Need product advice- cleaning & protecting interior and tires ?

[Red91Laredo]

Hello all, first of all I hope I'm posting this in the right place. I've been doing a lot of searching and reading various threads, but thought maybe some pros could answer my particular questions a lot more directly than I could find the answers...

I recently picked up a new vehicle (new to me, anyway), an '03 Mercedes C230 sedan with a light gray interior that is in fantastic shape; and I want to keep it looking that way for many years. I'm not brand new to detailing, but am looking to step up my results by investing in some better / more job-specific products.

First, I'm wondering what products you folks would recommend for cleaning and protecting the interior surfaces in this vehicle. It has what I believe are the perforated "MB Tex" seats, which I understand are a vinyl / leatherette type material. A lot of the other interior surfaces such as the door panels & dashboard appear to be either a soft plastic or a padded vinyl type material. Up to now I have been using Simple Green diluted about 10:1 with warm water to clean the interiors of my other vehicles, but I am afraid it may be too harsh of a cleaner for the types of surfaces in the Mercedes. Honestly, the Simple Green at that low of a dilution isn't the greatest cleaner anyway, and I'm afraid of using it on interior surfaces in a stronger concentration.

I'm wondering if an APC such as Meg's APC+ would be safe & effective to use for the various interior surfaces in this vehicle? Or would it be better to use a more "dedicated" product marketed only as an interior cleaner? For a dedicated interior cleaner I was looking at Einszett Cockpit Premium, just based on lots of positive reviews, but I really have no clue. Advice?

For an interior protectant, I've been using Meg's Natural Shine forever and am pretty happy with it (I like the matte finish it provides as well as the pleasant scent)... I'm sure it will work fine for the dashboard, door panels, etc. in this car; but I'm not sure if I should use it on the MB tex seats? I assume it'll be perfectly safe to use on this type of material; but I'm concerned with using something that could make the seats too slippery, or possibly rub off on my clothes and cause staining or discoloration. Should I be looking into a dedicated product for protecting the seats, or just use the Natural Shine and be sure to buff off any excess, and maybe let it "soak in" for a couple hours before driving the car?

Finally, a question about cleaning tires- besides giving them a gentle scrub with my regular car wash soap & water solution at every wash, I'll usually give them a "deep cleaning" every couple months, or right away if they get mud on them or dirt from brushing against a curb. I've been using Simple Green at full strength for these deep cleanings, and while it certainly gets a lot of dirt off, once my tires dry I notice that they are sort of a dull gray color & need a re-application of tire dressing to look deep black again.

Would using a gentler cleaning product such as an APC at full strength help them not look so faded after deep cleaning, or is that just a result of frequent scrubbing? All of my vehicles currently have expensive, long wearing tires on them, so I want to keep them looking new even if they end up lasting me several years. Although an application of tire shine easily makes them look good again, I'm more worried that the Simple Green could be drying out the rubber prematurely, since my tires just look so dull after cleaning them with it.

In case it matters, I'm using Black Magic Tire Shine (the basic OTC liquid stuff that comes in a spray bottle) for my tire dressing. I'm sure there are better products out there, but I have a ton of it on hand, and I like the results it gives in that you can vary your results based on how heavy you apply it (light application for matte shine, heavy application for high gloss). I usually only apply it 2-3 times a year as I'm really more concerned with having clean tires than shiny tires. Am I okay to stick with this for a dressing, or is it not so good for the health and/or appearance of my tires in the long term either?

[VP Mark]

Only have a second but for tire dressing I really recommend optimum opti bond tire gel. A little goes a long way no slinging and a great satin look.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using AG Online

[swanicyouth]

To clean interiors, use a product designed for such IMO. AG sells a lot of them under DP, WG, BF, etc.. Pick one - they all should work well. I use DP. At least you will have some piece of mind its safe for all the surfaces. Simple Green? Who knows.

To protect interior, I think Ultima Interior Guard + is the best stuff out there. It can be applied to everything - including seats.

CarPro Fabric and Leather wears very well on seats (better than UIG+) and is the best stuff for coated leather / pleather, etc.. IME.

Nothing cleans tires better than Tuff Shine Tire Cleaner. It's designed to strip tires naked of all dressings. It ain't cheap - but its good. APCs / Simple Green won't clean tires naked IME like the TS Cleaner will.

Basically, if your looking for good and safe stuff, you may want to stop using Simple Green and try some products from AG designed for a specific purpose.

The dressing? Who knows? Just spend $15 and get a good water based dressing like Poor Boys Bold N Bright or Prima Infinity.

[Bunky]

I would suggest 1z Cockpit Premium over the Simple Green and then any number of protects (WG, BF, DP, Optimum,Ultima) for the protectant.