Interior refresh and clean

[onenil]

Hello all,

At the weekend I bought my first Z4, a 2003 E85. Its a weekend car so I didn't need anything too expensive as I only expect to do around 3k p.a.

The car I have bought is wonderful outside and pretty good inside but i really want to give it a deep clean and make it look fantastic. I thought about getting a pro valet to clay and polish outside as well as inside but now I have the car I fancy giving it a go myself and hopefully gaining some pride from my hard work!

So my question - what products would you recommend for a good clean inside?

The seat leather is generally pretty good but marked and scuffed on the drivers side where you constantly get in and out. I have bought liquid leather scuffmaster set (including cleaner and conditioner) to renovate the black leather. This was recommended in another post on this forum. (http://www.liquidleather.com/car-shop.html

I have also bought the Autoglym Interiors pack (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00EZI1VEC?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00) but is this enough?

Apart from the seats, I mainly want to deep clean the dash and plastics as the carpets are very clean. Also the seat back plastics are looking faded. Any thoughts or recommendations?

Thanks in advance
Neil

 

[ben g]

I'd recommend unbolting the seats and removing them completely. It only takes a few minutes and allows you to clean under them properly. The seat rails tend to harbour a lot of dirt and it's difficult to get your hands down there when in situ.

 

[Autovisiondetailing]

Those products are a good start. As the previous poster put, highly recommend taking the seats out, makes it far easier to deep clean.

A good all purpose cleaner is also a must, a little goes a long way and can be used for multiple jobs when cleaning a car. Auto Finesse Verso.

For faded interior plastic and to restore that new car look - Auto Finesse Spritz.

I'd also highly recommend buying a large amount of good quality micro fibre cloths, you can never have enough.

Feel free to PM

 

[Paulj100]

Best thing for really cleaning the interior is one of these Reaches every tight spot in a car


Also works very well in cleaning out those roof drains

Paul

 

[onenil]

Thanks for the comments so far. Is it easy removing the seats? I have never done this before. They are also electric seats which i guess makes it more tricky?

Noted on the Auto Finesse - on order!

I dont have a Henry, the handheld Dyson will have to do

 

[onenil]

Best thing for really cleaning the interior is one of these Reaches every tight spot in a car


Also works very well in cleaning out those roof drains

Paul

Paul - Do you use the hose to clean the drains from the top or do you take it apart from the wheel arches and clean?

Being a newbie I haven't done it before. Its going in tomorrow to a friendly mechanic in Basildon to have brakes pads (and possibly discs) replaced and I am going to ask them to check and clear the drains too. Is it easy enough to do yourself or do you have to jack the car and faff about?

 

[Paulj100]

Best thing for really cleaning the interior is one of these Reaches every tight spot in a car


Also works very well in cleaning out those roof drains

Paul

Paul - Do you use the hose to clean the drains from the top or do you take it apart from the wheel arches and clean?



Being a newbie I haven't done it before. Its going in tomorrow to a friendly mechanic in Basildon to have brakes pads (and possibly discs) replaced and I am going to ask them to check and clear the drains too. Is it easy enough to do yourself or do you have to jack the car and faff about?

Hi. As the hose is flexible the roof drains can be accessed from the top. I did this when I first bought my Z and fiund my drain blocked as the hose was sucking up water!! After further examination found the drain plug underneath in the arch was completely blocked so removed the plug and left it off. Very easy job to clear drains lots of threads on here best way to do it.
The hose attached to hoover is a neat idea as it works very well at getting to those hard to reach places.


Paul

 

[spic]

Thanks for the comments so far. Is it easy removing the seats? I have never done this before. They are also electric seats which i guess makes it more tricky?

Its easy to pop the seats out, I done it when purchased my Z a few weeks ago and its the only way to really give it a good clean, 2 bolts 2 nuts per seat and the plug for the electrics comes off very easily

 

[Machine monkey]

Just make sure you unbolt the front bolts then move the seat forward and undo the rear bolts. Then disconnect the battery (you will have to reset your clocks maybe windows) you need to do this so your airbag warning light dose not come on when you disconnect the electrics. It takes about 20 minutes before you can disconnect the seats.

You have time to disconnect the seat belts and then the seat belt guide. Then have a cup of tea
You can then tilt the seat and disconnect them all and pull them out. Easiest done with the roof down but I managed it today with the roof up.

Hope that helps.

 

[JINGLE]

do you need to disconnect the battery before removing seats to stop the air bag sensor light or something?

 

[JINGLE]

also OP here is a good video to give you an idea about cleaning out the roof drains

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5LwrafOLt4

 

[ben g]

do you need to disconnect the battery before removing seats to stop the air bag sensor light or something?

Yeah you'll get the airbag light on if you remove them without disconnecting the battery.

Not a big deal if you have INPA to turn it off, but if not it's rather annoying.

 

[JINGLE]

i dont have or even know what INPA is so i guess ill remove battery for 20mins before taking my seats out then lol

 

[Ronnie3232]

Defo as guys say remove seats and disconnect battery, I have had a few of these cars and find there is all sorts of crap down side of seat runners next gearbox tunnel which I don’t believe you could remove with seat in situ and this is the stuff that will keep car smelling funky, also give carpet a clean with aresol upholstery cleaner at least.

 

[buzyg]

Best thing for really cleaning the interior is one of these Reaches every tight spot in a car


Also works very well in cleaning out those roof drains

Paul

Paul - Do you use the hose to clean the drains from the top or do you take it apart from the wheel arches and clean?

Being a newbie I haven't done it before. Its going in tomorrow to a friendly mechanic in Basildon to have brakes pads (and possibly discs) replaced and I am going to ask them to check and clear the drains too. Is it easy enough to do yourself or do you have to jack the car and faff about?

A tried and tested idea that one. Well worth investing a couple of quid in one of these simple hoovering kits. Work great on the car the PC and other fiddly cleaning jobs. Fits down the side of the seats to clean the runners in the Zed. So you can take them out if you want but you can also do a pretty decent job without removing them.

 

[buzyg]

Best thing for really cleaning the interior is one of these Reaches every tight spot in a car


Also works very well in cleaning out those roof drains

Paul

Paul - Do you use the hose to clean the drains from the top or do you take it apart from the wheel arches and clean?

Being a newbie I haven't done it before. Its going in tomorrow to a friendly mechanic in Basildon to have brakes pads (and possibly discs) replaced and I am going to ask them to check and clear the drains too. Is it easy enough to do yourself or do you have to jack the car and faff about?

A tried and tested idea that one. Well worth investing a couple of quid in one of these simple hoovering kits.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dashboard-Valeting-Cleaning-Attachments-Electrolux/dp/B00ZCIEXD0/ref=asc_df_B00ZCIEXD0/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=214496216811&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3789130157479272027&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045305&hvtargid=pla-421019064614&psc=1

Work great on the car the PC and other fiddly cleaning jobs. Fits down the side of the seats to clean the runners in the Zed. So you can take them out if you want but you can also do a pretty decent job without removing them.