Did you know that there is a right way and a wrong way to clean the interior of your car? It’s true -some cleaners on the market can damage the delicate surfaces of your car and can cause cracking, peeling, and fading of door panels, dash pads, and seats. We found that CarGuys Super Cleaner is the best all-purpose cleaner for car interior cleaning projects (>>> Find on Amazon). We will let you know how they work, why they are the best, and how to use these cleaning products to get professional results.
- CarGuys Super Cleaner
- Meguiar’s D10101
- 3D All Purpose Cleaner
- Carfidant Ultimate Car Interior Cleaner
- Adam’s Heavy Duty All Purpose Cleaner & Degreaser
- CARPRO Multi X All Purpose Cleaner Concentrate
- Mothers 87138 Professional All-Purpose Cleaner
Best All-Purpose Cleaner for Car Interior 2022 – Top Picks:
CarGuys Super Cleaner | Meguiar’s D10101 | 3D All Purpose Cleaner | Carfidant Interior Cleaner | Adam’s Heavy Duty All Purpose Cleaner | CARPRO Multi X All Purpose Cleaner | Mothers 87138 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Manufacturer Part Number | SC-18OZ-KIT | D10101 | AP_Parent | CARF-C302 | B07NMT3HZY | B07LDJ4BBF | 87138 |
Capacity | 18 oz | 128 oz | 128 oz | 18 oz | 128 oz | 33.81 oz | 128 oz |
Country of Origin | USA | USA | USA | USA | USA | USA | USA |
Price | Check on Amazon | Check on Amazon | Check on Amazon | Check on Amazon | Check on Amazon | Check on Amazon | Check on Amazon |
Each of the following products is excellent for cleaning your car or truck. We will give you the relevant information that you’ll want to have before investing money in products that won’t work.
CarGuys Super Cleaner
CarGuys produce some of the easiest to use products that give consistently excellent results. This Super Cleaner is the best product you’ll find for cleaning virtually every interior surface of your car. The only thing it won’t clean is glass and clear plastic -like instrument panel displays and touchscreen infotainment systems.
The cleaner is formulated with exclusive nanotechnology designed to loosen and remove dirt and stains from leather, vinyl, fabric, cloth, and plastic interior panels. It is also easy to use. Simply spray it on the surface, wait a moment for it to work, and then wipe it off with a soft terry cloth towel. Seriously damaged surfaces can be cleaned with a soft scrub brush then wiped down.
Pros
- Easy to use product that works fast
- Ideal cleaner for almost all surfaces
Cons
- Can damage dyed leather surfaces
- Will cause damage to glass and plastic
Meguiar’s D10101
This interior cleaning product is widely regarded as excellent. It comes in a one gallon jug and is super concentrated. It works fantastically for cleaning vinyl, carpet, and plastic. It’s even safe to use on leather. The cleaner produces thick suds that lift dirt from soiled surfaces to make cleaning your car as simple as spray, scrub, and wipe.
You can even use this cleaner to scrub the plastic wheel wells in your car to remove built-up road grime, tar, and brake dust. Professional detailers use it to clean filthy tires and to quickly and effortlessly remove brake dust from wheels without risking damaging surfaces.
Pros
- Highly concentrated
- One of the best products for cleaning carpets
- Works great for removing brake dust and road grime
Cons
- High pH level needs to be balanced to avoid damage to soft surfaces
- Strong smell
3D All Purpose Cleaner
This interior cleaner from 3D Cleaning is a great product for cleaning many types of dirty interior surfaces. It works particularly well for cleaning dirty carpet and door panels. This cleaner will effortlessly strip grease, wax, and dirt from your interior surfaces, leaving them ready for conditioning.
This product also makes for an excellent cleaner for dirty tires, wheel wells, and grills. It is safe to use for cleaning road tar from painted surfaces and makes a good choice for detailing engine compartments and cleaning suspension parts. It can be diluted to use safely on most interior and exterior surfaces except for glass.
Pros
- Quickly dissolves tar and grease
- Excellent for cleaning engine compartments
Cons
- Extremely high pH needs dilution to prevent damage on leather
- Can cause skin irritation -wear gloves while using
Carfidant Ultimate Car Interior Cleaner
Maybe you’ve never heard of Carfidant before, but once you use their extensive line of automotive detailing chemicals, you’ll want to give them a try. This product doesn’t work as fast as some, but the pH balanced formulation is also gentle on surfaces and skin. Very few interior cleaners can make that claim.
We particularly like this product for cleaning floor mats and exterior rubber trim. It won’t damage paint and doesn’t leave any tough-to-remove residue. It doesn’t have any odor that hangs around in your car, so you won’t have to cover up horrible smells.
