Media post: Car Cleaning Tips

Perhaps there are a few people who don’t mind a messy car, but we think it’s reasonable to say that most people would rather have a clean one. Problem is, it’s easy to say you’d like a clean car, but then you have to do it (clean it) and that takes time, a scarce commodity these days. Thankfully, we are here to help. Here’s a few tricks to make your car cleaning job a little more manageable.

Removing smells

Cars can smell badly after a while, particularly if you have fabric-covered seats. But, no matter where those odors come from, and Lord knows there are a lot of sources, there is hope. Just pull out some baking powder from your kitchen, spread it all over your car seats, then suck it up with a vacuum cleaner a few hours later. It may take a couple of applications, but you should find that this freshens up your car nicely.

Remove bumper stickers

There aren’t many bumper stickers that don’t fade and tear as they age. Most people leave them on their cars, however, because removing bumper stickers isn’t easy. Well, here’s a neat trick. Soak the sticker down with WD-40, wait 10 mins or so and you should find that the sticker will peel right off. If not, apply the WD-40 a few more times and give it enough time to soak in.

Clean your vents

You know those gray foam paint brushes that are commonly sold in hardware stores? Those things are great for cleaning the air vents in your car. The conveniently shaped flat brushes can be slid in between the slats to clean the dust and dirt that has settled in there.

Cupholders protection

This is a great hack. We got this one from Charlie’s Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram in Maumee, OH. As they say, it doesn’t take much time before a car’s cup holders are simply disgusting. One simple hack to prevent them from collecting lots of gunk is to put some cupcake molds in them. The cupcake holders will collect all the spills and can simply be thrown away once they become dirty.

Clean your windshields

This might sound like the most counterintuitive advice steel wool can work wonders when it comes to cleaning up your windshield. Steel wool will clean just about anything that has dried on your car’s windshield. Just use some common sense and don’t rub too hard. Its hard to scratch glass with steel wool but it can happen.

Rejunvenate your wipers

The rubber on your windshield wipers can get dry over time. In many cases, it might be best just to buy new wipers but you can also rejuvenate your old ones with some rubbing alcohol. Just put some on a small cloth and rub your wiper blades down.

Clean your floor mats

Yes, floor mats can get really dirty. Want to clean them up? Here’s a cool hack. Clean them at your local commercial laundry and then bring them back home to dry. When done you will be amazed at how good they look.