Shiny Leather and Perfect Mats: Interior Maintenance Essentials

While the weather’s bad, it’s a great time to get into good habits for keeping the inside of your car clean. Dirt and moisture build up more in winter, but with a few simple regular tasks you can keep on top of it and keep your interior in good condition. To get you started, we’ve compiled a list of useful essentials that will make cleaning the inside of your car easy this new year.

Adult caucasian man cleaning passenger seat with a green cloth and cleaning product. He applied some cleaning foam onto the seat. The guy has short brown hair and wearing blue polo shirt

Seat Cleaning and Protection

Man vacuums interior of car

Wet clothes, muddy shoes, food stains and daily wear and tear; car seats go through a lot, and can be one of the most difficult areas to keep clean and smelling fresh. Whether your car has leather or fabric seats, there are some simple ways to keep them in good condition throughout the year.

  • Leather Cleaning Cream – If you have leather seats, our Leather Conditioning Cream is a 2-in-1 treatment that both cleans and protects the material, helping to prevent cracking, staining and odours while ensuring a long-lasting shine. For the best results, apply a few drops to a soft cloth and work deep into the leather using a circular motion.
  • Upholstery and Carpet Cleaner – Whether you’re tackling stains and marks left by the kids or just want to refresh your seats, our Upholstery and Carpet Cleaner has a powerful foaming action that clears dirt and leaves fabrics smelling fresh. The brush head is great at lifting stubborn stains and dried in dirt.
  • Portable Vacuum Cleaner – One of the biggest reasons why people put off cleaning the inside of their car is the hassle of getting a household vacuum cleaner outside. But more and more vacuum brands offer handheld options, giving you a fairly cheap way to keep your car clean inside. A quick once over every few weeks makes a big difference. For more helpful tips and advice on cleaning car seats and upholstery, check out our guides below:
  • How to Take Care of Leather Interiors Like a Pro
  • How to Look After Car Upholstery

Interior Glass Cleaning

Car windscreen being washed

How clean your car’s windows are on the inside can have a big impact on visibility. Over time, a thin layer of film can build up on interior glass surfaces, making your view out the windscreen and side windows hazy.  This film tends to get worse in the winter, with condensation and mist compounding the problem. We’ve all had those scary moments when the sun hits your window and dazzles you – well dirt and film on the glass makes this worse, so keeping it clean can help you to stay safe.

Here are the products and tips we’d recommend for interior glass cleaning:

  • Simoniz Clear Vision Glass Cleaner – Removes streaks, smears and ‘film’ from interior and exterior glass, for high visibility. When cleaning interior glass, spray on a cloth first to prevent it from making a mess of your dashboard.
  • Glass Wipes – Perfect for cleaning on the move; keep a pack of glass wipes in your glovebox for when streaks and marks on the windscreen are causing sun dazzle.
  • Demister pad – A good quality demister pad is essential for winter. It’ll help you remove excess condensation and moisture from interior glass, so you can get on the move quicker after de-icing your windows.
  • Reach and clean tool – Unless you’re an actual contortionist, it can be tricky to clean the inside of a windscreen with just a cloth. For the best results, get yourself a reach and clean tool, like this one, so you can get those hard-to-reach areas.

Carpet Cleaning and Mats

Young tricolor Sheltie dog sitting outdoors in a car trunk in winter.

Like seats, your car’s carpets are on the frontline when it comes to daily wear and tear, and can quickly start to look tired and mucky without regular cleaning. Anyone who’s ever cleaned out a car interior will know how tricky carpets are to clean, with dirt often getting trapped in the fibres and musty odours lingering in the footwells.

If you want clean car carpets in 2019, follow our advice below:

  • Upholstery & Carpet Cleaner – Remember the Simoniz Upholstery and Carpet Cleaner we mentioned earlier? Well, it’s great for cleaning carpets too, with the foam action and plastic brush head working to lift dirt from the carpet fibres. When you’re applying the product, use a lifting motion to encourage dust and dirt towards the surface. And don’t forget to wipe or vacuum the area after using it, to get rid of the excess.
  • Rubber car mats – We get that carpet car mats look classy, especially if they feature your car’s brand and model, but they’re just not practical for daily driving. For those wet days and muddy walks with the dog, rubber car mats are much more durable, and will protect the carpet underneath better too. You can get a set of rubber mats relatively cheaply, and we’d recommend a rubber boot liner too.
  • Dog protection covers – Speaking of our four-legged friends; if you’re tired of hoovering up after your dog or finding wet paw prints on your rear seats, we’d recommend investing in a protective cover. You can now get dog protection covers that are tailored for all different makes and models, so you can protect your car from mud, moisture, stray hairs and bad odours.

Check out our other carpet cleaning and maintenance guides below:

Dashboard and Plastics Cleaning

Young worker cleaning car dashboard.

Dashboards can be a magnet for dust, dirt and bacteria, but they’re actually one of the easiest parts of your interior to keep clean. If you want a cleaner, shinier dash in 2019, here’s what you’ll need:

  • Dash Cleaner – If it’s been a few months since you last cleaned your dashboard, start with our Foam Action Dashboard Cleaner. This offers deep cleaning for all types of plastics, removing dirt and grime and leaving behind a clean, fresh smell. Apply to a dry cloth and apply in a circular motion for the best results.
  • Dashboard Wipes and Restorer Pad – For a clean, shiny dash on the go, keep a pack of  Interior Wipes or a Restorer Pad in your glovebox. Perfect for getting rid of dirt and dust and restoring your dash’s shine, these products are all you need to keep your car’s console looking great throughout the year.

For more tips on keeping your dashboard looking like new, take a look at some of our cleaning and maintenance guides below:

Simoniz are one of the UK’s leading car care specialists, developing cleaning and maintenance products that help you take better care of your car inside and out. For more tips and advice or to view our product range, visit our homepage today.