Cleaning the interior when magic eraser and brushes dont cut it???
 

What to use. My car is horribly horribly dirty. I have driven it this way for some time and am tired of it. I started cleaning the other day using orange citrus stuff and a fingernail brush. It did an ok job but at this rate it will be a few more decades before its clean. I have used magic erasers but would have to by the manufacturing plant.

So the question is, what should I use for the most dire of dirt?

I used magic eraser on the door panels and handles and it worked great.. I am discussing cleaning options in my thread about my euro interior's faded cloth..

Panels and MB Text? 409 does a good job. We were also writing about this here

Years of funk, eh?

I actually took the insane route, and stripped the interior of the car to clean everything. Stiff toothbrushes, terrycloth towels and Murphy's Oil Soap works pretty well, and won't harm the finish of anything. Dawn dish soap also works well on parts you can actually saturate with water. Unfortunately, there's not a quick solution if the dirt is really ground in. Mercedes seem to be full of textured panels that hold dirt like nothing else I've ever seen. The MB-Tex on the seats was insane. Scrubbing in small circles with a toothbrush was the only way to loosen the dirt. In the end, I still had to strip the upholstery off and actually hosed the loose grime away with running water. I scrubbed, rinsed, and repeated until there was no more dirt left. The driver side seat upholstery took four hours of cleaning alone.

The only spots where I found Magic Erasers to be useful was the headliner and door jambs. I used up three of them cleaning just the headliner.

You guys are going to think this is the dumbest idea ever, BUT take a drive down to your local John Deere equipment store and buy a can of John Deere All Purpose cleaner. The part number TY26352 is a pressurized spray foam. I worked as a diesel mechanic for quite a few years and I used this to clean my interior of every car i have owned. There is literally no cloth or plastic surface it won't clean. Fabric, leather, latex, plastic all of it. Leather you need to be careful on as it will take some dye out if scrubbed to hard. I find a Kroger Denture brush works best. If you don't have a Deere dealer near by let me know and I can probably pick some up and ship it to you.

I knew Deere made good tractors and lawn equipment, but didn't know they had such a good cleaner.

I'm not shocked. They make an awesome flat chassis paint that people have used for years to spray their hot rods with. It's tough and affordable. The idea that they have a great cleaner makes sense to me. I'd have never thought to look there in a million years, though.

I've tried various things so far. I will give murphies a try. This car had a serious mold issue on top of the grime. I want it to look like new fore the new year as I have lost all the weight I wanted to this year!

Ew! What lead me to completely gutting my car in one day was finding a mold-covered french fry when I went searching for the seat belt alongside of the seat one day. That was it. I vowed to blitz the interior with bleach if need be. Nothing would stop me from ending the funk. I actually took a garden hose and gallons of Simple Green to the gutted interior.

If you've seen interior shots of my car before I started cleaning it and now that I've had it completely gutted on my thread detailing the progress of the car, you'll see that I was rather successful. I may only have one seat in the thing, but you can eat off of any interior surface.

Walk into a Deere implement store some day. You'll be amazed at the stuff to buy that's green and yellow.

For example, I have a lifetime supply of those foam earplugs...in, you guessed it, green and yellow.

Westleys
 

My favorite on that MB tex is Westley's Sure Wonder White, basically a while wall tire cleaner. Spray it one, and use a damp cloth to wipe it up. Works like a magic. Buy it cheap by the half gallon at the Zone, Wally World, Napa. I see it all over.

For the hardcore crust I hit it with Simple Green. Does a good job and doesn't asphyxiate me as I drive around later. Magic Erasers are great, but I find them only useful for very mild grime ... use it on heavily dirtied areas and the Eraser is ready for the waste bin after cleaning about 3 square inches. I usually go Simple Green to get the worst of it off, then Magic Eraser to make it really clean and then cap it off with 303 Aerospace Protectant.

Mold is organic, so I would use something like Nature's Miracle, available at pet stores.

Guys, most alkaline cleaners (degreasers) use similar formulations but can have dramatic differences in effectiveness on different surfaces. I like both simple green and 409, they are both good products but one may work better with the Tex than the other. If more than a couple of you like the Westleys sure wonder, get something you know has worked for others.

That said, a good degreaser and a soft brush should go a long way. Be sure to allow the cleaner to dwell on the surface for several minutes and be prepared to repeat the cleaning at least once. I would spray the cleaner directly on the surface and lightly agitate, allow to stand for 5 minutes rewetting if it begins to dry, scrub again with the brush and then wipe clean with clean warm water and a microfiber cloth.

Malco leather and plastic cleaner. I buy it from my body-shop supplier, the stuff's the truth. If that doesn't work, steam. You can use a clothing steamer to loosen up the dirt in the cracks, doesn't hurt the vinyl/tex.

The guy in the shop next to mine details boats for a living, turned me on to the steam trick, works for those white boat seats that have dirt baked in by the sun.