Spring Cleaning 2012, Part III

I have now concluded the main cleanup effort. Altogether I spent 7 days doing it (on and off).

In addition to treating the leather, I spent some time making the headliner appear a little cleaner. It was probably the most beaten looking part of the interior.

It looked so terrible, in 2011 I took the car to professional interior cleanup. I recall paying about 80 EUR and above is what it got me. It was probably the worst ripoff I've had done on me.

Anyway, I used Autoglym Interior Shampoo again with a clean cloth, rinsing in a bucket of water.

Note, the flash makes it look worse than it does IRL. However it does reveal that there's still work to be done. However, for a first attempt that is pretty good, and a bargain, compared to the pro.

Having cleaned up the interior somewhat it was time to move onto the outside.

For the roof, trunklid and A/C pillars I used just my usual set of Big Orange shampoo and Korrek TFX wax. For all other paint, I added claybaring (Sonax). I used Sonax' window shampoo as a lube. After washing, washing and washing the clay still picked up A LOT of dirt, so it did its job.

It's nice having a shiny car again!

The hood is especially nice! It has a few stone chips but other than that, it looks great, with the new grille and emblem.

Spring Cleaning 2012, Part II

Today, I started using the James May kit I ordered from England last spring, to refresh your memory:

First, tested it on the hidden surfaces of the backseat middle bit which I can take with me inside the house.

Worked fine. Smells reaaaally good!

Cleaner could be more powerful, but meh. I guess it's enough for most home use. I need to get some of the abrasive magic eraser things.

How to use the kit:

1. Wipe leather with damp cloth
2. Apply cleaner to leather and gently stir with a soft brush
3. Let sit for 5 minutes
4. Stir with soft brush again and wipe cleaner off with damp cloth
5. Let dry for 1 hour
6. Apply conditioner with cloth
7. Repeat add conditioner if necessary

The conditioner leaves the usual shiny and oily surface as leather conditioner chemicals often do. After all, the oil is the point. However, this does not seem like snake oil leather cleaner... it actually seems to absorb into the leather, and stops being sticky quite quickly.

The leather feels softer after just the first coat. I usually applied 2 coats of conditioner, so far. My interior has clearly been neglected for years, so it takes some elbow grease to renovate it as well as possible.

I was most careful with the rear passenger compartment. It looks pretty much mint. It's also pretty much the only part of the vehicle that does...

I also treated the front passenger seat. I'm still thinking about what to do with the driver seat and armrest. Re-dye now, or just treat and dye later. I'll probably try the dyeing.

Since I was finally expending energy on the interior, I decided to battle all the dirt and grease that had been absorbed into the cloth all around the car ever since I bought it. This is actually the first time I'm doing a proper interior cleanup. As you've gathered, so far I've been just battling mechanicals, and washing the car.

I used AutoGlym Interior Shampoo. It's easy, just apply shampoo sparingly and rub with cloth.

There's so much accumulated grease I couldn't even get it all off in one go. Need to repeat the procedure tomorrow.

The doors are the most involved place to clean on this car:

For the cloth, I used the AutoGlym Shampoo. For the leather, I used the above Gliptone set. For the hard surfaces, I used AutoGlym Leather Cleaner. Other parts I had done previously; underside with ordinary car wash shampoo, and seals/plastics with AutoGlym Bumper Care.

The doors look pretty good now.

Btw, that pic features the first-aid kit Matyas gifted me a couple of weeks ago!

Remember the anti-theft stickers I had on my door windows? Past pic:

It was finally time for them to go!

I used a couple EURs worth of razor, highly recommended! Just remember to use lots of soap water as a lubricant, otherwise the razor will scratch the window.

Getting rid of the stickers really cleaned up the exterior of the car.