Car Care Products

[Halgar]

What kinds of car care products do you like? This 03 'burb I bought hasn't been cleaned in I don't know how long. Decided that I'll replace the carpet and floor mats within the next month or two, so I'm not overly worried about deep cleaning. I'd still like to get them cleaned to at least knock back some of the filth. I am hesitant to use the hand wand on a Rug Doctor carpet cleaner because I don't want to put too much moisture into the carpet or seats. We are somewhat chemically sensitive, so I also don't want to go saturating everything with cleaning solvents. What is going to be the best way to clean carpet and upholstery?

The second part to this question is what products do you like to use for cleaning and protecting all the interior plastics? This thing has been garaged for most of it's life, but will now live in the California sun and elements, so I'm thinking some UV protectant would be a good idea.

Anybody do body work? I'll need to pull a lot of the interior plastic when it comes time to change the carpets. Screwdrivers work, but they also scratch and damage stuff, so I'm happy to pick up some tools to aid in removing interior panels.

[jwscab]

I do build cars/hotrods/etc as a hobby, but I don't really detail other than the usual wash and wax and vaccum, once the cars are cleaned up.

For the hunks of junks and wrecks that I pull out of the yard covered with lots and lots of crap/mildew/mold, etc, I use a few things. These are all GM vehicles, so take that for what it's worth. I usually use lots of windex type cleaners for all of the plastics/glass. if there are stubborn stains, usually like coffee or lollipops or other sugary stuff, I just use a wet washcloth and scrub the crap out, like a really wet washcloth to dilute the stain out.

A good strong vacuum aslo works wonders, especially with a crevice tool or some other type of nozzle you can reach into nooks and crannys, or brush though carpets to get out mud/etc.

for carpets, I have always had really good luck with Resolve carpet/upholstery cleaner for pretty much anything cloth. door panels, carpet, seats, etc.

I also suspect that simple green diluted would work really well based on how well it works on RC stuff on the plastic panels.

now of course, the grungier the car, the more I remove, like for a total funk job, I'll pull the seats and pull the carpet out. sounds like you might be headed that way.

I use cheap harbor freight body panel tools, plastic, come like a 5 pack of assorted styles. cheap and very useful. I also have some panel clip tools, more like a flattened screwdrivers for the tough body clips that the plastic tools don't work on, the occasional door panel clips but mostly fascia and front plastic exterior panel clips.

[Dadio]

Getting a proper tool for removing the panel fixings really helps , they just took like screwdrivers with a V in the tip . the other trick is to do it in a warm environment , plastic trim panels are really brittle in cold weather and some of those poppers are really tight so do it on a warm day or in a heated garage and give it time to warm up as it really does save you cracking the plastic .
If I really want to clean fabrics in cars I use clothes washing powder and warm water with a scrubbing brush , yes it gets wet but if you put the heater on full blast with the windows open just a crack and leave it with the engine running for an hour or so and it dries it out pretty well.

[Halgar]

now of course, the grungier the car, the more I remove, like for a total funk job, I'll pull the seats and pull the carpet out. sounds like you might be headed that way.

Yeah, I vacuumed it really good on Saturday, got about 2 cups of fine dirt and debris out of just the carpets. I think they're far too worn and dirty to really achieve much with cleaning, hence why I am planning on replacement as soon as possible. I figure I can replace everything for around $400 - $500, which is about what it will cost to have it cleaned.

I took apart the rear quarter panel to see if the auxiliary HVAC had a cabin filter, that's where the tools would have been nice. I'm lucky, this thing has been garaged for most of it's life, so the plastics are still pretty pliable, I still don't want to be yanking and prying on stuff though. Use Windex to clean the panel while it was out of the truck, worked pretty good. I have some gentle cleaning product that will take care of grease and grime. What I'm mostly looking for is a UV protectant for all the plastics to help keep them in good condition.

[Halgar]

Getting a proper tool for removing the panel fixings really helps , they just took like screwdrivers with a V in the tip . the other trick is to do it in a warm environment , plastic trim panels are really brittle in cold weather and some of those poppers are really tight so do it on a warm day or in a heated garage and give it time to warm up as it really does save you cracking the plastic .
If I really want to clean fabrics in cars I use clothes washing powder and warm water with a scrubbing brush , yes it gets wet but if you put the heater on full blast with the windows open just a crack and leave it with the engine running for an hour or so and it dries it out pretty well.

