Detailed: 2003 Accord Interior

[Roach]

My parent's 2003 Honda Accord reached it's 10 year anniversary with us in March. It's a beige on beige car and it has been neglected all of it's life. No wax, rarely cleaned on the interior etc. It's an appliance and it is treated as such. That being said, I moved the car the other day in the driveway and noticed just how poor a condition the interior was in. I'll let the pictures do the talking:





Stains on the rear seat





I have no idea what that blotchy orange area is.



This is after vacuum'ing, some sort of spill in the rear passenger footwell



Driver footwell with stains on the tunnel



Under the driver's seat - not sure how these stains happened



Cleaning time!

Driver's footwell, most of the stains gone.



Tunnel after



Under driver's seat stains gone



Back seat 50/50 - Stains coming out



Driver's seat 50/50 - Different colour!



Another angle



Seatback



Another angle



Center armrest



I started after work today, and a torrential downpour hit out of nowhere so I had to move the car into the garage. Remainder of photos are shot using my standing halogen.

Passenger footwell



Passenger view



Rear passenger



Seat stains mostly gone!



Rear passenger footwell - stain almost entirely gone



Driver's side



Seat



Driver rear



All the crap that came out... yuck!



Quite an interesting experience focusing on interior vs an exterior detail. Fortunately it was less time intensive - only about 4 hours for this heavily soiled interior from start to finish.

Products used were: 1z Plastic cleaner, 1z leather conditioner, Porter Cable with Uber brush attachment, Folex, Bissel Little Green, APC and 303 aerospace for interior trim.

Moral of this story, don't write a car off because it's interior is in bad shape. A lot can be done to clean it up!

Kev

[Energy]

What a turnaround. The before pictures were nasty.

[freakshow]

looks fantastic! those 50/50 shots were awesome

[SpeedStars]

Now you can sell it as a brand new Honda Accord with a used engine

Spoiler!

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[911fanatic]

Great job Kev!! That drivers seat was nasty!

[Szeto]

what a difference! good job

[Roach]

Thanks for the kind words!

Kev

[TypeRNammer]

How do you like the Bissell machine?

Looking to get one myself also.

And the going price for one now a days?

Thanks!

[Roach]

Originally Posted by TypeRNammer

How do you like the Bissell machine?

Looking to get one myself also.

And the going price for one now a days?

Thanks!

The Bissell machine is pretty good for what it is. Is it ideal? No. That being said, there is quite a gap between a professional quality machine like a Mytee carpet extractor and the Bissel ($100 vs $1000+). There is no middle ground I have yet to find.

The Little Green comes in a couple of models. Mine is a basic one. There is a Pro-Heat which is slightly more expensive. That being said, it doesn't heat the water entirely on it's own. From what I understand it can heat the water in it's tank 25 degrees higher than it's existing temperature.

To do your best job at an extraction hot water is essential. As a result, I boil the water I use prior to putting it in a tank. Therefore, having a Pro-Heat model may be a moot point if you want to try doing it right so don't get sucked into the added cost.

As for cost, mine was a gift from friends. That being said if you look on a site like shopbot.ca the Bissel seems to be going for $120-$130. I'd wait for Christmas/Black Friday to see if any of the major retailers are offering a sale for spending a certain amount. You will be able to find it there.

Kev

[pintoBC_3sgte]

Great job! Huge difference!!!

[roastpuff]

The stains...

Good job on the interior clean-up. It was so nasty before... this is why light-colored interiors are typically a bad idea for "appliance" cars.

[i-VTEC]

Your parents must be proud of you