Best Car Cleaning Products, Tested By Experts

Our expert review team sprayed, soaped, and soaked our testing vehicles with everything from car shampoos to detailing products to create our review guides. Out of so many soaps tested, which ones are the best to help you get a clean car with the least hassle? 

For your convenience, we’ve compiled a roundup of the best car cleaning products from our experiences to expand your arsenal of car cleaners. We’ll touch on everything from leather cleaners to tire shines that will give your car that spick-and-span glow.

1. Best Car Wash Soap: Chemical Guys Honeydew Snow
2. Best Interior Cleaner: Chemical Guys Total Interior Cleaner
3. Best Leather Cleaner: Chemical Guys Leather Cleaner and Conditioner Kit
4. Best Tire Shine: Chemical Guys TVD-107
5. Best Microfiber Towel: Mr. Siga Microfiber Cleaning Cloth

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Because of its formidable cleaning capabilities at a price that won’t break your budget, Chemical Guys Honeydew Snow is our top overall pick for best car wash soap. Its pH-balanced formula is tough on grime but not your car’s paint job. We also love how well the soap’s honeydew aroma pairs well with its spot-free shine.

Key Features

• 16.0 oz, 64.0 oz, and 128.0 oz units available
• Can be bought as part of car wash kit
• pH neutral
• Safe on all exterior car surfaces
• Streak- and spot-resistant

Our Experience

This soap smelled amazing, and our team couldn’t get enough of the snow foam it formed over our testing car. Just an ounce of the Snow in a gallon of water was enough to overwhelm us with suds.

The Snow began to foam with stirring and spread easily across our test car. Our vehicle had no evidence of streaks after washing, and water spots were also not evident. We liked how this soap acted as a wheel cleaner, making the rims glisten.

As its name implies, this soap smells just like a fresh honeydew melon. The best part is the scent isn’t necessarily overpowering, so sensitive noses can breathe easy.

What Customers Are Saying

Amazon Review Score: 4.7 out of 5 based on over 22,700 reviews

Many reviewers rave about the soap’s foaming abilities and its fruity smell. Worth noting are the positive reviews from car owners who used foam cannons to spray their vehicles and microfiber towels for drying.

What Is It Good For?

Compared to the rest of the car wash soaps we tested, the Chemical Guys Honeydew Snow was the best at tackling dirt without hassle. This soap is great for anyone looking to complete a basic wash of their vehicle. For more car wash soap choices, check out our guide to the best car wash soaps.

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With lasting UV protection and spotless shine, it’s no wonder the Chemical Guys Total Interior Cleaner and Protectant is the number one Amazon bestseller for Automotive Upholstery Care Products. This detailer made our overall pick for best interior car cleaner because it packs a punch against stubborn stains without damaging your car’s interior.

Key Features

• 16.0-oz. spray bottle, 0.5-gallon unit, and 1.0-gallon unit available
• Can be purchased as part of car cleaning kit
• UV protection
• Safe for nearly all interior surfaces
• Spot-free finish

Our Experience

Chemical Guys wasn’t messing around when it named this product the “Total Cleaner.” Our review team found the all-purpose cleaner to be highly effective on stains without damaging the interior of our test car, and it left a noticeable gleam with an inviting, fruity aroma.

We were able to spray this on nearly all interior surfaces without damaging them. The formula’s watery texture caused it to drip more than expected, so users should be wary of spraying too much of the product.

No remnants of dust remained after a once-over with the Total Cleaner and a microfiber towel. Stains took little effort to tackle, too. The Total Cleaner’s streak-free finish left a nice layer of UV protection over all cleaned sections of the car.

What Customers Are Saying

Amazon Review Score: 4.6 out of 5 based on around 32,000 reviews

Negative reviews argue that the Total Cleaner is not suitable for all surface types, specifically vinyl surfaces.

What Is It Good For?

We recommend the Chemical Guys Total Interior Cleaner and Protectant for anyone who wants a versatile, affordable interior detailer.

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With no leftover chemical smell nor scrubbing streaks, we picked the Chemical Guys Leather Cleaner and Leather Conditioner Kit as the top leather cleaner. It is very easy to apply and let dry, with a semi-wet look for an amazingly thorough finish.

Key Features

• 16.0-oz spray bottle of leather cleaner and 16.0-oz pour bottle of conditioner
• Odorless
• pH-balanced
• UV protection
• Can be used on any leather surface (shoes, chairs, etc.)

Our Experience

The Chemical Guys Leather Kit blew our review team away. We found the instructions were very clear on both products. Each one rubbed smoothly into the leather seats in our test vehicle without streaking or clotting. Both the cleaner and conditioner require a microfiber towel or applicator pad to rub into leather, which must be bought separately.

Chemical Guys advertises these products as odorless for good reason. Neither the cleaner nor the conditioner produced a scent, and there was no greasy residue left over on the seats. Although the cleaner adds a layer of UV protection, we recommend using the conditioner on top of it for a shinier, more thorough finish.

What Customers Are Saying

Amazon Review Score: 4.6 out of 5 based on over 32,600 reviews

Many of the top reviews swear by the kit’s versatility as an all-purpose leather cleaner, with customers even claiming to have used the kit on leather sofas with positive results.

What Is It Good For?

We highly recommend this kit for car detailing rookies and veterans alike who want to keep their leather seats looking fresh. If you want to see how this product stacks up against our other top detailers, read our full roundup of the best car detailing products.

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The Chemical Guys TVD-107 received a rare perfect score in our best tire shines guide. Its gel texture makes choosing the amount you want to apply easy, and little effort is needed to scrub it into a tire’s treads. Ultimately, it leaves long-lasting shine and UV protection.

