Whether it’s after a long trip or just driving around town, cars seem to get dirty incredibly fast, both inside and out. Taking it to a car wash on a regular basis can get pretty expensive and doing a deep clean every week is exhausting. Here are a few tips to help you clean your car better than you ever have before!
Toothbrush
Old toothbrushes are great for getting out embedded dirt and other grime. Whether the gunk is between the seats or on the dashboard, a toothbrush gives you that extra reach you need to get your car clean with half the work.
Olive Oil
Believe it or not, rubbing a light amount of olive oil onto leather seats and the dashboard gives your car that extra gleam and shine that we all love! Don’t use too much or too often, however, or else it can make the surface grimy and greasy feeling.
Toothpaste
Toothpaste isn’t just good for your teeth. Spread it on your grimy headlights, give it a few minutes, and then wash the toothpaste off. You’ll be surprised at how effective a layer of toothpaste can be in making your headlights look brand new!
Steel Wool
Steel wool can be used to clean windows, if used very carefully. Do not use it on painted surfaces or on your mirrors. Be cautious you use it on stuck-on gunk or buffing certain marks out, it can also leave nasty scratches if you’re not careful.
Foam Brush
This is a great and easy way to clean your AC vents without much work at all. Just take a foam brush that’s usually used for painting and run it between the slots of your vents. The foam will pick up any dirt that’s hanging around!
Clay Bar
Take a clay bar and rub it across the outside of your car when you’re finished washing and drying it. The clay not only picks up any built-in gunk that may be stuck on your car’s exterior, but it also leaves a nice finish!
Car Mats
Car mats can sometimes be a nightmare to clean. If you have carpeted ones, then here’s an easy solution! Put some stain remover on them and then just throw them in the washing machine! Most, if not all, of the stains and dirt will come out without you having to do anything!
Dryer Sheets
If your car is covered in dried up bugs after a long trip, then you’ll love this solution! Take a dryer sheet, get it wet, and then use it to wipe off the bugs on your grille. It works with almost no effort or energy on your part!
Goo Gone
The only thing worse than a sticky dashboard is an embarrassing amount of bumper stickers. Solve both these problems with Goo Gone! It’ll help you easily peel off any stubborn stickers while also making your dashboard clean and smooth!
Rubbing Alcohol
If your wiper blades only seem to smear water across your windshield, then try this. Rub a small amount of rubbing alcohol on the rubber part of your wiper blades. This helps them run smoother across the windshield and keeps from smearing.
Windows
When cleaning your windows, make sure to roll the windows down a bit so you can clean to the very top. Most people forget or ignore this part of the window and it can get dirty and gross. Start from the top and work your way down so no dirty water stays behind.
Nooks and Crannies
Take an old screwdriver or other tool that has a dull, thin end. Put a piece of cloth over the top and use it to clean any small nooks and crannies in your car, like on the armrests. You can push the gunk out and then vacuum it up.
WD-40
Put a little bit of WD-40 over bumper stickers and let it sit for a little bit. Then just pull the sticker off; the WD-40 should make this a quick and clean job without having to worry about leftover sticker bits on your bumper.
Coffee Filters
Surprisingly, coffee filters have numerous uses in helping you clean your car. You can clean vents with them, put a little oil on them to rub your car down and make it shine, or put vinegar and water on it to get stains out. Whatever the use, coffee filters are sure to be your friend!
Conditioner
If you want your car to shine, look no further! Buy some conditioner, but make sure it has lanolin! Spread some on a cloth and then wipe down the outside of your car! The conditioner will give your car a nice, shiny finish that looks great!
Thanks for all the tips. this is very helpful.
These are amazing and really a big help. Now I can make my car clean everyday.
Great tips – I’ll be sure to give them a try! Thanks.
REMOVE RUBBER INSERTS–cup holders, coin trays etc, soak in hot soapy water & scrub.
NON-REMOVABLES–pour hot soapy water into cup holders Etc (NOT anywhere near electrical nor dripping into radio). Let it soak, scrub. Use old bath towel to soak up any water left. Repeat with just got water
You can run those through your dishwasher.
Rather than soapy water get a spray bottle fill it fill of White vinegar spray it then wipe it off with a paper shop towel. in the hard to clean areas use a tooth brush to help. Clean mess Great smell. Removed 5 years of nasty Smoke and Chewing tobacco Stains form a 6 yr old Van and when I was done it looked New Again…
Before you start cleaning out your car, open all doors put windows down and blast with leaf blower on HIGH
Love it Nancy off to try it now
That’s hilarious!!! Love it!!
