15 DIY Car Cleaning Tips That Will Change Your Life

Your car is something you cannot live without. From going to the grocery store to your local deli to going on a cross-country tour your car is your best friend. However, because of the weather conditions and your usage also the passengers you carry your car gets dirty.

Dogs, messy toddlers, and teenagers and friends with their muddy sports gear can all kill the decorum of your car not to mention the dust and debris from outside. You try and try to properly clean the car but it's not up to your standards. Don’t worry here are some car cleaning tips that will change your life.

Number 1

Cleaning your car headlights with a toothpaste might sound weird but trust me it works. Just apply some toothpaste on the headlights. After that use a sponge and rub it in a circular motion to get the dirt off.

Then simply just wipe it off with a clean towel. Your headlights are as good as new now. For more headlight cleaning tips you can check out How To Clean Foggy Headlights.

Number 2

The second tip to clean your car is using a blow dryer to remove a sticker. We all have trouble removing stickers from our car. Maybe at one point, we needed the sticker but now that it has served its purpose you just want it gone. But you don’t know how to remove the sticker without messing it up.

So how do you do remove the sticker in your car? Well, you simply blow dry it. The heat from the dryer will loosen the adhesive. Once the adhesive is loose you can simply use a plastic card and peel the sticker away without causing any damage.

This neat trick is not only for bumper stickers but works on windshield stickers as well. From old registration stickers to toll tags, parking permits you can use this tip to get rid of any annoying sticker you have in your car.

Here is a detailed blog on how to remove a sticker from your car to help you out with the process.

Number 3

You can clean your car’s interior with coffee filters. These are great for cleaning. Coffee filters are cheap, disposable, biodegradable and super effective for cleaning.

You can just simply keep a stack of coffee filters on your central console and then give a quick rub while waiting in your car. This is a simple and effective way to keep your car’s interior clean.

Number 4

Carpet stains are a pain. They are pretty stubborn to remove and sometimes become a costly venture to have the carpet cleaned. There is however a very cheap solution to this problem. All you need for this is a bottle filled with one-third Hydrogen peroxide and two-thrids water.

You can use essential oils to give it some nice smell as well. Making a bottle of this will cost you a dollar or less if you make it in batches. One thing to remember here is that in darker colors the solution may cause discoloration. So check before using it if the concentration is too much just simply dilute the solution with some more water.

Number 5

Car interiors are small enclosed spaces so you need to be careful about what product you use. You need to make sure that you use non-toxic cleaning products to clean otherwise it can become a health hazard.

You can easily avoid this by making a homemade cleaning product for your car. All you need are simple household items that you can find in your cabinet. Just add some vinegar, lemon, club soda, and dish soap in a bottle and you have yourself a non-toxic cleaner.

This DIY car interior cleaning tip should go a long way into keeping you healthy and save you money on expensive brands of non-toxic cleaners. This BuzzFeed article will show you in vivid detail about how you can create it at home.

Number 6

Did you know that you could use an old sock to keep your car’s cupholder clean? Cup holders are always exposed to your soda spills and other sorts of liquid spills. This can easily turn into a grimey disgusting situation.

To get rid of the mess created you can simply put an old sock over a cup and then douse the inside cavity with your homemade all-purpose cleaner. After that put the socked-up cup in and twist and viola clean cupholders!

Number 7

Your car’s interior with time can crack. Conditioning your car’s interior may not seem like an immediate need but it is really important. Unless you want to replace the entire interior or worse buy a whole new car. Not conditioning your car can result in damages that can turn really costly.

However, there are people who do not want to buy expensive conditioning products. It's ok if you don’t as well. Because you can use something from your cabinet. All you need is some vaseline. Take some vaseline and rub it on the interior with smooth clean dry cloth.

This will do the job for you. For more details on interior conditioning and restoration, you can check out the blog by Family Handyman.

