Thought I'd put a quick thread in here in case anyone's got any advice on how to do things. Just bought this for the Mrs as her first car. It was a bargain at £800 with 4 previous owners and 53k on the clock. It's also the 'Extreme' model so had electric windows and mirrors, sunroof, alloys etc and is generally just a little nicer (as nice as a green Clio can be)

Unfortunately, as much of a bargain it was, it needs some serious TLC as it's been neglected for quite some time.

This is the car...



complete with moldy headlights...



moldy window and door rubbers inc. sunroof...



and, my, god, one hell of a filthy interior! The girl who who owned it before was a beautician, so I'm guessing the filthy seats is make up and fake tan as it's everywhere! The interior has already been 'cleaned' by the local Polacs, but apparently "best job, no good, very stained, no good" So this is where I started yesterday armed with some with some seat foam, a seat brush and the trusty wet vac. I wish I had a better camera as the iPhone is a bit shit, but the difference is remarkable.

I really wish I'd had taken a before pic of the drivers seat as it was by far the worst, but this is the finished result.



Passenger seat before I started





Brushed the lifting foam into the seats and let it do it work for 5 mins





a single pass with the wet vac



Clean driver seat vs. filthy seat





50/50



and finished





Doorcard before





doorcard after





Rear seats



big stain on this one



and gone





and the water form the wet vac...




Hopefully get to wash it on Sunday and give it a good clay inc. the glass to remove the mold and see what it comes out like.

 

Nice the seats came up well just thinking about your light covers I have t-cut and buffed poly covers it may work on them too.

 

What a difference!

 

the lights all go like that on renaults and will polish up
why is it allways women who have filthy interiors

 

G3/3m fastcut compound will sort the lights, looks good car mate, looks like your sunroof is leaking tho or it soon will be, the seal comes out of place around it, just pop the sunroof out an glue the seal back in, blow air true the drain pipes aswel in case there blocked,

 

Looking good! you cant beat a freshen up

 

Major difference,well worth the effort mate.

 

Looks loads better mate



Brian

 

looks good ,my mrs clio is filthy 2 they never clean them lol , bargin aswell for £800

 

what a difference and what a good price too

 

good job!

what wet-vac did you use?

 

great job so far, and a bargain at £800

 

It's a Karcher Puzzi 100. Not a cheap bit of kit at about £500 as I used to be a carpet cleaner, but it's bloody fantastic!

I managed to clean it yesterday and confirmed my suspicions that it hasn't been washed in a few years. I didn't use any 'great' products on it as a) I wasn't going to waste my kit on the Mrs car lol and b) she got a load of Turtle Wax stuff off her family so I used this.

I washed the entire car inc door shuts, glass, rubbers, behind the rubbers, in the gaps between panel and bump strips, inside the fuel filler area etc, twice, with Turtle Wax Ice Wash Shampoo and it just didn't look or feel clean. It was an improvement, but not 'clean'



Only one thing for it, get the clay out. Again, I REALLY need to remember a camera.







And a before and after clay

Before



After



It still needs a good polish, but the old things coming up nicer than I thought it would.

 

You're right, that's not cheap! lol you get what you pay for

It's satisfying bringing something so manky up to scratch again, hope she's appreciating all the effort

 

Top job.How come women like to have a clean house but when it comes to cars they couldnt give a shit.

 

Looks very well mate... It wants a good layer of wax to see it over winter.

 

Yeah, it needs a good polish and wax, but I haven't got time. Back up north now for a few months so it won't even be used. I'll crack on with it when I'm home.