Question for Candyman

[chintzgirl]

Hello Candyman,
How do I go about keeping my standard silver plastic center console, airbag, and instrument panel clean and shiny? So far I've just dusted. In general what
is good for cleaning the interior? I know not to use ArmorAll

Thanks,
Karen AKA Chintzgirl

[YoungCruiserrr]

yeah armorall is terrible for leather seats. The guy who made my seats told me to use the suds of this really weak soap called "murphy's" I think it's a local soap idk? but he said armorall completely destroys the stitching and decays the leather by suffocating it..

[Jabouty]

Agreed. Murphys is the shit for leather. It easily found at wally-world or your local auto parts in the cleaning section or online.

[chintzgirl]

Hi,
I don't have leather seats, mine came with the standard velcro seats ( at least I
think they're velcro, every little piece of crap in the world sticks to them)

[Candyman]

Hey their chintzgirl,

The interior dash components are are painted with baiscally the same automotive type of paint that is on the exterior of your car, but just painted over plastic. The cleaning process is much the same as outside. A good coat of Glaze, and Wax, and your good to go. I always try to recommend the use of Glaze as it gives back much needed nourishment to the paint which makes it stand out better, but just a good coat of Wax is fine. Its best to apply a quick coat to the interior plastic about every three months or so as you can usually go longer on the interior components since they are not exposed as much to the elements, or direct sunlight. Then a good once over with a Quick Detailer Spray is good for general cleaning for the rest of the time.

As for the Leather Seats thing that came up here, you guys are killing me with the Murphy's Oil.

Its better than the Armor all which is an oil based dressing which will big time suffocate the Leather causing it to crack in no time, and also will give it a really oily, greasy feel to it which will transfer nicely to your cloths, and cause a pretty nasty mess. Murphy's Oil is better, but still not good real good on Leather as it will lead back to the same result. by drying out the leather, just at a slower rate. In addition, the oil will absorbe into the top layer of the Leather which can cause damage to some types of leather which is very hard, if not impossible to correct. This also can lead to the leather becoming dry, brittle, and in some cases cause brighter dyed leather to smear, or lose its color.

Here is my write up I did on Leather Seats, along with my recommendation on what to use, and how to clean, and properly condition the leather without causing any damage. If you scroll down to the bottom I have more info related to the write up on top. Here is the Link.

Detailing Your Interior: Leather Seats

You all go easy, and as always, if you have any questions, I am always here, and more than happy to try to help out wherever I can.

Candyman

[chintzgirl]

Thank you so much for the information Candyman. So does that mean I can
buy something like Maguires Quiwk Detail (i believe it's for the exterior) and use
it on my interior? Also, what is glaze (in regards to automotive) and can I buy
it Target or do I need to go to Pep Boys or such? Does it specifically say glaze
on the bottle? Sorry for the million plus questions.

Cheers,
k.

[Candyman]

Hey their chintzgirl,

No problemo! Always glad to help. Yep Meguiar's Quick Detailer is fine, or even if you wanted you could make your own Quick Detailer Spray by taking a spray bottle and mixing a solution of 50% rubbing alcohol (Isobutyle) and 50% water. Those are the two primary components in most Quick Detailer Sprays on the market.

As for Glaze, here is another one of my write ups on it to give you a better idea of what it does for your paint.

Detailing Your Paint: Glazing

Here is a pic of what a bottle of Meguiar's Glaze looks like:



You should be able to find it at Pep Boys, or NAPA, or if you can't find it anywhere near by, at the bottom of my Write Up is a Phone # for a friend of mine that actually works directly for Meguiar's named Michale Stoops who is also a big PT Guy as well over at PT Crew. Great Guy and he should be able to hook you up with anything you have any trouble finding.

Go easy, and let me know if you have any more questions anytime.

Candyman