Autocar product test: Which upholstery cleaner is best?
Upholstery cleaners are essential for anyone who takes pride in the appearance of their car’s interior – especially those with kids, dogs and busy lives – but which one’s best?
This was a rare test where we didn’t really have a bad product. In fact, to anyone who has experienced the horror of finding jam or chocolate pressed into their car’s upholstery, they are all pretty much bottled miracles. But we still need to separate the really exceptional from the merely good, and we didn’t hold back.
Rubbed-in chocolate is never easy to shift, but melting it first takes it to a new dimension. We also added a bit of jam for good measure, and even scribbled with a Biro. All of this was applied to the impressively disgusting interior of an old Jeep, which itself offered up time-ingrained, heavy watermarks and unidentified stains on the headlining, plus oily marks in the carpets. Naturally, we rated the products based on how easily and effectively they removed all of our stains, and we also factored in whether they could be used on vinyl, plastics or leather for an all-over interior clean.
How we test product
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Best buy - Diamondbrite Upholstery & Carpet Cleaner
Price: £5.95
Buy from: Amazon
Contact: 01622 815 679
Autocar says: 5 stars
Quantity: 450ml
The Diamondbrite cleaner requires you to spray it on, leave it for up to 20 minutes, then wipe off. Easy as that. While it’s not the instant cleaner that some alternatives are, this foam is compatible with anything you’re likely to find in a car’s interior apart from leather. You can go foam-crazy, go and have a brew, and then come back with a damp cloth to see the results. They’ll be impressive, too; we were astonished at how well it dissolved the stains and general grubbiness. This product really is a one-stop interior clean and refresh, and is ideal as a spot stain remover or as a general shampoo.
Recommended - Chipex Factory Finish Stain & Odour Buster
Price: £12.95
Buy from: Amazon
Contact: 01295 258 308
Autocar says: 4 stars
Quantity: 500m
The Chipex cleaner is a bit pricey and it’s not suitable for hard surfaces or vinyl, but such is its effectiveness on carpet and upholstery that we considered giving it the overall win here, anyway. Treated areas were that merest fraction lighter and more evenly clean than with rival products, and it’s a very gentle formula that uses a biological microbe-heavy formulation. Just dampen the fabric, spray on the liquid, agitate, and then leave for 24 hours before wiping off. Results after shorter wait times are still excellent, but leaving the bacteria to do its stuff really pays off. If you’re not bothered about being able to use the cleaner on other surfaces, and you just want the most effective upholstery cleaner here, the Chipex is it.
Best budget buy - Simoniz Upholstery & Carpet Cleaner
Price: £5
Buy from: Amazon
Contact: 0161 8664 800
Autocar says: 4 stars
Quantity: 400ml
The Simoniz is great value and also one of the most effective cleaners here. Just spray it on, let it soak in, agitate with the can's abrasive top, and wipe off. That plastic agitator on top of the can is a nifty feature that makes lifting deeply ingrained grime, such as our oily Jeep carpet and chocolate test stain, so much easier, and was a large part of why the Simoniz managed to remove all of the filth we could throw at it. It can also be used on fragile surfaces.
Farecla G3 Pro Multicleaner
Price: £7.74
Buy from: Amazon
Contact: 01920 465 041
Autocar says: 4 stars
Quantity: 500ml
This is one of the most versatile cleaners here. It can be diluted for use in both wet and dry vacuum cleaners, and even in pressure washer snow foam guns. The latter is recommended for tackling grime on paintwork in engine bays and the like, with most hard surfaces considered fair game. Only leather is ruled out of the Farecla’s list of potential cleaning surfaces. You might think that this would make the G3 Pro less effective when it comes to textiles and upholstery, but it shrugged off jam, chocolate, Biro and decades-old unnameable stains. The rather sweet scent it emits is a bit much, but other than that this is a remarkably effective all-round cleaner.
