinyl. It worked great on all areas so it should not be a problem. If you vehicle has really soft vinyl all over I should suggest testing the rubbing compound method on an inconspicuous spot to see if you like the reults.

It should also be noted that using rubbing compound on a dash isn't something that should be done more frequently. I would say wait a few more years till you do it for a second time.

Also Sorry about the really long title. Forgot to edit it out while copying and pasting from word.

Edited by jdnet
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Great write up as always from you jdnet, you've gained a lot of respect I believe for being so informative :)

Btw, do you have pictures of you doing the job? It'd be really nice to see the results at each step like you've done with the headlights thread, can know what to expect.

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Great write up as always from you jdnet, you've gained a lot of respect I believe for being so informative :)

Btw, do you have pictures of you doing the job? It'd be really nice to see the results at each step like you've done with the headlights thread, can know what to expect.

tried taking pictures but you cant really tell the difference because I used my cellphone as I dont have my SLR with me. Also my car is tinted and I was working inside the garage. I will try to pull a panel I missed off and try to take a picture with better lighting.

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Thanks jdnet... great work! U sure have gained a lot of respect in the forum. I guess you don't have to wait till u sell the car to do a good detailin ;) . I guess we can do for our use

Thanks. Just note that using rubbing compound on a dash isn't something that should be done frequently. If your dash does not show signs of extensive discoloration you can use a good vinyl and plastic cleaner.

Getting ready to paint my exhaust so I guess i'll just make a thread about that when i'm done.

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6. Take your microfiber towel or other soft cloth and pour a little bit of rubbing compound on it. You will be using this to clean the dash and other plastic parts. Wipe down on everything softly. Try your best not to apply too much pressure while wiping. Add as much rubbing compound as you may think fit but try to keep it at a minimal. At this point, if your dashboard was really bad you would notice the years of dirt and protectant come off and start to see the color coming back to the dash. Once completing the entire dashboard move on the other stuff shut as door panels and the center console. Make your you get the plastic parts on the bottom such as the door s ills too.

Can we use compound on the dashboard & door panels for removing minor scratches.

Great post BTW. Keep 'em coming!

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Can we use compound on the dashboard & door panels for removing minor scratches.

Great post BTW. Keep 'em coming!

Well that's something I would have to test and let you know the results. The reason rubbing compound works on minor scratches on paint it because they are on the clear coat and the rubbing compound lightly sands the clear coat to the depth of the scratch. In theory it should be after to soften light scratches on the interior provided that the scratch is really shallow. I will try it out and let you know.

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machan nice write up..my dash is rubbish so i might just follow your write up..would be great to see some before and after pics...peri do we have a maintenence section where this can be pinned???

No but I'll ask Madz to put it in the Car Maintenance section in the AL home page with links back to the forum.

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machan nice write up..my dash is rubbish so i might just follow your write up..would be great to see some before and after pics...peri do we have a maintenence section where this can be pinned???

will post some before and after pics as soon as I can.

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Forgot to mention that the test vehicle had a had plastic dashboard and only a few areas of vinyl. It worked great on all areas so it should not be a problem. If you vehicle has really soft vinyl all over I should suggest testing the rubbing compound method on an inconspicuous spot to see if you like the reults.

It should also be noted that using rubbing compound on a dash isn't something that should be done more frequently. I would say wait a few more years till you do it for a second time.

Also Sorry about the really long title. Forgot to edit it out while copying and pasting from word.

Thanks for the great pieces of advises jdnet. This is an absolute kind of good information. Not only for the vehicle sellers, but also the vehicle lovers. Thanks for sharing this.

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any idea what the cost of a decent vacuum cleaner might be and where you can get one.

Well I just bought a haier wet/dry vacuum from abans so that I can shampoo the seats too. A small hand vacuum would work fine. The one I got cost something like 13000 IIRC.

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Thanks for the great pieces of advises jdnet. This is an absolute kind of good information. Not only for the vehicle sellers, but also the vehicle lovers. Thanks for sharing this.

True!!!!! really valuable for vehicle lovers too.

Mate, can you explain more detailed of 2 and 3 steps?

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