I bet it works great on all the dog hair!
Still havent seen the tips, Hard to get to the tips not an easy website
I’d have to say that happens a lot! But I like the leaf blower tip!
Thank you! It was unexpected and I was very susprired. Glad you’re sharing it from your end. Hope others who just started blogging would find this too. I am sure you will.
Instead of steel wool, use the green scrubbing pads. Much less risk of scratching.
What kind of conditioner? Is there a conditioner brand specifically for cars?
Hair conditioner is what they are talking about, just make sure lanolin is one of the contains.
5. use a razor blade
7. the car needs to be wet and soapy for clay
8. do them by hand
9. anything with paper will scratch paint
14. wd40 will mess up your paint
Take a small generator use Basktall nozel to air a basketball use on floorboard in hard to vacume places it cleans deep then vacume
After washing and drying exterior, my mother always uses Pledge on her vehicles, and they are always beautiful and shiny.
How do you remove the Blue dye from jeans left on leather seats?
Use biological soap powder with hot water, it works a treat.
Hand sanitizer – the gel type or make up remover
I have an 11 year old Prius with 180,000 miles on her and she is running great. My one problem was getting the beige upholstery clean. I purchased a PET-SMART SPOT CLEANER from Bissell for $100 from Wal mart and it worked better than many of the pros textile cleaning which left black smudges everywhere. Still, I could not get the very edges of the velour covered console and arm rests. I found a miracle product. MAGIC ERASERS!!!! Gets that black grime off the edges of these harder to clean surfaces. In fact it gets any mark of any surface that would not come off by any other means. And Walmart makes a knock off that is very affordable. The Magic Erasers cost about 4 or 5$ for 2 small ones. Wall mart sells a package of 10 of the knock offs, which are exactly the same thing, for about 7 bucks!
Will try the toothpaste idea on my headlight sense covers which are badly clouded from age.
Thanks!
When cleaning your headlights with tooth paste (I didn’t read the directions here) don’t forgot after your wash them, apply car polish or wax, let it dry and polish it off. It makes the clean last longer.
Thanks for this tip!
Does it get rid of the fog that u sometimes get on headlights??
Yes, it should!
Make sure you condition the leather after you use the magic erasers. They do work GREAT! I used them on my seats too, but, they also remove the conditioning and will make the seats start to crack more. So, just make sure to use some leather condioner to make the leather soft and suple again so they don’t crack.
Use Armarol tire cleaner for your dash and door panels. Comes clean and a natural shine that doesn’t blind you. After that swiffer dust sheets help keep the dash clean in between. Super easy. I have been doing this for years in my school bus and truck.
There is a scrubber called Scrub Daddy, which is multi-use. Look it up on internet. It will not scratch your car, wheels, lights. Then you will want to buy more for your dishes, some for the bathrooms. These are great…..no steal wool, no green scrubbing pads to risk scratching whatever you are cleaning.
#5. Only use 0000 grade steel wool on Windows.
Has anyone tried the toothpaste for cleaning headlights? Just curious if it actually works
I tried on my Honda didn’t work. A friend told me to use something with deet like bug spray Better results than toothpaste!
Mike,
Thanks for the tip!
2003 CR-V. I read to use toothpaste and baking soda. A little elbow grease and the lenses are clear.
I tried the toothpaste twice and it did NOT clean my headlights. It looks like the cloudy stuff is on the inside of the light fixture and I couldn’t get the fixture off to clean the inside.
Woww. Really Superb and natural hacks to clean the car in short time. I am looking for these natural hacks to clean my car by myself. Thanks for sharing with us.
Thank you for reading!
LOVED THE COMMENTS FOR THE CAR. I WILL TRY ALL OF THEM. THANK YOU
Any ideas for cleaning stained carpet.
I’ve always used regular carpet cleaner
There is a product called “Back to Black”. I was skeptical at first…but, it did work very well on my plastic black grill. So, I tried it on other areas of my car. Basically, I think it is just a plastic restorer and conditioner. The product itself is not black, so I tried it on my headlights and it seemed to clean them very well without much elbow grease. Except of course the one that has more damage one the inside of the assembly. No way to fix those kind without replacing them. Another nice product is Invisble Glass…cleans everything streak free!!!