You’ll realise the value of a good APC (all purpose cleaner) because, bottle after bottle, you’ll notice that car cleaning products are more than just washing-up liquid and T-Cut nowadays. There is a plethora of specialised detailing products that’ll make your car look great but spend most of their life taking up shelf space in your garage – talk about a shelf life (sorry).
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a single product that can give every surface in your car a quick spruce up without the need to go as thorough as using a clay bar? APCs sound like the perfect solution, a near-universal cleaner that can be used for your car’s interior and exterior.
While there’s no hard rule for what an all purpose cleaner is, there are common features present in the best examples. Unlike car shampoo, an APC will be dilutable for different cleaning tasks, with stronger formulas for degreasing engines and weaker ones for fabric cleaning. More often than not, all purpose cleaners will also be made up of a mixture of surfactants and solvents to perform the cleaning tasks. We’ve selected our favourite APCs so you can add a new garage essential to your cleaning arsenal.
The best APCs at a glance:
What is an all-purpose cleaner?
An all-purpose cleaner pretty much sums up what it is. A generalised cleaner that’s designed for cleaning both the inside and outside of your car. They act as all-in-one solutions that combine anything from alloy wheel cleaners to interior detailers.
They’re great for dissolving grease and lifting marks. APCs are often alkaline-based while also bleach and ammonia-free. Larger containers will often need to be diluted and decanted into a spray bottle for use. Only then can you perhaps get the wash mitt out.
How APCs differ from shampoos and degreasers
To put it simply, shampoos and degreasers (such as pre-wash) are one-trick ponies. They often have one function in the car cleaning process and are designed for a specific set of surfaces. APCs on the other hand, are designed to clean pretty much anywhere and everywhere throughout a car.
Exterior shampoo for instance, can’t be used on engine bays or any of the interior, yet APC can. APC is designed to be versatile and designed to clean up any surface where possible. Gear lever need a quick clean? APC can do it. Is there a dirt mark on your windscreen and lower front bumper? APC can do the job. It’s designed to be convenient, quick, and a go-to car cleaning product without the full commitment of a wash.
Why you should consider choosing an APC for car detailing or quick cleaning
Despite the name, APC won’t isn’t the only cleaning product you could ever need, but APC is excellent for quick cleaning tasks that you don’t need to do the full wash effort for.. Properly cleaning and detailing your car takes several different cleaning products. For example, with convertible cars with soft top roofs, a dash of dedicated soft top cleaner for them is ideal. But for a quick spruce-up, APC is a really good choice and can save you lots of time.
The importance of selecting the right APC cleaning agent
Concentrate vs ready-to-use
There are two types of APC to consider when it comes to car cleaning. The concentrated sort, and the ready-to-use (RTU) type. The difference lies in the RTU simply being a spray that you just pick up and go, whereas the concentrated APCs are those that have to be diluted with water before application. You can mix these in a handheld spraying can before applying it to your vehicle.
Autoglym’s Easy Sprayer tool is very good for this. We’ve used it before when testing the brand’s All-Purpose Cleaner, and it works a treat when lifting off bits of dirt and algae.
So, which is better? In our experience, RTU variants are the ones to go for. APC is designed to be convenient and quick, and the simple spray and wipe process exemplifies this.
What APCs can and can’t clean
In theory, APCs can have a go at cleaning pretty much anything and everything. The question is how well it cleans on each individual part of your vehicle. The likelihood is that they’ll be great for quick spruce-ups, glass cleaning, and trim cleaning, but heavier tasks like alloy wheel detailing is not something APC will be much good at.
Very filthy cars will not benefit from APC alone. Only when your vehicle is clean enough, but with a few imperfections, can you employ the use of APC to finish off the task. At Parkers and across the automotive journalism industry, we use APCs and similar products on shoots in order to get cars ready for the camera. They have to look gleaming, so quick sprays of APC or quick detailer do the trick.
The best APCs for car care:
Best APC for beginners
While it can be used to clean your car's interior, too, Autoglym states that it should only be used for a deep clean once or twice a year. Mainly because the brand already provides an interior shampoo for regular cleaning purposes.
We've tried it for ourselves, and we can confirm that it does have its uses in a number of places. While it isn't the most effective pre-wash on an algae-covered Audi, it is fabulous for cleaning seats and lifting off the usual dirt and grime from a regularly-used car.
