I just read an article with 30 tips for cleaning your car. I know some, but not all of the tips. What do you think?
Sorry, but I don’t think I want to drive a car around with stinky cloths pins on the vents trying to overcome the odors of Cling-Free sheets and olive oil in the seats that’s turned to vinegar.
And I tried the “iron” method to remove melted crayons. It doesn’t work.
Sorry, my friend, but with the possible exception of one suggestion, the painting sponge, I thought the suggestions were terrible… so bad that I gave up at the Cling-Free sheets.
If my car ever got so bad as described in the article, I’d take it to a professional detailer. But of you keep your car clean you’ll never have to load the interior with perfumes as suggested to make it habitable. It’ll stay nice for many many years. If you smoke in the car, nothing will work. Nobody has ever found a way to deodorize a smoker’s car.
Some tips might work but still depends on the condition of the parts/accessories you’re going to clean. For example, toothpaste won’t totally remove the yellowing on headlight but it can help lighten it.
Used with a drill operated buffing pad it can make a difference, but polishing compound or headlight buffing compound will work better. Truth is, any micron-level abrasive in a highly viscous media will work, and that’s what toothpaste is.
The article writer clearly has never smelled rancid olive oil. It’s foul, and I’ve been too vigilant about never eating in my car (still smells great at 110k miles, never seen an air freshener!) to make it smell like that.
This article is what’s known as clickbait: They get you to click on at least 30 different pages (and therefore get counted for showing you ads 30 different times), and it doesn’t matter what the content is as long as it keeps you clicking.
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Interesting information, shadow. Not being a computer guy, I was unaware of that.
They’d probably get more clicks if the article were halfway intelligent. This one is amazingly dumb.
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I wouldn’t let most of the products they suggest anywhere near my car.
Vasoline for your dash? Don’t these idiots know that petroleum products eat plas
Stupid, stupid, article.
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I won’t have an opinion on the detailing article because I don’t do links. But if someone were to ask about detailing or car care I will recommend Auto Geek web site.
Some petroleum products do. It’s all about the chemistry. If yo ucan show that petroleum jelly is bad for the dash, please do so. Note that chemicals that are sold to refurb your dash and other plastic parts are often made from chemicals derived from mineral oil.
The ideas were so bad that I couldn’t resist; I went back and copied some other of my favorites (NOT!). The author’s car must be a real MESS!! 
And I’ll bet it stinks to the high heavens.
A few drops of Castile soap in good old vodka! F_or windshield wash] Anybody think Vodka is cheaper than windshield wash?
__Simply mix 1/2 cup of liquid starch, 4oz bottle of Elmer’s glue, and 1/4 cup of water [to make cleaning putty. Anybody want putty made with glue in their switches? ]
Another great alternative to waxing your car and getting a comparable shine is using hair conditioner. Just as that gooey stuff can make your hair look shiny, it can do the same for the paint on an automobile
A solution of kerosene and water makes for the perfect no-wax shine treatment imaginable. Once you douse your car in it, just wipe dry. [No comment needed].
Plain old clear nail polish can buy you some time before you replace that window or windshield. [And it costs more than actual windshield chip repair].
Petroleum jelly will not only make your interior shine, regular use will prevent your dashboard from cracking. [not on MY dash!]
_Squeegees aren’t just for scraping ice. in what world are squeegees good for scraping ice?]
Vinegar is your best friend in many DIY cleaning solutions. Mix a little with dishwasher detergent and you have the best window washing solution ever. Mix a little into shampoo or laundry detergent and get out those unsightly stains on your upholstery. [no wonder the author has so many odors to deal with]
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Mr. Mountainbike , Thanks for the review. Mr. Sanders, I really wonder why you would want to share such nonsense.
The only smell I want in my car is “nothing”. No eating or smoking in the car and my 11 yr old car is still pretty clean inside. The beige interior is probably a bit darker than day 1, but not an eye sore by any means.
My only problem now is a Hyundai Tucson that we have bought. It has leatherette seats and when it sits under the sun, it has a special odor. I keep parking it in the garage with the windows open, also tried coffee beans and vinegar along a good cleaning of all interior surfaces. It has improved significantly but still not odorless when parked under the sun.