I hadn't thought about working with the plastics being warm, good tip! The temps should be picking up here soon, making life a bit easier.

One of the concerns with cleaning the upholstery is also leaving behind soap residue which will attract dirt and odors more quickly. I will also probably leave heavy water use cleaning to when the temps get back into the 80's around here so that stuff dries better. Thankfully, in California, that's only a month or two away, so.

[Halgar]

What do you guys think of a tool kit like this? I like the crowfoot prybars and the popper pliers, and it's not that much more expensive than the 4 or 6 piece tool sets.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C7D1JND/

[jwscab]

for a guy that isn't using these daily, they look pretty sweet. pretty much what I have minus those cool pliers.

[Dadio]

Yup if you just want them for occasional use then they look ideal .

[Halgar]

That was my thinking as well. They'll likely only be used a handful of times, no need to raid the Snap-On truck!

The pliers and crowbars are $16 by themselves, so the $20 multi-tool kits are the way to go. I really like the zippered keeper, but I know that the elastic bands in them won't last long enough to get it out of the package, let alone after pulling tools out once or twice, so I am looking at the rolled up pouch versions.

Thanks for the thoughts and comments guys, keep 'em coming if ya got 'em!

[shodog]

Changing out the carpet is a huge undertaking. Some of the aftermarket carpet kits don’t fit all that well. Thoroughly scrubbing the existing carpets with Dawn dish soap and using a wet dry vac to suck up all the yuck will make it look 100% better. Then get a custom fit set of all weather mats to cover them up.

[Dadio]

I'm not familiar with the car your working on but before removing the seats its worth checking if it has curtain air bags in the seat back or explosive pre-tensioners on the seat belts , either way you would need to disconnect the battery for 5-10 min before unplugging them or plugging them back in or they could go off in your face , expensive and shocking ! Its just something you have to think about these days .

[Halgar]

I'm not familiar with the car your working on but before removing the seats its worth checking if it has curtain air bags in the seat back or explosive pre-tensioners on the seat belts , either way you would need to disconnect the battery for 5-10 min before unplugging them or plugging them back in or they could go off in your face , expensive and shocking ! Its just something you have to think about these days .

I think I'm ok, it's an '03 suburban. I think the only bags are in the steering wheel and passenger dash. This appears to be a base model, it doesn't even have cabin air filters, there sure as heck aren't going to be any extra air bags that don't need to be there.

[RC10th]

Just beware, some cars throw a check engine (airbag) code if you remove the seats and need to be reset.

As far as exterior/interior car care products I swear by Meguiars detailing products.

I would avoid Armor-All on the dash, they got a bad wrap due to cracked dashboards in the 80's, apparantly the product didn't breathe and led to cracked dashes. I'm sure they would have changed the formula by now but I still don't trust it.

Like anything once things are in good condition it's just maintenance, wash, wax and rewax every 6 months. You can tell the condition of the paint by running your hand over the freshly wsshed paint or watching how the water beads (or doesn’t) on the surface.

[transamman908]

I find that before adding any type of cleaner to really grungy GM carpets is going in the vehicle with a stiff brush and have a compressor with a air nozzle. Brush the crap out of the carpet and blow the crap out of it with the compressed air. It loosens the deep grime and kind of revives the short pile carpet. Of coarse depending on how much dirt you have in there, it makes a dust storm inside the vehicle and will need to blow off everything else. I've even ran my backpack leaf blower after scrubbing carpets dry . Then I've used resolve cleaner and had decent results. Also works well with cloth seats.

[Halgar]

Just beware, some cars throw a check engine (airbag) code if you remove the seats and need to be reset.

As far as exterior/interior car care products I swear by Meguiars detailing products.

Cars are getting too smart for their own good these days!

I'm not a fan of Armor-All products either and plan to check into Meguire's and Mother's products. I'm holding up doing anything with the exterior for now because there are some significant scratches and dings that I may get touched up first. Once I'm certain there won't be any peeling or chipping issues from these spots, then I plan to at least wax the poop out of it, if not have it professionally buffed to get rid of most of the surface scratches. It's 16 years old and has the bruises, bumps, and contusions you'd expect for a vehicle of it's age, but there are no major aesthetic sore thumbs to deal with, such as a caved in quarter panel.