sal suds car wash

How to Use Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds as a Car Cleaner – Interior and Exterior

Sal Suds Biodegradable All-Purpose Cleaner does an impressive job as a car cleaner, is harmless to the environment, and is completely safe for the person using it. In this article, we’ll show you how to wash your car inside and out!

When it comes to washing our cars, anything we use runs into our landscaping or into a storm drain, which dumps into a nearby river or lake. For this reason, it's crucial that what we use is biodegradable, non-toxic, effective, and clean rinsing. Dr. Bronner's Sal Suds is all that and one thing more: cost-efficient!

Table of Contents

How to Wash Your Car Exterior with Sal Suds

  1. Squirt half a tablespoon (8 mL) into a bucket of water (that’s about 11¢ of Sal Suds, with 128 car washings/quart bottle.)
  2. Start with the wheels: hose them down and scrub with a stiff brush, then give them a good rinse.
  3. For the car, use a microfiber mitt or cloth as it's super soft and won't scratch and the Sal Suds does all the work.
  4. After rinsing, dry all surfaces with microfiber claws including the windows and mirrors.
  5. For windows mirrors and lights, give them a spray of pure club soda and wipe with a clean dry microfiber cloth. Club soda is the better choice over vinegar because vinegar will take the wax off your paint.

How to Clean Your Car Interior with Sal Suds

When taking your car to a professional car wash, oftentimes they’ll leave the interior seemingly clean and shiny, but this can come at a cost as the materials they use can actually make your interior more attracted to dirt and grime. Dr. Bronner's and a few other items are going to help clean all this up safely and naturally.

To clean your car interior, you'll need

  • A vacuum
  • Sal Suds All-Purpose Spray
  • Microfiber cloths
  • Club soda in a spray bottle
  • Dr Bronner’s hand sanitizer
  • Optional: a steam cleaner with an upholstery hose

Before cleaning, open the car to freshen the air as the air inside can be quite polluted from outgassing materials and fragrances from previous cleaners.

  1. Start with a thorough vacuuming.
  2. Use your Sal Suds All-Purpose spray (which is one quart of water with one tablespoon Sal Suds) to clean the plastic, wood, leather, metal, and/or other surfaces.
  3. Near sensitive areas like the radio or speakers, spray the cloth instead of the surfaces.
  4. Things that are hands touch are always the dirtiest, so give the steering wheel an extra good cleaning.
  5. For fabric upholstery or carpet, Sal Suds is a great spot cleaner. Spray the spot with the Sal Suds All-Purpose spray and scrub with a damp microfiber cloth.
  6. For windows and mirrors, pure club soda is an exceptional glass cleaner.
  7. Optional: If you’d like to add a nice scent to your car, spray Dr. Bronner's Hand Sanitizer (scent of your choosing) on the seats.

Now your car is clean inside and out!

Sal Suds cleaner shows >60% biodegradation after 28 days per ISO 14593.

Sal Suds Biodegradable Cleaner

Dishes-floor-laundry-more—the ultimate multi-purpose household cleaner! 

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