I am going down to my girlfriends in the middle of april and may have to take, her, her mum, and her grandma from Northampton to Oxford and back for a day out.
The problem is that I have an old P Reg Clio and it has a lot a hard plastic around the interior. I want to try and rejuvinate the interor so it looks as new as a 10.5 year old can.
The question is what products do backroomers recomend/use. When I go to Halfords on wednesday I feel I will get to view a large selection of products all with so much advertising guff I won't know if I am picking up potentialy damaging snake oil.
I need a good cleaning agent to start with, to clean the steering wheel (discusting), gear knob, vents and door panels. Second I want to make the plastic look better.
Any suggestions?
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Torque means nothing without RPM
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A damp cloth?
I don't normally like the products for plastic, they always seem to give a horrible residue, and don't make a huge difference.
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I think it's your halo that needs polishing doing what your doing - not your car.
Well done to you.
I have always used autoglym but advice on here is that is not that good so I will be trying the bilthambers and P21's in future - but that's the oustide and I have just re-read your post so...............
for the inside the autoglym vinyl and rubber care is good and so is the internal freshner. Make sure you buff the plastic after cleaning it though or the reisdue will rub off on the future mother in laws clothes.
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Auto Glym Fabric Cleaner is good for er.. fabrics! As for the plastics I would just use a can of Pledge Clean and Dust or Mr Sheen.
As an aside, I worked in a dealership and we used furniture polish for most cleaning tasks, it can even be used on bodywork to clean and polish the paintwork, I use it on my own car for the door shut area, brings it up a treat and it's really cheap! :-)
Blue
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Try a local 'trade' type motor factors - usually the sort of place that also sells paint and bodywork parts. They should have a 5-litre can of 'Car Upholstery Shampoo' - this is the stuff I use. Mix it 4:1 to remove heavy stains and clean dash and steering wheel (dampen a cloth with it).
Mix it 6:1 - 10:1 for seat fabrics - you'll need a wet-and-dry vacuum (VAX type thing) to dry the seats out though.
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Just CLEAN it thoroughly inside, don't apply furniture polish, back to black, dashboard sheen, or any other shiny oil. All of these contain is a horrible silicone oil emulsion, which makes everything look and feel greasy, it collects dirt and migrates onto the glass causing a smeary film. It also feels horrible and soaks straight through the skin causing subcutaneous cell damage.
You just want it clean and tidy and to smell clean and fresh in a subtle way, not full of perfume like a tart's parlour.
Good luck!
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Foaming cleaner is probably the best for cleaning plastics, it lifts out all the dirt that's been wiped into the grain/texturing. Ambersil make a good one called Amberclens but you should be able to get an equivalent from any decent office supply warehouse.
Kevin...
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I would agree that spray on products for shining up the dash can attract dust in the long run but they can really make a car look clean. I have used Armorall for years on interior trim and tyres although I just used Autoglyms equivalent (3 for 2 at Halfords, no Armorall to be seen) and I was very impressed. In particular with the large plastic base around the boot - it was dry and faded and I know Armorall wouldn't have dealt with it that well. Automglym did a great job. And do the tyres too, it makes a massive difference to a car's clean appearance.
Obviously, keep these products awat from steering wheen and pedals...
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Would anyone here be concerned about mixing moisture with wiring - heating, seatbelt tensioning, adjustment motors and the like - in a modern car seat?
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WDB, not forthe purposes of cleaning, it's not like you'll be hosing it down, and they will be dry in a day or so.
Another thing which benefits from being cleaned is the seatbelts, especially if they are lazy to retract it will make them zippy again.
Get a bucket of hot water and a couple of towels, and put laundry liquid (powder may be OK if fully dissolved) in the water, and pull out the whole legth of seatbelt and thouroughly slosh in the water, then squeeze the belt with towel and pull through, you may even seen dirt on the towel, keep then sloshing it in water again, and pulling it through towel, then you can rinse in plain water and dry and leave them uncoiled for a few hours. - I have to say, best done in the summer, as the weather is still a bit of a nuisance.
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I am going down to my girlfriends in the middle of april and may have to take, her, her mum, and her grandma from Northampton to Oxford and back for a day out. >> -----------------------------------------------
After wiping and sponging the outside & inside try spraying the car with Neutradol/Oust type air freshener - in the boot & cabin.
That will take away the odours of the sweaty socks and the long forgotten sweaty teashirt etc that lay in the boot for a few days/weeks maturing as time past.
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Autoglym -there is nothing else like it ! Halfords did have a 3 for 2 offer on a couple of weeks ago.
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Still had in my local Halfords on Friday, Pug.
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Northampton to Oxford isn't very far. Just pile on loads of aftershave before each journey and they won't smell the damp and musky student/young male aroma that normally fills your car.
Give it a good wash over outside, and a rub down inside with a damp cloth that's been in a weak detergent solution.
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Halfords 3 for 2 offer on cleaning products was still on today. I thought it was 3 for 2 of the same product, and thought why would I want to buy 3 5litre cans of car wash fluid. The penny didn't drop until after I had paid for ... 5 products!
I hadn't been there for a while, and they are now selling some weird internal light thingies, to give ambient light to your dashboard, with the instructions entirely in Japanesse. Weird.
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you need to apply a little bit of thinking "outside the box" here.
You really dont want to be dragging M-I-L and Granny out too often, If you make the car too nice and tidy they wil enjoy it too much and expect frequent repeat performances.
What TVM does is
gently moisten one labrador in the local mill pond then invoke the auto shake function to perfume the rear area.
Works a treat, I have it down to one short journey a year at mothers day.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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And while you are about it, take a good look at your girlfriend's Mum, because if you stay with the lass, she will turn into her Mum, and far sooner than you expect.
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And while you are about it, take a good look at your girlfriend's Mum, because if you stay with the lass, she will turn into her Mum, and far sooner than you expect.
And if you stay with her for a long time, she will turn into her granny!
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>>she will turn into her Mum, and far sooner than you expect.>>
Careful, it works the other way as well...:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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