As the detailing season starts back up (at least for those of us not lucky enough to have a garage/shop to work in), I've really been looking to acquire more clients. Fortunately, by just cleaning up my car and my boyfriend's car in our apartment parking lot, I got one. She drives a 2002 Passat wagon, and I knew that it would be a fun one right from the start. She works on a horse farm (I believe) and also has a Great Dane. She requested that I detail only the interior, and to not worry about extracting the carpets or cleaning the trunk area as it was full of her riding equipment. It was a beautiful day today, and as expected, the car was in desperate need of some help. The back seat was covered in dirt, and the floors were a mess of straw and food, which was starting to smell horrible. Every surface of the interior was covered with a film of dirt and grime, and there was even some dog vomit in the backseat. I had three and a half hours to tackle it. I knew that I would need a strong interior cleaner to cut through the mess, so I went straight to Zep Citrus 3:1. I generally don't use this much on interiors, but in cases like this something strong is a must. Every interior surface was wiped sprayed, wiped down, and agitated with various brushes and Costco microfiber towels. Next, I dressed all the plastics with 303 Aerospace Protectant, and conditioned the leather with Duragloss 221. All the glass was cleaned with Stoner Invisible Glass, and finally the entire vehicle was vacuumed. Even though I didn't work on the trunk or get to extract the carpets as I would have liked to, I am quite proud of the results. The interior was a bit tatty in some places, but as my boyfriend also has a Passat wagon we frequent the junkyard for miscellaneous things, so hopefully I can help the owner spruce up the interior a bit with some new parts And now...onto the pictures. Sorry for the quality, I just had my iPhone. Before: Afters: I will say here that some of the plastics and leather seemed to be stained with some something. Around the gearshift and handbrake the plastic had some brown dots on it that would not come off, and I stopped trying to remove them after I started rubbing through the "soft touch" plastic coating. The dirt had also stained the leather on the backseat in a few places. Thanks for looking! -Clark
great turnaround! What's the story behind the "homemade mats made out of the leftovers from the house carpet" ... lol
Great job Clark! :applause:Your gaining alot of experience with trashed interiors lol. Customers should be charged accordingly with vehicles in such a sorry state!
great job op!!! I see homemade floormat ideas a lot during my day job at the dealership...usually 1 or 2 random mats stacked on top of the regulars...one lady used bath towels, another installed rubber mats then put the carpet mats on top :doh:
Nice work, your customer should be delighted. I occasionally see work trucks that are that bad or close but I can't say that I've seen a car interior that trashed. Fortunately no one has asked me to clean up the interior of a minivan. A couple small children and a dog can be as bad as farm animals if the owner lets it go.
Nice wok! Do I see the woodgrain around the radio console is coming loose and that is has straw stuck to the glue?
Thanks for all the compliments guys She was very thrilled with the results! As far as the floormats, apparently they're outdoor carpet. haha. And the radio trim...I think that's some sort of glue residue on it, looks like Gorilla Glue. I tried to glue it back, the problem is that you really need to be able to clamp it down to use something like JB Weld on it, and that's not really possible. When I go to the junkyard I always keep an eye out for a new piece, but it's more than just the trim. You've gotta pull the radio and everything to gain access to it.
