What is a Dashboard Cleaner?

The car’s interior has many parts of different parts and materials. Some parts are made of wood, leather surfaces, cloth, wood or plastic. The dashboard is a sensitive area with electronics and surface materials that may be sensitive to the cleaning material. Car interior cleaners may do a good job, but you have to know the effects on the surface.

A good dashboard cleaner takes into account all the components of a dashboard. A microfiber towel is your best option for cleaning the car’s dashboard and other upholstery parts. Car cleaning wipes can be your daily carry to keep your dashboard clean always. The center console is one particularly sensitive spot that you have to take good care of. Here are the best car dashboard cleaner options in the market today.

Dashboard Cleaning Tips

Getting the best car interior cleaner is one thing. Using it well is another. If you use the cleaner wrongly, the interior surfaces will look worse than expected. Worse, you may damage some components if you go in with no clue about what you are supposed to be doing. Interior cleaning can be an art sometimes, and if you want to do it yourself, these tips and tricks will be of great value.

a) Clear the Rubbish

No one likes littering on the road, meaning the litter will have to stay in the car. For some reason, you will end up with all sorts of things on the dashboard of the car. The first thing you have to do before you think of cleaning the dashboard and center console is to clear out any litter that may be on the dashboard or any other surface. You want to tidy up first before you start cleaning. Think of the steps you follow when cleaning your house.

You may have recyclables or different types of trash. Put the trash in their correct bags straight away to save you the time you might have to take while sorting the trash out. You will notice significant neatness in the car once you tidy up and get rid of the rubbish. I consider tidying up as half the cleaning process.

b) Clean the Ventilation System

The air vents probably have dust hidden within. Your best move is to blast the dust from such areas in your car. If you do this after cleaning the interior surface first, you will have messed up your cleaning process. While you have various surfaces to clean, you want to start with the hidden ones.

Close off all the air vents and turn on the ignition. Next, please turn on the fan and set it to the highest speed. Open one vent at a time to dislodge any debris lodged in the vents. You can use a flat screwdriver with a cloth wrapped around it to clean the dust in the ventilation vents.

c) Clean the Dashboard

The dashboard suffers a lot more than other car parts. This is where the instrument panels are located, the steering wheel, controls and just a surface to place anything and everything. As a result, the dashboard will suffer from the sun’s UV rays, fingerprints, stubborn stains, oily palms and more. Therefore, cleaning it will be a huge favor for this part of the car.

A soapy water solution would normally get the job done. However, you want to avoid hard sponges or the ones you use for domestic cleaning as these might damage the interior surface. The dashboard might have a matte finish on the leather, wood or plastic surfaces. Therefore, you want to be particular with how you go about this activity. If you have a leather interior, use a leather cleaner and conditioner for car interiors to avoid damage. The cleaning solution can damage or clean the surface.

Use the dedicated products we have outlined above to do the cleaning. Car dashboard cleaners are specific and up to the task because they create a protective layer that keeps the dashboard surface free from damage by UV rays.

The screens on the dashboards normally have an anti-glare surface that some cleaning solutions may damage. When cleaning the vehicle’s interior, use the right solutions for the specified surfaces. For example, leather seats are far from equal to touch screens. A microfiber towel greatly reduces the risk of damage. Getting moisture inside these components is the last thing you want because they are electronic components. Ensure the cleaning cloth is dry to ensure extra protection of these parts. You will still have your dashboard shine when you do it right.

You want to clean the dashboard before vacuuming, as the surface’s dust may make other surfaces like the floor mats dirty. Interior cleaning is one process that needs some strategy to it. One of the strategies is using a make-up brush to clean hard-to-reach vents that may be problematic when using a normal microfiber cloth for cleaning.

d) Clean the Touchpoints

There are some surfaces that you will always touch. Car owners have developed muscle memory when they touch these surfaces without realizing it. These surfaces include the steering wheel, the gear stick, buttons, indicators, the stereo and more. The central console touchscreen and buttons are normally the victims of a boring traffic jam. The sun visor gets one of those frequent touches too.

You want to pay close attention to these surfaces because they are susceptible to fading and fingerprints while they might be hard surfaces. Worse yet, these are the most contaminated surfaces. You want to use car cleaning wipes and your preferred cleaning solution when cleaning such surfaces. A soft cloth can get the job done as well. All the dashboard surfaces need a dry microfiber cloth to avoid any scratches on the surface when doing frequent cleaning.

If you are using a spray dashboard cleaner, spray it on the car cleaning cloth instead of directly on the dashboard. This is because the spray bottle contents are not electronic friendly. You want to avoid spraying the cleaning solution onto the windscreen either.

More Tips on Cleaning the Dashboard

An interior cleaner is just a tool that you can use in multiple ways. We will give you tips to make your cleaning more successful than otherwise. The goal is not only to see a difference once you have done cleaning, but the difference is to be on the positive side of the things you can not immediately see.

• Working in the shade prevents the cleaning solution from leaving streaks while drying up. If you have cleaned house windows before, you may have noticed this. Working in the shade will make the product react more naturally than in direct sunlight. The interior cleaner is a solution of different compounds that may not be as effective under direct sunlight.
• Do not use heavy or pungent cleaners. Remember, you are working in a confined space, and you need to protect your lungs. You are already dealing with dusty surfaces. Why make it worse?
• If you can remove the front seats, the better for you.
• Watch out for solvents when dealing with plastic or leather seats and surfaces. There are dashboards made of leather and wood surfaces.
• If you have used the glass cleaner, wait for it to dry first before wiping the surface, whether you are cleaning the door panels or the dashboard.
• Use a glazer for a wooden dashboard. The right dashboard cleaner is appropriate for rubber surfaces or any other material.
• Avoid applying dressing on top of the dashboard because it makes the dashboard shiny, which may cause a reflection of the sun when you are driving. You want to avoid this at all costs.
• Cotton swabs for hard-to-reach areas. Those are the ultimate interior detailer options you should know about.
• Demineralized water reduces stains.
• Set the sprayer to a stream when spraying it on a cloth.
• Remember, the steering wheel is the dirtiest on the dashboard. You may want to get a leather steering wheel cover for comfortable driving. Keep it clean all the time if you can.