My first new car in ages and you could say I'm a little protective of how it looks inside and out, so imagine how horrified I was after 2 days away at the seaside and the state of the interior. Now, short of pressure washing the little ones before they get in, I had to bite my lip as they deposited half the beach in the back, boot, in fact seemingly everywhere!

I only have a Henry hoover with few attachments which I thought wasn't bad but I just can't get rid of all the sand from the car. Does anybody have any top tips on getting those stubborn grains out?

 

any help greatly appreciated :-)

Is it in the passenger compartment or the boot - The Octy has a removable floor which covers the spare wheel well which you can take out and turn upside down.

Not directly helping the clean up operation; but generally avoided in future if you invest in a 

good boot mat, ideally with lip or rim section to hold in sand etc.

 

This sort of style....

 

I have one in my car and it does a good job holding all the crap from my golf gear.

Shake it out once every couple of weeks - nice low maintenance. 

 

For the rear passenger area..... that's a lot tricker to keep clean i guess....

Always wondered how you get sand out of car carpets. I fish and while I've learned to avoid getting it in the car as much as possible it still happens on occasion.

A henry vacumm should make quick work of sand, was a peice of cake clearing sand out of mine.

Just buy a new car. It'll be easier than getting it entirely sand free.

A stiff upholstery brush worked lightly to lift loosen the sand from the fibres, work towards the middle of the footwell.

Hoover again.

Go gentle with the brush (available from Asda for pennies) so as not to rough up your carpet too much.

Check the filters on your Hoover, they could be cutting suction by half too.

Also try looking at your accessories, a thin flat bladed nozzle might be best bet

'Bash' the carpet while vacuuming. Seems to make the sand jump and then hoover the little blighters up.

 

So combine with the brush technique above, brush and bash.

Thanks for the replies!

 

I've got a boot liner and has helped tremendously but its mainly in the passenger compartment, the carpets and the in the tiny gaps between the door card and the armrest! Think I might try a soft bristled brush for there.

To be fair the hoover has got most of it out, but I always find with sand there are a few of the persistent little blighters that want to make a home in the carpet.

 

I'm thinking of investing in a small handheld hoover to keep in the boot (just to make sure I live up to my wifes idea that she thinks I'm really anal about keeping the car clean of course!) are there any good ones out there? I had one years ago and it wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding.

Black and decker pivot plug in version, for in car hoovering

Much good.

And to prevent this again, rubber floor mats. Worth their weight in gold to me with to kids.

Have a valeter sort it? There's so many now? There's a bloke round my way does interior for £15-£20 absolute brilliant job!

Cheers chaps, I'll look into the Black & Decker and some rubber mats.

 

Good suggestion DanHam but as frustrating as it's been I really love working on the car, inside and out so I'd be depriving myself of my fix 

Also find banging the carpet helps bring small particles to the surface whilst hoovering at the same time.