We were impressed with the Britemax Interior Cleaner. It’s easy to use, cleans well and leaves behind a really pleasant-but-unusual fragrance, which is hard to recognise but maybe there’s a hint of Ginger in there? It’s not an overpowering smell though, which some interior cleaners can be guilty of. The only problem we found was that the scent doesn’t hang around as much as we’d have liked.

The Interior Cleaner was very simple to use, and was a literal spray on, wipe away job with no fuss or arm-ache involved. Even only going over the plastics once and using a soft microfibre cloth to remove any excess, it still left a great finish.

When we used it on ingrained dirt patches on lighter-coloured plastics and where any muck was more obvious, we found that at least 80% of the grime was removed with just one ‘pass’ of the product. If you want to get right into the grain of the plastics and rubber trim parts though, we’d recommend spraying on the product and working it in with an old toothbrush or similar, and then removing the excess with a microfibre cloth.

That method should work well in removing most ingrained soiling.

After use, the plastic and rubber had a soft-sheen-look to it, and you could almost get away with it on its own without using a dressing. Almost.

As a bonus, you can also use the Britemax Interior Cleaner on other materials such as carpets and upholstery too where it seems to work pretty well, removing stains without adding more. Remember though, as with most products, over-saturate the area and spray on too much and you will make stains worse, even enlarging the area.

Overall score – 8/10 Simple to use and effective, Britemax Interior Cleaner leaves behind a classy soft-sheen finish.

+ We like the ease-of-use, fragrance and finish

- You can get through a bottle pretty quickly, making it a little pricy. The smell doesn’t linger as long as we’d like.

Visit the Britemax website

Like the look of Britemax products? Why not try a samples pack then!

Britemax Winter Prep and Maintain Samples Pack

Get ready for Winter with our Britemax samples pack - it is simply too good to miss at this price!! This brilliant kit features almost all of what you need to get prepare your vehicle for winter, and for maintaining it through the bad weather too. There are products for both the interior and exterior of your vehicle with nearly everything you need to make it shine brilliantly! Included in the pack are:

- 50ml Britemax Extreme Elements

A cream sealant which is easy to apply and remove, gives long lasting protection and adds a beautiful depth of shine and warmth to paintwork.

- 50ml Britemax Clean Max car shampoo

pH neutral and non-alkaline, this is a safe and highly effective shampoo, which leaves behind a slick finish and feel. Smells great too!

- 50ml Britemax Grime Out degreaser

This removes brake dust, engine grease bugs, road tar, water spots and much more, without containing acid.

- 50ml Britemax Spray and Shine (with free pump-sprayer)

When we tested this detail spray, we absolutely loved it! This is a non-silicone product, and is instead wax-based, giving an ultra deep shine and great protection too. Can also be used as a clay lube and drying aid.

-50ml Britemax Black Max

Another brilliant product that we really, really like - this ultra fine polishing glaze will remove up to 3000 grit sanding marks, and leaves an amazingly deep and rich depth to any colour of paintwork. It contains zero silicones or waxes and is dust-free. Use with a DA or by hand.

-50ml Britemax Interior Dressing

As the name states this is for car interiors, but can also be used on exterior trim and tyres too. Leaves a natural gloss-look behind, which is deep but still classy. Again, there are no silicones and it is body shop safe.

If you are from the E.U, please select the E.U Postage option below

Price: £5.80

Grimey car door before being cleaned with Britemax interior cleaner

And the results - looking fresh and spotless again

Several weeks worth of dirt left behind...

... Which cleaned up quickly and easily. Only a few ingrained bits were left behind.

Prior to being contacted by Opal Products (main U.K. importer and distributor of California Scents) – who asked if we’d like to review some of their products – we’d already come across the California Scents range a few months beforehand. There was a fair bit of talk on the forum DetailingWorld about these car scents, and so our interest was caught.

A lot of people we talk to hate the traditional car scents, such as those trees you hang from your rear-view mirror and other sorts that you buy from large car part stores. They tend to be overpowering with a sickly scent nothing like Pine or Orange or whatever else they say. A lot of the time they smell more like toilet fresheners than anything else, and the strong smell makes for headache territory.

Organic and biodegradable vented/non-vented tins review: £2.49 each

So, after reading a fair amount on the above-mentioned forum, we bought a few of the little round tins. First impressions are that these look unusual, like nothing else out there, and also very cool too. Names such as Desert Jasmine, Laguna Breeze, Hollywood Tropicana and Malibu Melon are as appealing as they come, and almost enough to make the mouth water.

Opening the lid, there are 3 organic, biodegradable pads inside, which provide the scent. When it comes to fragrance, they are simply amazing and we’ve not come across one we don’t like yet. They kind of remind us of the sweet shops we’d go to when we were young where upon walking into the store, the smell of a thousand varieties of confectionary would hit you like a candy floss wall. Lovely, but here are also definite elements of realism to the aromas as well.

There’s none of the usual headachy, sickly-sweet smell, and although these are strong, they are not over-bearing like other scents.