Pros
- Doesn’t leave a chemical odor
- One of the few pH balanced interior cleaners
Cons
- Not as strong as some products
- Bottle tends to leak easily
Adam’s Heavy Duty All Purpose Cleaner & Degreaser
Adam’s Polishes are some of the most highly regarded by professionals for the ease of use and consistent results. When you need the strongest cleaner around, this Heavy-Duty product will meet your needs and then some. It is so strong, you can dilute it 20:1 with water to clean soft interior surfaces.
Adam’s cleaner and degreaser is fantastic for cleaning carpet floor mats and works wonders on rubber and vinyl trunk mats. It’ll even strip tar and oil from painted surfaces. It has a very high pH, so be sure to dilute and test in inconspicuous places before tackling big tasks.
Pros
- Ideal for really dirty jobs
- Great product to use for removing tar and oil
- The go-to for cleaning engine compartments
Cons
- Must be carefully diluted
- Can cause staining and bleaching of dye on some surfaces
CARPRO Multi X All Purpose Cleaner Concentrate
CarPro produces an entire range of high-quality automotive cleaning products and the MultiX cleaner is a top choice for really dirty jobs. It is extremely highly concentrated, so you will want to dilute it at least 20:1 and it will even work when diluted to 100:1. This is a particularly good choice for cleaning plastic under car pans and wheel wells.
Due to the highly concentrated formulation, you’ll want to use care and test the results in a non-visible spot to make sure it doesn’t damage surfaces. You’ll want to avoid using it on anodized aluminum because it will strip the finish. Use cautiously on automotive wheels when you don’t know if the surface is treated or painted.
Pros
- Blasts through the nastiest grime on earth
- A little bit goes a really long way
Cons
- Can damage surfaces when not diluted correctly
- Packaging is flimsy and can leak during shipping
Mothers 87138 Professional All-Purpose Cleaner
Mothers brand is one of the classics that even old-school detailers will recognize. This is a great cleaning product for cloth and vinyl seats. It works well for lifting stains and ground-in dirt and grime from carpet, floor mats, and other interior parts. It also works well for cleaning exterior parts of your car like wheel wells and plastic pans.
This is one of the more gentle cleaners around, but you’ll still want to dilute it at least 5:1. If you don’t dilute it, you can risk leaving a white, powdery residue. Don’t let it sit on painted surfaces, either as it can eat the paint in minutes. On the plus side, this is the best smelling product on the list today and our favorite for cleaning carpets.
Pros
- Great smell
- Safe on vinyl, cloth, and carpet
- Biodegradable
Cons
- Packaging often damaged in transit
- Can cause spotting on some surfaces
The Best Way to Use an Interior Cleaner
First and foremost, you should be careful when using any interior cleaner product you aren’t familiar with. These products are usually highly concentrated and not suited for use straight out of the bottle. Start with a highly diluted concentration and test in an inconspicuous place. That means you’ll want to test it in a spot that can’t be seen. The last thing you want to do is start cleaning your expensive leather seats only to find out that the product strips the dye and leaves your seats looking worse than when you started.
It is also important to use a conditioning product after the fact, and vital on leather surfaces that are left without the natural oils. If you choose not to use a conditioning product or if you use too strong of a solution, you run a significant risk of causing permanent damage. It’s often best to select a conditioning product that is made by the same company as the cleaner. You’ll run less risk of chemicals interacting with one another unpredictably.
Conclusion
Before selecting an all-purpose, heavy-duty cleaner on the interior of your car, consider the amount of filth you are really trying to get rid of. You’ll be surprised how easily a little warm water and mild dish soap can clean vinyl, rubber, and plastic. You can even remove quite a bit of dirt from leather with nothing more than a little soap solution. When you decide to use a heavy-duty cleaner on your interior, you always run the risk of damaging the surfaces.
Most of the products we illustrated today are easy to use, while a few of them require careful dilution to ensure that you don’t harm surfaces. The strongest ones are really not appropriate to use on most interior surfaces, but make great choices for removing tar, grease, oil, and brake dust from wheel wells and lower body areas.
The All-Purpose cleaner from CarGuys is our favorite because it is easy to dilute and has never let us down when it comes to tackling nasty jobs (>>> Check on Amazon). It makes for the best carpet cleaner, works well for removing transfer stains on leather, vinyl, and plastic. It doesn’t stain, doesn’t eat at your skin, and doesn’t smell like a chemical plant. There aren’t too many things else you could ask for, and that’s why it is our favorite.