Dirty Interior

[R/T-Shadow]

Hey guys,

So I am detailing my girlfriends fathers trucks and both of them are used a lot in the fields. Both trucks are dusty and are actually dirty with the seats having the dirt dust embedded into the cloth and leather seats as well as the headliner. Any suggestions on how to remove this dirt dust from the cloth seats and headliners? I have tried vacuuming them but that only goes so far. Any suggestions/help would be greatly appreciated. 

[shane@detailedreflections]

You're stuck in a spot where to really get them clean is going to take a lot of hard work, or the need for the right tools.  We use a combination of steam, hot water extraction, tornador tool (awesome if you don't have one, every detailer should).  You can use fabric and upholstery cleaner and some stiff bristle brushes and soft bristle brushes (boars hair is ideal).  A good shop vac and some hard scrubbing.

 

For the headliner be very careful and don't use a stiff brush.  We use the tornador tool.  We don't want to loosen up the adhesive that holds it in place.  Scrubbing hard with stiff bristles will ruin a headliner in no time.

 

You're in a spot where you may want to enlist the services of a detailer to really get at it.  They'll have more tools at their disposal than a lot of people will.  It's rare that I suggest someone go that route since this forum tends to be a lot of DIY types, but I think in this case it might be the best bang for the buck.

[Rich]

Adam's makes a very good product for upholstery.  http://adamspolishes.com/shop/interior/cleaning-conditioning/adam-s-carpet-upholstery-cleaner.html

I've been using it for quite a while on my car carpeting and in the house and it works great.  Test a small unseen area first if you're using it full strength.  You can dilute it if you don't think you need a heavy hitter. 

If you can get your hands on a steamer, that works real well with it.  If you use the steamer on your headliner, be careful as it can loosen the glue holding it in places and can  make it sag.  Headliners are tough to clean.  But the Adam's cleaner and a good vacuum should do a great job. 

[R/T-Shadow]

Thanks for the help. I will definitely try with the supplies I have and see how it turns out, if not I might have to invest a little more into detailing supplies.