As mentioned, we’d tested these for a good 3 months before Opal Products contacted us, so we’ve had more than enough time to see how they lasted. The tins say the fragrance will 60 days, but we had a good 12 weeks out of ours and they were still noticeable to people getting into our cars! A tip for these to make them last longer; after a couple of months, take out the pads, turn them over and return them to the tin and also add a a few ml of water – this will give them a new lease of life.

Some of the tins come with handy vented lids, which can be passed onto the next tin you buy, if there’s not one included. Handily, these tins also fit into cup holders, which is a good place to stop them flying about as you corner.

So, a huge Thumbs Up from us for the tins-with-pads, but what about the other products they sell?

Xtreme air freshener review: £2.79 each

We were also sent an Xtreme air freshener, which is a small tin containing ‘solid fragrance oil’. the scent was Twister Berry. opening the lids of slightly cool-looking black tin, there’s a kind of jelly-like substance inside, which doesn’t come out even if you tip the tin upside down. Again, the smell is excellent and I’m having good reports back from the owner of the vehicle it’s in.

The car we’ve been testing it in has had it in for 50 days now and there’s no sign of the smell getting weaker. Considering they have a 45 day-life, according to Opal’s site, that’s great going. Part of that could be the fact that you can put the lid back on the tin if you’re not using the car for a few days or whatever. A slight drawback is that if you want to adjust the strength of the smell you either have the lid on or off, no in-between. 8/10

Vented Clip Palms review: £2.79 each

Onto the ‘Vent Clip Palms’ now. The one we were sent to test was the Melon Mango scent. Again, it’s a ‘spillproof solid fragrance‘ with the gel-like stuff inside. To use it, you take out the little glass holder with the gel in and remove the plastic cap before replacing the holder into the vented plastic. Maybe it was just this particular odour but we found it a little too sickly and strong for our liking. Perhaps it was also because being clipping to the air vent, it’s blown more directly at you. Whatever the case though, we still prefer the organic tins. 6.5/10

Palm Hang Out review: £0.99 each

Finally, onto the Palm Hang Out. These are much like the trees you can buy to hang in your car, but maybe slightly less toxic-smelling. We were sent out the Monterey Vanilla fragrance, and it’s not too bad. The smell from the normal trees tend to hit you in the face like a 25kg sack of spuds when you open them, but this was fine. A little too strong perhaps, but hopefully it’ll soon ‘wear in’. We’ll update you as the test goes on.

A couple of points to be aware of that we noticed on the packaging on these Palms is no to leave them on plastic or painted surfaces or on upholstery. If that’s the case then they’re definitely more chemically than the others. 6/10

Summary: Out of all the air fresheners we tested from California Scents, we definitely found both the organic and vented tins the best, with the Xtreme coming in second. If we get chance, we’ll test more of the California Scents range.

Note: Please do all involved a bit of good, and support the main distributors of California Scents by buying through their approved resellers only – you know you’re buying the genuine article then, and not a cheap copy!

We officially love the Organic tins from California Scents. They’re unusual and cool visually and the aroma’s are not overpowering or chemically and they last for months too!

Click here to visit Opal Products website

Car Interior Plastic and Trim Products Test: Valet PRO Interior Revived – 500 ml – £4.62

An aerosol spray. We found this stuff to be excellent and it really does do exactly what it says on the can. This isn’t a cleaner though, so make sure your door panels etc have any ingrained dirt removed first.

After lightly misting the product onto the car’s interior trim, we used a microfibre cloth to polish it up.

The finish on both flat and textured plastics looks very classy and gives a good shine without being overly glossy (which a lot of silicone sprays are guilty of). Any plastics that looked tired or even faded were refreshed and perked up again and a rich lustre was added to them.

The Interior Revived spray also neutralises bad smells well too.We used it on an interior that smelled strongly of dog and the bad odour was halved a couple of days later after the initial nice scent of the spray had gone.

When used again the bad odour all but disappeared. A small negative is the slightly overpowering scent when the spray is being used (we recommend opening all the car doors and and use it in a well ventilated area).

A huge plus with this product is that the shine will last for absolutely weeks and weeks. We couldn’t believe just how long it did last, and the shine just would not budge! Excellent.

9/10 Good price, leaves a very classy and crisp finish on interior trim and also revives it excellently too. Will last for weeks and weeks.

Buy Valet PRO Interior Revived

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Interior Plastic and Trim Products Test: Armor All Protectant (Semi-Matt and Gloss) 300 ml – £3.99 / 16oz – $6.49

We were highly impressed with these. They cleaned very well, removing the majority of stubborn stains from the car’s plastic surfaces and not much of the product is needed either. We still have over half a bottle of each left months later, and that’s after at least a dozen applications of the stuff!

They also left a good quality finish, with the Gloss not being overly-shiny and the Semi-Matt leaving a nice silky finish. They were non-greasy and worked well in restoring faded plastics. To get the best results, we used a decent quality microfibre cloth and where necessary we sprayed the product directly onto the cloth to save it getting onto glass and upholstery.

The shine from these two should last a good couple of weeks, and as application is easy, it’s not exactly hard to get your interior plastics and rubber looking first class again.

