Cleaning a car interior: the order of work

Most interiors get cleaned twice: once the wrong way round, and then again because the dirt from the crevices is now lying on the surface that was just wiped. The order is the real trick, and it has four steps.

1. Vacuum

Everything loose comes out first: mats out and vacuumed separately, then floor, seats and seat rails. Whatever is still there is either stuck down or sitting in a crevice — and both are the next step.

2. Crevices and vents

Now the brushes. Gap brush into the space between seat and console, around the gear lever and along the lip of the door pocket. The narrow detail brush through the vent slats, one at a time, from the inside outwards. Always work in one direction, not back and forth: back and forth pushes the dust into the crevice again.

3. Loosen the surfaces

Dashboard, door cards, centre console. Take the dense brush over them dry, so the dust lifts instead of being spread as mud later. This step feels unnecessary and is the one that separates clean from clean-looking.

4. Wipe down

Only now do the cloths come out. One cloth per area, folded into quarters so one cloth gives you eight clean faces. Dry, you lift the loosened dust; lightly damp, you go over what people touch: steering wheel, gear lever, door handles, belt buckles. Finish by pulling the large drying towel across plastic and glass in one pass, so no streaks are left standing.

Why top to bottom

Within each step there is one more rule: start at the top. Whatever falls off the dashboard lands on the floor, and the floor is done last — otherwise you do it twice.

How long it takes

An interior that gets done regularly takes about twenty minutes. One that has been driven for a year needs two passes, and the second is much quicker than the first.