Number 8

Cleaning your car’s tires is a very important step. However, you don’t have to buy high-end cleaning products for this issue. You can easily see the grimes melt away from your hubcaps by creating a homemade cleaner.

To make this special solution all you need is to mix baking soda, dish soap, and warm water. Keep it in a bottle and use it whenever you are going in to clean the tires. Trust me this has the same effect as any other product you can buy on the market. Here is an article on cleaning Hubcaps.

Number 9

I know a lot of people who find it hard to clean all the nooks and crannies of the car. I know I have had trouble doing it. If not cleaned on regular basis grime and dust can easily pile up.

Q-tips are the way to go for those hard to reach places. Q-tips are the perfect tools for this, you know its called detailing for a reason.

Number 10

The cleaning tip that we will talk about right now is something I wish I knew sooner. It is so simple yet so effective that it’s astonishing that people don’t use it often. If you have a pet then you know how hard it is to get rid of all the hair.

I feel like I have tried for hours and still couldn’t get rid of all the hair. However, if you simply spray some water and a squeegee to collect all the hair and then just simply vacuum all the hair.

You will see that it removes every single hair from the seats. BuzzFeed has all the details on this car cleaning tip, be sure to check it out.

Number 11

Do you know what I hate the most? Rain, right after I took my car to the car wash. What I always do is make sure that rain is not on the forecast when I’m taking the car to the wash. However, we cannot predict the rain.

But did you know that most car wash employs a raincheck policy? This means that by any chance there is rain within 48 hours of you getting your car wash the company will give you a free car wash.

Make sure you look into this before you go for your next car wash appointment also make sure you save the receipts.

Number 12

Did you know that you can use DIY slime to clean the hard to reach places? Remember how gak or slime used to pick up dirt when you were young? Well, that is exactly the factor we should be utilizing.

Get some slime as a DIY project and have some fun with it if you have kids around the house. Save some from there and smash that extra blob into the places you want to be cleaned. Once that is done just peel it off watch how the grime is removed as well.

Check out this blog here on how to use slime for cleaning the hard to reach places.

Number 13

So you can use foam brushes to clean your car’s air vents. Did you know that? These super cheap brushes cost less than a dollar at your local hardware store. You can use these to reach the places your regular tools cannot.

However, remember you should dust the vents before and vacuum after using the foam brush. This will ensure that you remove every single dust particle that shouldn’t be there.

Number 14

Do you know what I find irritating? The fact that when it's raining and I’m using my wiper but the wiper creates a smudge which makes it harder to see than the raindrops did. Well, this hack saved me from this pain.

Trust me this may very well be one of the best car cleaning tips and tricks you will ever come across. It is pretty simple and anyone can do it. All you need to do is just rub your wiper with some rubbing alcohol and you are done no more smudgy windshield.

Number 15

One of the biggest things I have trouble with is odors. But you can quite easily get rid of them. Remember how your mom used to use baking soda to remove odors from mattresses? Well, you can simply apply that same trick and have the problem solved.

Just spray the interior with some baking soda and let it sit for a couple of hours. After that, all you need to do just vacuum the baking soda and the odor will be gone. Simple right?

Additionally, you can make homemade air fresheners for your car or any other places you have a hard time with. Just simply get a mason jar put some baking soda in there and some essential oil and you are done.

You can check out more on this here in Mom4Real.

Parting Words

I don’t know if you remember but a DIY hack of upholstery conditioning got traction. It used olive oil as the conditioner. Trust me it's completely fake. You can check out this blog for information on this.

I just thought you should know this. Anyway, these are the 13 DIY car cleaning tips that will change your life. Following these car cleaning tips and tricks will ensure that you enhance the car’s outlook.

However, if you feel like not using these then there are plenty of car cleaning kits out there you can buy. Those will do the job as well. Let us know how many of them you will be using or if you have tried out any of these tips before.

Also, we look forward to hearing your suggestions. Put in the comments below what you want us to write about next. With that being said I will draw the curtains right here. Till next time, Adios!