Table of Contents
I was skeptical of this whole DIY cleaning slime craze when I first heard about it. The idea of using homemade cleaning slime on my car vents or dashboard buttons seemed bizarre.
It turns out that it really isn’t a bad idea, but it isn’t the amazing magical hack that you might expect it to be. Don’t get me wrong though. It’s great for cleaning nooks and crannies and hard to reach places that would be otherwise difficult to clean.
If you want to cut to the chase and buy a quality pre-made car cleaning slime, you should check out our recommendation.
Let’s go over the 4 ways to make DIY cleaning slime and some tips and facts that you should be aware of before you spend time and money making your own cleaning slime.
How To Make Car Cleaning Slime
Easy Cleaning Slime Recipe and Instructions:
- Mix 1 cup warm water and 1/4 cup of borax
- In a separate container, mix 1/2 cup warm water with 5 ounces of white glue (Elmer’s)
- Mix both mixtures and stir until firm
- Add more borax if needed to firm up the mixture
- Knead into a ball
Add a few drops of food coloring to the mixing bowl if you’re feeling festive. Don’t worry, it won’t stain your air vents.
How To Use Dust Cleaning Slime Gel
Using DIY cleaning slime is pretty simple to use. You just grab some and dab it onto areas you want to clean from dust, dirt, crumbs, and any other loose debris on your dashboard or console. It’s great for cleaning tight spots and narrow crevices that would otherwise be difficult to clean out.
Be careful though to not let the slime rest for too long in a location that could allow it to ooze through a gap and into electronics where it could do some damage. Limit contact to just long enough to remove dust and dirt.
Make sure your mix is a good consistency and not an oozing mess. You want it to be more of a dry ball but not so dry that it’s like silly putty. It needs to be sticky to be effective at picking up dust and dirt.
Easy DIY Cleaning Slime Recipes
In addition to the popular recipe outlined at the beginning of this article, there are many variations.
Some of the recipes that I found while researching suggested adding a few drops of food coloring for aesthetics. I omitted that from the various cleaning slime recipe instructions, but feel free to add some if that’s your thing.
Food coloring obviously won’t help improve the cleaning abilities but it does add a bit of flair and fun if you want to make this a project to do with the kids. Kids love slime.
Some of the more popular DIY cleaning slime recipes are outlined below:
How To Make DIY Cleaning Slime Without Borax
Using borax as an ingredient is concerning to some car owners. Borax isn’t very skin-friendly. If you want to avoid this ingredient in your homemade cleaning slime, this recipe is for you.
- Mix 8 ounces of white school glue with 1 teaspoon baking soda
- Mix in 2 tablespoons of saline solution (contact lens cleaner)
- Continue mixing and knead into a ball for a few minutes
How To Make DIY Cleaning Slime Without Glue
If you don’t happen to have any clear glue or white glue around the house and don’t want to have to run out and buy some, you can make some homemade slime without it.
The following cleaning slime recipe only requires cornstarch, dish soap, and a little water.
- Mix 1/4 cup of cornstarch with 1/2 cup of dish soap
- Slowly add a few teaspoons of water and mix until the consistency is right
- Create a sticky ball by kneading for several minutes
How To Make DIY Cleaning Slime With Pine Sol or Lysol
- Mix 8 ounces of clear Elmer’s glue with a teaspoon of Lysol or Pine Sol
- Continue adding 1 tablespoon of cleaner to the glue mixture at a time until you reach the desired consistency
- Knead the slime into a ball
Is Cleaning Slime Reusable?
Cleaning slime doesn’t have to be thrown out if you don’t use it immediately or if you have some that you’ve only used slightly.
You can store unused or gently used slime in any type of air tight container. Tupperware-style plastic containers or Zip-Loc style sandwich bags both work great for preventing slime from drying out and becoming unusable.
How Do You Clean Cleaning Slime?
Unfortunately you can’t clean slime. Once the sticky gel has absorbed dust, dirt, and crumbs, your homemade cleaning slime will be home to those contaminants for all eternity.
Just because you used your DIY cleaning slime once doesn’t mean you need to throw it out. It will keep working for some time to come. Just keep it stored in an air tight container to keep it from drying out. As long as it’s still sticky and continues to trap dust and crumbs, it’s still fine to use.
Does Car Cleaning Gel Really Work?
Car cleaning slime does work and it can be a great tool for cleaning tight nooks and crannies. It isn’t some miracle cleaner though.
Making slime and using it takes more time than simply using an interior detailing spray and microfiber cloth. There are few spots that I find so difficult to clean the traditional way that cleaning slime is worth the trouble.
In addition to usually being more trouble than it’s worth, some cleaning slime recipes can leave a bit of oily residue behind. Not all homemade cleaning slime will leave behind this residue and even if it does, you can probably adjust your recipe to avoid this or at least minimize the problem.
Helpful Links
Conclusion
This simple recipe catches dirt from car vents, cup holders, and other hard to reach places. It can pull gunk out from the gap around small buttons on your console, and seams between trim panels.
There are other ways you can clean hard to reach and intricate jobs but a DIY cleaning slime can make it a little more entertaining.
Try out an all purpose cleaning slime recipe and give it a try if you’re feeling adventurous.
Good luck and happy detailing.