Autoglym Interior Cleaner & Sanitiser
Price: £10.99
Buy from: Amazon
Contact: 01462 677 766
Autocar says: 4 stars
Quantity: 500ml
A lot of people may have been drawn to this product for its claims that it eradicates 99.9% of germs and viruses, including coronavirus. The good news is that it’s a really good cleaner, too, and can be used on plastics and leather. It is most effective on upholstery, we found, and is particularly useful when it comes to awkward areas where leather meets textile. Don’t go thinking that multi-surface compatibility makes the Autoglyn cleaner less effective overall; only the chocolate staining required a second dose for full removal, putting it on a par with the best cleaners here.
Halfords Upholstery Cleaner
Price: £4
Buy from: Halfords
Contact: 0161 7645 981
Autocar says: 4 stars
Quantity: 500ml
The marzipan-like aroma of the Halfords cleaner is a bit pungent, but it is an excellent performer at a great price. It's easy to use; just spray it on, leave it for half a minute and then wipe clean. Nothing more than a microfibre cloth was needed to achieve first time success in all of our tests, and even the discolouration and time-ingrained watermarks on the Jeep’s headlining were banished easily. The ever-tough melted chocolate stain needed some enthusiastic rubbing with a microfibre, but that was it. There’s no mention of it being appropriate for hard surfaces or vinyl, though.
Meguiar’s Carpet & Interior Cleaner
Price: £10.99
Buy from: Amazon
Contact: 0870 2416 696
Autocar says: 4 stars
Quantity: 473ml
This is a really simple cleaner to use: just spray it on, give it 30 seconds and wipe it off. Job done. After decimating the discolouration and marks on the Jeep's headlining, and making light work of the unidentified greasy stains in the carpets, and our own ink and jam tests, only the melted chocolate proved a slight challenge for the Meguiar’s. You could only make out the faintest of marks after the first application, and a second did the job. It can be used on vinyl finishes, plastics and even seatbelts. It’s a bit expensive, but the product is excellent.
Autoglym Hi-Foam Interior Shampoo
Price: £9.11
Buy from: Amazon
Contact: 01462 677 766
Autocar says: 3 stars
Quantity: 450ml
The Autoglym Hi-Foam really does what it says on the tin; a brief press on the aerosol produces a huge cloud of foam, so be careful not to get too enthusiastic and get it onto any leather, which is one material that it shouldn’t be applied to. Hard plastics and vinyls are okay, though, making this a great all-round interior cleaner, especially as it works so quickly. The instructions say to spray on, leave for 20 seconds, then wipe off, which was a comprehensive enough application for most of our test stains. The chocolate and age-old oil stains in the carpet were harder work, and took three rounds of the Autoglym before they disappeared completely.
Mer Multi Surface Interior Cleaner
Price: £9.99
Contact: 01920 465 041
Autocar says: 2 stars
Quantity: 500ml
The Mer is really quick and easy to apply. You don’t have to wait for the cleaner to penetrate the stains, and there’s no need for a brush to agitate it; the instructions suggest to simply spray on and wipe off. This no-hassle application worked amazingly well on both our ink and jam tests, and even the old watermarks on the Jeep’s headlining simply fizzed away. However, it took five attempts to get rid of chocolate, and three to make an impression on the oily residue on the carpets, so it’s fair to say that any greasier substance can be a chore with the Mer. However, the fact it can be used on most hard surfaces is a real bonus.
McLaren 02 Fabric Cleaner
Price: £8.05
Contact: 01206 855 232
Autocar says: 2 stars
Quantity: 500ml
McLaren's 02 is perfectly effective, but others in this test are cheaper and can be used on a wider variety of materials, since McLaren doesn’t specifically outline what surfaces it is compatible with. Its overall stain removal was seriously good, though; only the tough melted chocolate stain needed a second treatment for full removal, while all the rest were magicked away with relative ease. The straightforward spray on, agitate and wipe application is no problem, but both the spray and stream settings delivered a similar jet of liquid, so a better nozzle would be an improvement, too.
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