I spent around 20 hours detailing my Camaro over these past two days and I finally finished a few hours ago. Figured I'd do a little write-up detailing the processes and products used, along with techniques. I use a lot of stuff from the Chemical Guys line, so unless otherwise noted, the products listed are CG. Microfiber towels are either cheap, throwaway O'Reilly ones (interior/jambs/wheels/tires) or Pak Shak (everything else).
I always start with the interior. I actually did the grunt work on cleaning the plastics a few weeks ago, which took three hours, so that saved me a lot of time these past two days. For a garaged car that only gets driven when clean and which only sees the nicest of weather and the nicest of roads for a couple thousand miles a year, I couldn't believe how filthy the interior was after sitting in an undisturbed garage for the better part of the last four years while I was overseas. I was scrubbing the plastics with diluted all purpose cleaner on an MF and even after 6-7 times, the towel was still turning brown with dirt. Keep in mind my car was stored with the windows up as well.
Wiping all the plastics down with a diluted all purpose cleaner is the first thing I do, so I spent a little time today doing that. I then followed that with some Silk Shine dressing on everything. I then decided to take care of the inside of the glass all around, since I could see a haze on it from the inside. I find that most glass cleaners are a hassle, and usually the best thing to use is just a dry, clean MF towel. After this, I used a Shop-Vac on everything, and then I was ready for a liquid extractor on the seats and carpets.
I have never used an extractor before; the year I bought my car I shampooed the seats by hand, but that was futile, so I never bothered again since the seats seemed pretty clean. After 35k miles with the T-tops off and 13 years, I was wrong. I decided last time I was in there that I should try renting a Rug Doctor from the grocery store, so I got one for about $27. For those considering using one of these, I spent six hours steaming and went through three bottles of Anti-Foam and two bottles of upholstery cleaner (I used this on the carpet as well)--I used the Rug Doctor brand solutions. Total cost was around $50.
The rug doctor has an optional (required) hand tool for an additional $3, and the machine is really easy to use and works quite well. I thought my seats were clean, and I pulled out 7-8 tanks of dark brown or black water. For 13 years I've had a stain on the crushed velvet/velour/whatever it is on the passenger seat bottom. It came right out with the Rug Doctor. The stain is gone now. You'll need about 6 hours for the seats to dry out when you are done.
Overall, I was very impressed with the Rug Doctor. The nozzle has a clear portion on the vacuum part of it so you can see what is coming out of your seats, and you can see the liquid being sucked out from behind the fabric--it gets deep down into the fabric and gets sucked back out through; it looked kind of cool. You can't erase 150k miles of seat time, but you can pull a lot of slime out. My seats feel much cleaner to the touch now, and I would highly recommend renting one of these once a year to anyone; I will definitely do this once a year now. One technique tip--keep the nozzle moving quickly across the seat as you are spraying/vacuuming. You need to move it at 1 foot per second, which seems fast, but is necessary. Less than that and you end up with the solution spraying out and foaming badly, and running all over the place. It was a messy first hour trying to dial it in before I realized I was pulling the nozzle back too slowly but after that it worked really well. Here are a few finished interior shots. I wasn't planning on doing a write-up so I didn't take any process pics of this, and these are just quickie washed out iPhone pics with the car next to a row of white storage garages reflecting the sun:
I always start with the interior. I actually did the grunt work on cleaning the plastics a few weeks ago, which took three hours, so that saved me a lot of time these past two days. For a garaged car that only gets driven when clean and which only sees the nicest of weather and the nicest of roads for a couple thousand miles a year, I couldn't believe how filthy the interior was after sitting in an undisturbed garage for the better part of the last four years while I was overseas. I was scrubbing the plastics with diluted all purpose cleaner on an MF and even after 6-7 times, the towel was still turning brown with dirt. Keep in mind my car was stored with the windows up as well.
Wiping all the plastics down with a diluted all purpose cleaner is the first thing I do, so I spent a little time today doing that. I then followed that with some Silk Shine dressing on everything. I then decided to take care of the inside of the glass all around, since I could see a haze on it from the inside. I find that most glass cleaners are a hassle, and usually the best thing to use is just a dry, clean MF towel. After this, I used a Shop-Vac on everything, and then I was ready for a liquid extractor on the seats and carpets.
I have never used an extractor before; the year I bought my car I shampooed the seats by hand, but that was futile, so I never bothered again since the seats seemed pretty clean. After 35k miles with the T-tops off and 13 years, I was wrong. I decided last time I was in there that I should try renting a Rug Doctor from the grocery store, so I got one for about $27. For those considering using one of these, I spent six hours steaming and went through three bottles of Anti-Foam and two bottles of upholstery cleaner (I used this on the carpet as well)--I used the Rug Doctor brand solutions. Total cost was around $50.
The rug doctor has an optional (required) hand tool for an additional $3, and the machine is really easy to use and works quite well. I thought my seats were clean, and I pulled out 7-8 tanks of dark brown or black water. For 13 years I've had a stain on the crushed velvet/velour/whatever it is on the passenger seat bottom. It came right out with the Rug Doctor. The stain is gone now. You'll need about 6 hours for the seats to dry out when you are done.
Overall, I was very impressed with the Rug Doctor. The nozzle has a clear portion on the vacuum part of it so you can see what is coming out of your seats, and you can see the liquid being sucked out from behind the fabric--it gets deep down into the fabric and gets sucked back out through; it looked kind of cool. You can't erase 150k miles of seat time, but you can pull a lot of slime out. My seats feel much cleaner to the touch now, and I would highly recommend renting one of these once a year to anyone; I will definitely do this once a year now. One technique tip--keep the nozzle moving quickly across the seat as you are spraying/vacuuming. You need to move it at 1 foot per second, which seems fast, but is necessary. Less than that and you end up with the solution spraying out and foaming badly, and running all over the place. It was a messy first hour trying to dial it in before I realized I was pulling the nozzle back too slowly but after that it worked really well. Here are a few finished interior shots. I wasn't planning on doing a write-up so I didn't take any process pics of this, and these are just quickie washed out iPhone pics with the car next to a row of white storage garages reflecting the sun: