We Tested 9 of the Top Car Interior Cleaners to Find the Best (2024)

Total Interior Cleaner & Protectant from Chemical Guys actually cleans all interior surfaces and is safe to use on everything including glass and screens. It's got great strength too, acing our butter test (see below).

The cleaner also doubles as a protectant, meaning it'll shield your dashboard and other interior components from harmful UV rays. The only knock? We aren't a fan of the scent—it's strong. But if that doesn't bother you, you can't go wrong with this choice.

Hot Tip: A 'wipes' version of Total Interior Cleaner is also available. While we didn't test the wipes against the other cleaners here, they're perfect for on-the-go cleaning and quick wipe-downs. Just stash a pack in your glovebox.

For strong, no-frills cleaning power, look no further than Griot's Garage Interior Cleaner. We chose it as our second-best car interior cleaner for its simplicity and effectiveness, and because it's also safe for use on fabric and carpet. There's no scent, no residue, and its clear color gives us confidence that it won't stain. Griot's took off normal grime with ease and smashed our butter test. The comparatively large 22-ounce bottle is nice too, and should last a while.

The only drawbacks? It doesn't work on screens or glass and lacks any UV protection. But we're willing to sacrifice that for the fantastic cleaning power and the compatibility with textiles.

For those of us who want a quick, cheap spray to clean our car's interior, Meguiar's Quik Interior Detailer does the trick. The cleaner works decently—passing our butter test—and left behind neither streaks nor residue.

It's not as strong as other cleaners on this list, and it has a slight scent. But it does feature a protecting agent to keep surfaces looking clean longer. This is a 24-ounce bottle, so it may be more than you need. But for a cheap, quick interior cleaner, this is the best budget choice. It's also available in handy wipe form.

While this is strictly an interior cleaner test, Carfidant Ultimate Cleaner also cleans various exterior parts. (Hey, we like two-in-ones!) The cleaning power is evident—it aced our butter test and cut through existing grime easily.

Carfidant says this stuff can clean exhaust tips, degrease an engine, and remove bugs from your windshield. While we didn't test any of those claims this time, we believe that its strength makes it capable of such tasks. The scent is quite strong, and it's one of the pricier cleaners on our list, but the versatility outshines both issues.

If you need to clean your interior lickety-split, it's tough to beat the speed of these Armor All Cleaning Wipes. This container holds 50 wipes, but these pull-through openings often seem to result in pulling more than one sheet, so there's the potential for waste. For light dirt and grime, though, the wipes themselves are excellent. But they struggled against real messes, and failed our butter test.

The smell is very strong, and they do leave a slight residue behind—which can cling to floating dust, making your cleaning job a waste of time. However, the convenience is unmatched; you'll just compromise the quality provided by more labor-intensive cleaners.

We aren't a fan of scents, but this one caught us pleasantly off-guard. The Total Interior Cleaner from Adam's Polishes has a light fruity scent, dubbed Maine Blueberry. It was a nice change from the typical "chemical" smells provided by other products on this list.

Adam's interior cleaner features plenty of cleaning strength and protects from UV rays. However, it left behind a slight residue and an uneven finish. We like to think of this stuff as a combo cleaner and air freshener—which isn't a bad pairing.

Aimed toward dress-up jobs as opposed to cleaning duty, this Interior Detailer from Meguiar's might be better for show cars than ordinary rides. It lacks in the strength department and leaves behind a slick, almost glossy finish. Meguiar's recommends not using this on screens or glass.

Pairing that finish with a strong smell, this cleaner won't be for everyone. But if you're getting your car ready for the Saturday car show, a few spritzes of this will have your interior looking slick.

There isn't anything inherently wrong with Mothers Speed Interior Detailer, we just feel the other sprays do the job better. This stuff boasts solid strength—it passed our butter test and didn't leave any residue behind.

However, it's got a slight cleaner-y odor, and we noticed a few streaky spots after drying. It's not bad, not great. The sprayer nozzle had a nice spread, for what that's worth.

We wanted a mix of typical grime and simulated messes in our test vehicle for this evaluation. We didn't want to use a new car, so we settled on a semi-legendary 1990 Geo Tracker owned by Car and Driver's very own Dave Beard. He's driven the thing all over the place, and it's accumulated its fair share of interior grubbiness in its more than three decades of existence. In our eyes, a perfect test mule.

We purchased a large pack of new microfiber cloths for this test to ensure each cleaner had an equal chance to clean. We began by testing each cleaner on a separate section of equally dirty dashboard and door panel and noted how quickly the cleaner cut through the dirt and grime. Other notes included smell, residue, and drying characteristics.

After all of the cleaners completed that test, we wiped a chunk of semi-soft butter on the dashboard. We then sprayed that greasy mess with each cleaner, waited 10 seconds, and then applied one even, uniform wipe. We noted how much of the greasy butter was left behind and applied that to our results.

Once the tests were completed, we felt satisfied that each cleaner was judged equally and that the old Geo enjoyed a nice interior spruce-up.

How often should I clean the interior of my car?

This depends on how much time you spend in your car, what you do in your car, and so on. But a good benchmark is once a month, with a deep clean seasonally. Monthly interior car cleaning can include a quick vacuum and cleaning of your dash, vents, screens, and cupholders. Seasonal cleanings are when you wash your floor mats, scrub seats, and perform a thorough deep-clean. However, each vehicle is different, depending on usage.

Can I use interior cleaners on my windows?

Some of them, yes. The cleaner will explicitly state that it's safe for windows, but you should confirm that before trying. Other interior cleaners will leave a finish or residue on your windows, which can be a nightmare to remove. Your best bet is to use a separate glass cleaner.

Which car interior cleaners do the pros use?

Each detailer has a product they prefer, but we've seen many of the cleaners on this list included in detailing buckets. The pros typically stay away from the wipes, but the sprays come down to preference. Even the Car and Driver garage crew can't decide which one they prefer—there's a whole cabinet full of different interior cleaners!

How much do car interior cleaners cost?

Our test cleaners ranged in price from under $10 up to nearly $25. If you choose one of the sprays, you'll want to invest in some good microfiber cloths too, which can add an extra $5 per handheld cloth.

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