What’s the Best Method for Cleaning Floor Mats During Your Auto Detailing Career?
When you provide auto detailing to the exterior and interior of customers’ vehicles, there’s always one area on the inside that will require more attention. That area is usually the floor mats. Car floor mats tend to receive most of the dirt that sticks to people’s shoes. That’s why they require a few extra steps to get them fully clean.
At ATC Montreal, you’ll get hands-on training in auto detailing. That training will prepare you to become a professional auto detailer, able to clean cars so that they look shiny and new again.
So, let’s start with how to clean floor mats!
To Perform Professional Automotive Detailing, Remove Floor Mats to Vacuum Them
When it comes to cleaning a vehicle’s floor mats, it’s essential to not clean the mats while they’re still inside the vehicle. If you neglect to do so, you risk getting your customer’s vehicle wet and damp with cleaning products. That dampness could even come into contact with the clutch, gas, or brake pedal!
Professional automotive detailing involves using a different approach depending on whether you’re removing dirt from rubber mats or cloth mats. Rubber mats need to be whacked against the ground or a hard surface. If dirt is stuck, you’ll need to use a scraper to remove it. Cloth mats, however, need to be vacuumed on both sides to remove dirt.
Wash Rubber Mats and Cloth Mats
Whacking and vacuuming alone won’t help with removing all the dirt and debris that’s stuck on both rubber and cloth floor mats. That’s why during your auto detailing career, you’ll know that both types of mats will need a few extra steps to remove the dirt entirely. Rubber floor mats need to be washed down with a pressurized water hose to remove all the dirt. You can also apply soap and water to a piece of cloth and scrub the mats to remove any dirt and debris. The combination of soap and water will make the dirt and debris come off easier.
For cloth mats, you can use various cleaning products. You can mix regular shampoo with washing powder and rub it into the carpets and rinse with water after. You may use spray cleaners and a hand brush or use a steam cleaner or washing machine to do the trick.
Hang Mats to Dry
Once the mats have been washed, the job isn’t quite done just yet. That’s because they need to fully dry before being placed back into the car. If mats aren’t carefully dried, they risk causing mold or mildew, or causing other problems in the car.
Once rubber mats have been washed, they can be hosed down again and hung. Cloth mats, on the other hand, should be vacuumed and then hung out to dry.
Are you interested in an auto detailing course?
Contact ATC Montreal for more information!