Key Features

• Can be bought in 16.0-oz or 1.0-gallon units
• VRP (Vinyl, Rubber, Plastic) gel
• Wet shine
• Light tropical scent
• UV protection

Our Experience

What we especially liked about the TVD-107 was its versatility. The geniuses at Chemical Guys created a formula that’s not only suitable for rubber but also vinyl and plastic, so the TVD-107 doubles as an interior cleaner. Its sling-proof formula acted as a rubber restorer, too, without staining the wheel wells of our testing vehicle.

Due to its gel texture, the TVD-107 was very easy to apply and required no additional spraying or water. A high-gloss wet shine was produced on the whole tire, including in the hard-to-reach crevices of the treads.

What Customers Are Saying

Amazon Review Score: 4.6 out of 5 based on over 24,000 reviews

Chemical Guys TVD-107 is currently the number one bestseller on Amazon for Automotive Wheel Care. Customers rave about the TVD-107’s versatility as a multi-surface cleaner. Some negative reviews, however, comment on the TVD-107’s lackluster finish on plastic compared to rubber and vinyl.

What Is It Good For?

Our review team is confident the Chemical Guys TVD-107 tire shine can handle any level of wear and tear on a tire. We recommend this product for anyone who wants tires that will look brand new for months.

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Following rigorous testing, the Mr. Siga Microfiber Cleaning Cloth was our product testing team’s choice as the best microfiber towel in the industry. Its non-abrasive and extremely absorbent microfibers won’t scrape paint off of your car’s paint job and can handle clean up like a pro.

Key Features

• 12 towels per pack
• Polyester/Nylon blend threads
• High-quality stitching
• Lint- and streak-free
• Extremely durable

Our Experience

Compared to the other microfiber towels we tested, the Mr. Siga towel offers remarkable absorptive abilities. This car drying towel easily absorbed all of the water and suds after a car wash. It also soaked up interior cleaners well without scratching our testing vehicle’s dashboard.

The undetectability of the Mr. Siga towel is unmatched. After careful examination by our product testing team, we could not find a single piece of lint nor any scratches left behind. There were no streak marks left anywhere, either.

Featuring high-quality stitching with reinforced edges, these microfiber towels held up well through rigorous use. After some heavy-duty cleaning and a rinse in the washing machine, they seemed exactly like they were when brand new. We couldn’t find any loose bits of lint or unraveling strands of fiber coming from the towels.

What Customers Are Saying

Amazon Review Score: 4.7 out of 5 based on over 66,500 reviews

Many reviewers mention the fact that the microfiber cloth is lint-free when wiping down surfaces. Individual reviews speak to the microfiber towel’s ability to clean up grime and its functionality on delicate surfaces. A number of reviewers warn, however, about placing these towels in the dryer as it can cause them to shrink.

What Is It Good For?

Mr. Siga microfiber towels are one of our favorite quick detailer products with promising value. If you’re curious about other potential towels for your next auto detailing job, check out our list of the best microfiber towels for more options.

All of the different kinds of car cleaning products featured in this review are designed for slightly different purposes, but there are some general trends you should pay attention to when shopping for this kind of product.

Cost

Unless you’re a professional car detailer or prepping a car for an automotive auction showroom, then you shouldn’t be spending your entire paycheck on a car vacuum or your last few bucks on new floor mats. All of the car cleaning products in this review are well within the reasonable asking price for each type of product.

Surface Compatibility 

There’s no steadfast rule for what type of car cleaning product can be used where. Ultimately, this means you’re going to need to read the fine print on each specific car cleaning product and check to see if it can be safely used on that particular part of your car.

Multi-purpose car cleaning products do exist, but they may not be as effective as specially designed and purposed car cleaning products. However, you’re less likely to run into limitations on where you can apply a multi-purpose car cleaning product.

How Do I Detail My Car Like A Pro?

Detailing a car isn’t a particularly difficult task in itself, but doing it to a high standard is. Below are a couple of simple and straightforward steps you can take to transform your beat-up daily driver into what looks like a new car:

1. Take your time. While this isn’t the most Earth-shattering advice you’ve ever been given, it’s something that all professional detailers do. Paying attention to the details is what ultimately separates professional car detailers from beginner detailers and DIYers.
2. Only use microfiber on your vehicle’s exterior. Sure, the big cotton towel from your bathroom will dry your car the same as a microfiber towel – but it will leave scratches, swirls, streak marks, and more behind on your car’s paint job.
3. Work from the top down when washing your car. This is because the lower part of your vehicle comes into close contact with road contaminants, so you don’t want to spread that to other areas of your vehicle that were otherwise untouched.
4. Never work in direct sunlight with car cleaning products. Besides simply making the detailing process hotter, sweatier, and generally more uncomfortable than it would be in the shade – almost all car cleaning products don’t perform as well on hot surfaces or in these conditions.

The car cleaning products in this article went through two rounds of reviews. We started by searching Amazon for top products, looking at factors like Prime shipping eligibility, customer ratings, Amazon superlatives, and price.

The five car cleaning products that best met these standards were ordered by our team for testing. A team member tested each product on a car. All of these products were tested with various criteria based on what they were designed for. Links to each article that describe the testing processes in each category are provided above when possible.

Why You Can Trust Us

Each year, we test over 350 auto products on vehicles and in our testing lab. Our team of product testers thoroughly researches top products, unboxes and puts our hands on each component, and tests the items on real vehicles before making recommendations to readers.

We publish hundreds of product and service reviews to bring car enthusiasts detailed guides on automotive tools, detailing kits, car seats, pet products, and much more.

*Data accurate at time of publication.