u/Jaxidian

So, I'm ~2 weeks in since getting my 2026 AWD Limited Cosmic Blue w/ light gray interior.

One thing I didn't get to do was to get some protective materials on the car immediately. I wanted a black interior, but nobody seems to sell that in Cosmic Blue (just like nobody sells RWD), so protecting that light gray interior is the plan. I thought I'd share with y'all what I did, what I learned, and what I'd do again. And I'll tell you now, I'm still kinda scared of that nearly white interior!

Before I get to story time, here's a list of the things I bought:

Interior Protection:

• 👎 Chemical Guy's HydroLeather Ceramic Coating
• 👍 Gyeon Q2 Leather Shield Evo

Interior Cleaning Products:

• 👎 The Rag Company - No Soak Coating Applicator Kit
• 👍 Gyeon Interior Detailer
• ❓ 5 PCS Leather Brush Car Detailing
• ❓ Gyeon Leather Cleaner Strong

Exterior Products:

• 👍 Westinghouse Foam Cannon
• 👍 Adam's Mega Foam
• 👍 Gyeon Wet Coat

Things I already owned:

• Costco microfiber towels (I think they're ~$25 for a 50 pack or something like that)
• A pressure washer with various nozzles and such (hence the foam cannon to use with it)
• A step stool so I could quickly and easily see/access the top of the car
• A high-power leaf blower

So, what I did was this:

1. Pulled my car out into the driveway so I had plenty of room (my garage isn't too cramped, but isn't too spacious either)

2. Got my Gyeon Interior Detailer and a couple microfiber cloths (I did not use the Leather Cleaner Strong nor leather brushes)

3. Interior Cleaning:

• I folded the microfiber cloths into quarters (so I have 8 surfaces to work with per towel), sprayed ~4-5 sprays of the Interior Detailer on the cloth (do not direct spray onto the seats) and wiped down the interior.
• I ended up using two surfaces per seat plus another two for the middle back and console. And another surface for each door. All said, 2 towels was good.
• I was surprised at some of the spots I saw on the seats that I know came from the dealership and not from me or my family. I had to work at a couple of them, but the interior detailer spray was enough without having to get the much stronger leather cleaner out.
• While the interior detailer is alcohol based and should be used sparingly and not daily, the strong leather cleaner should be for emergency stain use only! (Note: their "natural" leather cleaner spray should not be used on our vegan leather interiors, so don't get that.)

4. Interior Protection:

• After I cleaned and wiped down and let the car 100% dry, I then went to protect the seats. I initially did everything except the driver seat (I later came back and did that after pulling my car into the garage since you are supposed to let this cure for 12 hours before sitting in the car).
• I started with one of the Rag Company's no soak applicators, the Gyeon Leather Shield, and a microfiber cloth (in quarters).
• I dripped ~10-15 drips on the applicator (more at the beginning, less later as the applicator's fabric had already soaked up some) at one end of the applicator (not the whole thing - these were larger than I had hoped). Be sure to close the cap on the bottle and not leave it open - you don't want it curing inside the bottle by being exposed to air for a long time!
• NOTE: You do not want this on plastic nor cloth. It can make the cloth feel hard. I don't know what it'll do to the plastic, but I don't want to find out.
• I started with the top/back of the passenger seat, outlined the leather by the cloth all around, then outlined all of the seams, then applied the liquid to all of the leather in between those outlines. Make sure that you're not pushing too hard, though you should push a bit into those seams when you're outlining them. The goal is to make sure all of the leather has a thin layer of liquid on the surface, not to "work it in" or anything like that. I got the headrest, too. NOTE: When doing the headrests, do NOT rub the ceiling cloth and get it dirty/stained in the process! I wish we had an extra inch or two clearance up there above the headrests - it's pretty tight spacing up there, so don't cause a new problem!
• I then re-applied more drops to the applicator and repeated the process on the seat. Moving the console forward/back and moving the seat forward/back/up helped to get in some areas. Make super sure to get the heavy-wear areas well without any missed spots. Generally, you don't want any missed spots anywhere (this has UV protection and uneven UV protection can cause splotching over time), but you definitely don't want to miss the heavy wear areas because that's the primary reason you're even doing this.
• After everything was applied, I took a 1 minute break to grab a drink of water (you're supposed to let it sit for ~3 minutes total)
• Then I grabbed my microfiber cloth (folded in quarters) and wiped the surface off in the same general pattern as when I applied it. Outlines/seams first, then the bulk of it all after. I was less careful with the wipe-off than the application. I just used 1 surface of the towel per seat. When wiping it off, again, you don't want to work hard at it. You just want to wipe off the excess and dry it. It should look and feel dry when you're done.
• After the seat was done, I then went to the door. I applied it to the soft parts of the door and took care not to get it on the hard plastic, paint, cloth, or glass. A couple spots I did get on plastic so I immediately wiped it off with an add'l microfiber cloth (not my main one - I had an extra just in case and this was the first time I needed it for the just in case scenario).
• Once done, I gave it a couple minutes then wiped it off with a microfiber cloth (clean surface).
• At this point, you get the idea. Generally, repeat this process. I went Front Passenger -> Center Console (from the back seat was easiest) -> Back center seat -> back passenger seat -> back driver seat -> did the driver seat much later in the night after pulling back into the garage.