Thanks to @the_same_mountainbik (I still miss the e at the end) for the cliff note version. In your recap it sounds like ridiculousness, but you might remember some of us possibly technologically impaired, Maybe once a decade wash and wax my car, Sure a few rust spots, and the rust converter does not work, I do not smoke with guests in my car but nobody after a free ride has complained yet about a stinky car, sure it is only 13 years old with 170k miles, tools and golf clubs fill up the back, spare tire gone due to crappy mechanism, got AAA but had to do the 600 mile drive with the good tire with a nail in the sidewall strapped to the roof while driving on a 13 year old spare, you know, Friday night see a nail in the sidewall getting out of work, and No one can deal with it at 5:30 pm., And the bungie cord holding the front bumper on is barely noticeable after hanging it up on a tree while trying to back the boat in to our narrow spot, course the chip in the windsheld on the passenger side looks like a mosquito or biplane but it was like that 10 years ago when I bought it, but it is mechanically good I think, all fluids up to date includung transfer case and front and rear differential, It is our drive 535 miles, launch the boat vehicle, and planning on many more years.
Those car-cleaning “hacks” actually go from being just plain silly to being dangerous for both you and your car.
To what am I referring?
It is this truly bizarre suggestion:
Dishwasher Detergent (Cascade, Finish, etc) contains a variety of caustic chemicals that are designed for use ONLY in the closed environment of an automatic dishwasher.
Among those ingredients is Sodium Dichloro-S-Triazinetrione dihydrate. Once that chemical is added to anything containing water, it transforms into Chlorine Bleach!
Cleaning one’s windows with that chemical is bad enough, but once it inevitably drips or splashes onto the car’s rubber window gaskets and its paint, serious damage is sure to ensue.
More than likely, the idiot who wrote that article meant to type “dishwashing liquid” (Dawn, Ivory Liquid, Joy, etc), which is merely a surfactant/detergent, without the noxious chemicals that are contained in Dishwasher Detergent. That error is worthy of more than a dope slap. Instead, whoever suggested using Dishwasher Detergent on your car deserves to have a 2 x 4 applied firmly to the back of his head.
LOL, and to think my main objection was the vinegar!! 
If any poor soul is dumb enough to follow this article’s suggestions, I can only suggest that our primary and secondary school systems REALLY REALLY REALLY need to teach more science!! 
Courses in ethics would be nice also!
Writing and publishing articles that recommend practices that are potentially dangerous would be unthinkable for someone who possesses any sense of ethics. What’s next? Articles suggesting that kids juggle butcher knives for their amusement?
If that article had been proof-read by somebody with even a modicum of scientific knowledge, it would never have passed muster, and if nobody bothered to have it vetted by a more knowledgeable person prior to publication, that represents an ethical problem–IMHO.
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Well said, VDC.
I agree with @shadowfax, this is a case of someone writing where he knows nothing, but can get people to click through to manufacturers web pages. I had a friend who sent his kid to college (community college, but still…) doing this. So I set aside a few minutes a day for a couple months trying to write interesting articles on hubpages, squidoo, etc. and set back just waiting for the click reward money to come rolling in.
At the one year anniversary, the site sent me a note that I had earned $3.25, but they don’t send out checks for less than $10. And, so, that elusive pot of gold is still out of reach…
About smoking . . .
A guy at work is a smoker . . . I estimate a good 2 packs a day
Anyways, he doesn’t smoke in the fleet vehicles
However . . . the cigarette odor permeates every facet of him, his clothes, his body, etc.
Even if that guy smoked 20 minutes ago, if he sits in a vehicle, it reeks of cigarettes after he’s done driving it, even if he doesn’t light up
I’m not criticizing any smokers, BTW . . . I used to be one, once upon a time
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That brings back memories from my college days, and I’m almost amazed that I still recall these circumstances from almost 50 years ago:
One of the guys in my major (Joe T.) was a heavy smoker.
He was also prone to sweating heavily, and–apparently–not bathing himself or washing his clothing very frequently.
However, he loved to soak himself in Old Spice aftershave lotion.
The combined effect of all of that stuff was that you could walk into a room that he had vacated perhaps as long as 20 minutes previously, and the overpowering “Joe T. funk” of stale smoke, BO, and Old Spice still permeated the air. Even the stairwells of the college–through which he passed fairly quickly–bore his…telltale scent…for several minutes after his passing, and it was NOT pleasant.
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