Interior Car Care 101

There is much to be said in favor of maintaining the interior of your car: a clean interior is a welcoming sign to passengers or potential buyers, makes every ride you take more pleasurable, and makes you feel better about your investment. As well, keeping the interior in prime condition keeps the resale value high, and makes any sale easier, whether to a direct buyers or a dealership's "trade evaluator."

Interior maintenance, like engine maintenance, also helps protects your vehicle from premature wear, including cracks in the dashboard, and fading or staining of the upholstery.

It's also cost effective: it's far less expensive to buy a bottle of upholstery cleaner, or leather conditioner every so often than it is to replace an entire front seat.

How should you go about this interior maintenance? Here are some tips:

• Carpets, Cloth Seats, and Other Fabrics:  When it comes to carpet and cloth in your car, Scotch Guard is your best friend. Not only is it inexpensive, but it really works for keeping seats and other cloth or carpet surfaces stain-free. After you use the Scotch Guard, it's important to remember that you should never rub at stains; instead, blot rapidly. With carpets, you'll have to re-treat them more often, especially in wet weather, so in addition to Scotch Guard, consider floor mats, which run about $100 for a set of four, and do wonders to protect the low-quality carpeting generally used in cars. Finally, if you're a smoker, stop smoking in your car, and do not allow anyone else to smoke in it either. Synthetic carpet, upholstery fabric (or leather), plastic, vinyl, glass and rubber are ALL affected by tobacco tar and smoke
  
  
• Plastic and Vinyl: While there are numerous types of available protectants for the plastic and vinyl surfaces in your car, any of the top brands (Armor All, Eagle One, Formula 2001, and Mothers) are fine, so choose the one with the scent that you can tolerate. Once you've chosen your protectant, use them as directed on all of the plastic and vinyl inside the car, including door handles, window trim, the dashboard, and the steering wheel. This will help prevent cracking and fading. On the dash, if you find the surface is too shiny, you can use less fluid and buff longer to give it that new look like it’s fresh from the car dealer.
  
  
• Glass & Bezels: For the window glass in your car, any glass cleaner is fine (Windex, for example), but be sure not to use any product containing ammonia on tinted glass. For other glass – like the lenses over the various gauges – or chrome bezels (the radio trim, etc.) glass cleaner usually works well also, but make sure it's mild – regular blue Windex is perfect. If you live somewhere with high humidity, where fogging of interior glass is common, strongly consider using  something like Rain-X Anti-Fog – it's one extra step, yes, but it significantly reduces interior fogging, which makes the glass stay cleaner, as well as making it safer to drive.