5. Exterior cleaning:

• I got my pressure washer out and hooked up. I used the green tip, which is the widest/flat/weakest spray option I have. I gave the car a good water soak to rinse dirt off.
• Added ~450ml of water and ~150ml of Adam's Mega Foam to the foam cannon. This ended up being about the perfect amount. Maybe I could've gone 400+100, but I think I would've been short on soap, so 450+150 was about perfect for me - I really got lucky on that amount.
• Connected the foam cannon to the pressure washer, set it to max soap and I'm not sure what I set the foam cannon spray setting to - whatever "weakest and biggest spray area" I could find, but it was kinda weird.
• I covered the car entirely in soap. I started with the worst spots (bottom and front bumper), then went top-to-bottom re-soaking the worst spots again when I got to them.
• I let it sit for 3-4 minutes (I wasn't in direct sunlight and it wasn't too hot, so it didn't get a chance to dry), then I started to rinse it all off with the green tip. It was actually much harder than I expected to rinse all of the soap off. The roof bars and the rear spoiler thing were very awkward. Another awkward thing was the mirrors and door handles moving until I set my key/phone/watch down far away from the car. Then I realized I couldn't get soap into the side mirrors when they were folded. Annoying lessons learned.

6. Exterior protection:

• After I was 100% done rinsing the car, I left the green tip on the pressure washer, grabbed my step stool and the Gyeon Wet Coat, and got started.
• First, the Wet Coat spray bottle should be set to stream and not spray. Even a non-existent wind will blow the spray away, so you need to use stream. And if it's a very windy day, well, you might just need to do it some other time. That spray is easy to run out pretty quickly and it's not cheap!
• I re-wet the roof of the car and the spoiler thing in the rear. (Is it a spoiler? I really don't know. I'm just going to call it a spoiler. Sue me.) Then I sprayed the Wet Coat on the roof. I tried to cover most of the surface. I probably over-applied, but if I were going to over-apply somewhere, that's the spot that makes sense to over-apply to since gravity won't have it spread out after spraying it on there. I made sure to rinse it off within a minute of spraying it on there.
• I then got the windows and top of each section of the car. Then I went in this order: windshield/hood -> A pillar and front fenders -> front bumper -> passenger mirror -> passenger door -> rear passenger door & B pillar -> C Pillar and rear fender -> same sequence on the driver side -> rear of the car -> each of the 4 tires and inside the mud flaps in hopes that this will keep less sticking to them or at least easier to clean.
• I ended up using about half of the bottle. Maybe I over-applied. But doing that once a quarter seems reasonable.
• Got the leaf blower out to dry the car off (yes, I'm lazy)
• Pulled the car into the garage and finished the Driver seat interior protection

Some lessons learned:

1. I should've never bought the Chemical Guy's HydroLeather stuff. I will never use that now that I know the Gyeon stuff is much better and will last a ton longer.
2. I shouldn't have bothered with the no-soak applicators. I should've just used the foam block/microfiber cloth that Gyeon provided with the leather ceramic. Yes, it probably saved some material, but I used more than half of it so I'll have to buy another bottle next time anyways. I'm not sure it was worth the extra cost to save a bit when I was still going to have enough. Maybe it makes sense for people who go through a lot of this, but I won't do this more than once a year, so that extra efficiency probably doesn't help me much.
3. I don't regret buying the Leather Cleaner Strong, even though I never used it. I have it on hand in case there's a big problem so I don't have to let it sit long, plus I didn't know if I would need it when I went through and cleaned everything.
4. I don't know if I regret buying the soft leather brushes. Those will probably be useful if I ever have a bad stain I need to work out with that strong leather cleaner, but so far, they're unused.
5. I didn't get anything to protect the light gray cloth. I don't know what to get. I know Gyeon has some stuff, but not sure how good it is. Need to research more. Wish I had realized how much light gray cloth there was in there, but I just didn't think to check.
6. My windows need some love. I ended up running out of daylight, but I know that's going to bug the crap out of me when I drive the car tomorrow.

I'm sure some people are going to say "just use vinegar and don't do that other stuff". I consider this either insurance or therapy for my fear of these near-white seats. And I'd like to get a good ceramic coating on the exterior, but I understand a *good* one of those is thousands of dollars and I'm too cheap for that. So, this Wet Coat once a quarter and trying to avoid car washes with brushes is about what I will realistically predict I'll be able to maintain. For me, this feels like the right level of compromise. Still need to get that light cloth protected, though.

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New car:

As I'm sure somebody will ask... I got her in Denver (Stevinson) in March with the $10k HMF incentive and $4,0xx in dealer discounts (under $42k after tax, title, and registration). I drove her ~1,150 miles home to Indy that weekend. I averaged ~3.3m/kWh on the trip (I was under 2.0 in Kansas from all the wind!). Coming from a 2006 Camry was a big change!