9/10 Worked excellently and both leave a quality finish. Priced well as only a little is needed for a decent job.

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Interior Plastic and Trim Products Test: Armor All Dashboard Wipes (Matt and Gloss) 15 wipes – £2.99/25 wipes – £3.99

Armor All (U.S) 25 wipes Combo Pack – $13.99

After seeing the Armor All wipes around in the shops for a while now, we were eager to see how they performed. We were happy with the results as they picked up dust and grime well, and didn’t just push it around. They have plenty of moisture in them and you could get at least a full dash and a door card wiped over with just one wipe. They did leave some slight streak marks on some of the flat plastics, but the streaks weren’t overly obvious. The Matt and Gloss finishes were very obviously different visually, especially the day after using them.

The one slight negative we found is that you get a slightly better product and far more wipes for just £1.00 more from Big Wipes.

7/10 Cleaned well, left a nice finish and smell. More expensive than the competition but handy for keeping in your glove box.

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Upholstery Cleaner Test: CarPlan Interior Valet 400 ml – £3.90

An aerosol spray foam with cleaning brush for car upholstery and carpets. We tested this product on some fairly dirty seats and carpets which had ingrained dirt and stains within the material. We recommend spraying an area of only about 20 cm x 20 cm at a time as the foam disperses quite quickly. After spraying the area and using the removable plastic brush provided with the can, we were able to get some impressive results.

The product worked quickly and effectively to remove the stains, and cleaned away any dust and dirt that had collected in the seams of the seats. It left the materials looking refreshed and very clean. Really dirty sections needed a couple of goes with it. It left a nice citrus smell behind. We’d recommend leaving the seats for at least an hour after as they do get slightly damp in the process.

8/10 Cleaned carpets and seats well and left behind a nice smell. Easy to use product.

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Interior Plastic and Trim Products Test: CarPlan EcoCar Dash Cleaner 500 ml – £4.99

A pump action spray. We were highly impressed with this as a cleaner. It doesn’t leave any shine behind, but rather does what it says on the bottle and cleans. It cleans very well too as it happens. It will cut through dust and grime easily and removed any marks that were present on the door panels. It left a neutral and non-sticky finish which we liked, and brought up plastics and rubber trim up superbly and also smelt really good too (Ginger and Lime scents we thought). It’s also eco-friendly so any of you that worry about environmental issues can rest as it ‘contains coconut derived detergents; vegetable based glossing agents and natural fragrances’. A slight negative is that the spray came out too fast and covered too much of a large area, getting onto the glass and upholstery.

9/10 An excellent interior cleaner. It is well priced, smells great and is eco-friendly too.

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Interior Plastic and Trim Products Test: CarPlan Flash Dash Wipes (Matt & Glossy) 15 Wipes – £1.49/25 Wipes £2.99

We weren’t impressed with either the Glossy or Matt versions of these wipes. Although they had plenty of moisture, they didn’t pick up dirt very well, and tended to push it around instead. They also left a lot of streaking on both textured and flat surfaces, and even after using a soft cloth afterwards to buff them out, they were quite stubborn to remove.

The whole point of interior wipes is to be able to do it all in one go, and these just didn’t come up to standard. They are available in several different scents including Citrus Orange and Apple.

You are far better off using CarPlan’s Flash Dash Dashboard Shine.

4/10 These wipes failed to impress. They didn’t pick up dirt well enough and left behind a lot of streaks.

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Interior Plastic and Trim Products Test: CarPlan Flash Dash Citrus Dashboard Shine 500 ml – £3.99

An aerosol spray. If you like a nice shine to your cars plastic, then this product should be rather suitable for you. It can be sprayed directly onto the surface or applied onto a cloth first, preventing overspray onto glass or car seats etc. It worked well and is easy to apply on both flat and textures surfaces, leaving a shiny but non-greasy finish. The finish wasn’t overly ‘rich’ and has a nice silky look to it. At 500 ml, the can should last a while as not too much is needed to cover large areas. It smells nice too and also comes in 4 other scents (Wild Fruit, Vanilla, Orange, Apple). The only slight negative is that when spraying it can be slightly overpowering and chemically, but fine once the excess is wiped off and the product has dried.

The shine should last around 2 weeks, although the scent wears off after about 3 days depending on how often the car is used.

Note: Make sure you apply this product in a well ventilated area. Keep your car doors and windows open, and if using in a garage leave the garage door open too.

8/10 Does a good job at a budget price, leaves a nice silky finish and smells pretty good too.

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Interior Plastic and Trim Products Test: BIG WIPES Automotive Interior Protectant Wipes 40 wipes – £4.99

We found these to work as well as the Interior Wipes on the dash, doors and centre console. They went a long way and have plenty of moisture packed into them and getting into the more annoying dusty gaps was easy work. They picked up all the dust well and didn’t just spread it around the surfaces.

They leave a nice Matt finish and have UV protectants in them which will protect your interior plastics in the long run. However, we found that their Interior Wipes did just as good a job and did many more jobs than these wipes so were better value for money overall.

8/10 Good at what they do, and well priced, but the Interior Wipes do more. Buy them if you want to UV protect your car’s plastics.

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