Cleaning Alcantara

Alcantara is a brand name for a faux suede like fabric that is used on various upscale or performance cars. It gives vehicle's interior a sporty feel, while cutting costs of not using actual suede. The issue with this type of fabric is that it is very sensitive and not performing regular maintenance will cause it to become matted and look very, very trashy. Therefore, if you do have Alcantara interior, always try to clean it every other week in order to maintain it's suede appearance. We will be cleaning the steering wheel of my BMW M3 and see what all is involved in cleaning it. The steering wheel is one of the worst places for Alcantara, as it is used heavily and with lots of pressure. So it will get gunked up pretty frequently.

Tools Needed

• Alcantara Cleaner
• Interior detailing brush
• Regular microfiber towel
• Shop vacuum with crevice tool

Step 1

Spray a little amount of Alcantara cleaner on your microfiber towel. Lightly dab/rub the surface with the towel. The idea is not to crush the shag of the material down. You should see gunk coming off on the towel. Be careful to not over saturate the surface.

Step 2

After cleaning the surface with the towel, spray the cleaning product on the interior detailing brush and then lightly "tickle" and agitate the fibers in Alcantara. This is done just to release the gunk that was too stubborn for the towel. After using the brush, again come back with the towel and very lightly clean it up. Don't use too much pressure to matte the surface up. We want the alcantara fibers to stay standing up. Go in long swooping motions- avoid circular motion to reduce the fibers curling up.

We don't have to be extremely cautious though. We will use the vacuum at the end to ensure the fibers get "fluffed". If your surface is heavily soiled, you can use a soft bristle toothbrush to agitate the dirty areas.

Step 3

Now we will use the shop vacuum to finish up our process. The idea here is to use the vacuum to pull up the fibers in the fabric and eliminate any matting that may have occurred. We will use the crevice tool, but to make sure the tool is not touching the fabric. Use your fingers in between the fabric and the tool- there should be no more than a 0.5-1cm gap between the two. The reason for this is that the crevice tool usually has sharp edges and spots that could damage the fabric if it comes in contact. I've never had the problem when Ive touched the tool to the fabric, but try to avoid it. 

Once you have vacuumed and pulled up the fibers, you are done. You may need to let the surface dry a bit before using it or else the fabric will get matted easily.