It is on the Alkaline side of the pH scale, so it could be quite sensitive to fragile materials if not cleaned off immediately - these include brakes and some specialist materials. Overall, I like it as my go-to car interior and general cleaner, but it isn't perfect. But then again, APC isn't really meant to be.
Review by Aaron Hussain
Pros
- Very effective APC on a number of surfaces from the exterior to the interior
- Tackles a number of different jobs, including dressing up the engine bay
- Can be had in either a simple 1L or bulky 5L bottle form
Cons
- Isn't the most effective pre-wash out there in comparison to others
Editor's pick
While you'll probably need to dilute it for light-duty cleaning, it's still our top choice, and one bottle should last ages. The fact it can be used as a degreaser too, is a bonus.
Pros
- Very versatile cleaner suitable for all kinds of car surfaces from metal to glass
- Good value for money at a hair under £15 for a 1L bottle
- Biodegradable formula, which means it's friendlier to the environment
Cons
- Needs something to decant the product into, which isn't always useful
- You have to allow some surfaces for up to five-minutes before agitating
Best value APC
Like Bilt Hamber Surfex-HD, the W5 All Purpose Cleaner can be used on a range of surfaces (including fabrics) and is biodegradable.
Pros
- Biodegradable formula, meaning it's kinder to the environment than others
- Excellent cleaner of all things from bodywork dirt to interior marks
- Great value for money at just under £13 for a 1L bottle
Cons
- Not the be-all and end-all of car cleaning, no matter how thorough it is
The best APC for detailers
It's suitable for a number of different surfaces. These include paintwork, wheels, dashboards, and pretty much any area of trim you can think of. What's more, at a little over £30 for a whole 5L bottle, it represents great value as far as large bottles are concerned.
Pros
- Suitable for all over the vehicle from the paintwork to glass to the interior
- Represents great value for money at just over £30 for 5L of product
- Designed to work well for detailing, so you can expect the results to be great
Cons
- Dilution APCs aren't for everyone, and this is for the hardcore detailers
Best APC for interior
Dilute it to 1:10 for cleaning, which means this bottle should give you roughly 10 litres of cleaning product altogether. That should be more than enough to cover a lot of ground throughout your vehicle. It's just a little bit more of a hassle than a simple spray-on (RTU) solution.
Pros
- Great for interiors and sprucing up the finer details
- Can also be used externally too on the bodywork, bumpers and trim
- One bottle should last a while when used correctly to the recommended dilution
Cons
- Only one dilution ratio, which isn't handy if you have a variety of tasks on hand
The most versatile APC
For instance, it acts as not only an effective pre-wash but also an ideal interior cleaner as well, designed to tackle a wide array of surfaces. These include paint, wheels, rubber, glass, and most interior surfaces like leather, fabric and carpet.
Pros
- Designed for a wide array of different surfaces, including metal, glass rubber, and more
- It covers more ground than the other APCs listed
- Can be used as a pre-wash, which is immensely useful for car detailing
Cons
- At 709ml for £15, it doesn't represent as great value as the others
Standard dilution ratios for light and heavy cleaning
When it comes to concentrated APCs, the dilution ratios differ from product to product. Generally speaking though, you’ll always need a bit more of the solution when performing heavy cleaning tasks. For example: cleaning an abandoned vehicle is always more intense than one that was only washed three-weeks ago, so the dilution requirements may be different for each scenario. You’ll find that snow foams also require a dilution with water, so it’s always worth reading the instructions before going ahead.
With Auto Finesse’s Verso APC for instance, the dilution ratio is recommended anywhere from 1:2 to 1:20, depending on the intensity of the task. These will differ across brands and products, and it requires you to judge how much you’ll need for your vehicle.
FAQs
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Can APCs damage paint or fabric?
APCs can't damage paint. They're mostly pH neutral and are formulated to work well on a number of different surfaces - with paint being the primary one. With fabric, you aren't likely to cause damage to it, but read the instructions carefully and ensure it's designed for that material.
Even so, APCs aren't really too effective on fabric seats. You ideally need some interior car shampoo and fabric protectant to take care of that. But for light marks that you might've caused, APC can be really good for fabric surfaces. -
Do APCs clean glass or sensitive electronics?
APCs do clean glass - and very well most of the time. They're not as effortless as dedicated glass cleaners, but they still get windscreens streak-free when you need them to.
APCs are, however, not suitable for any kind of electronics cleaning. They're chemical-based liquid solutions and any contact with wires and circuit boards is going to spell disaster.
You might ask "well, what about buttons throughout a car's interior?" and for cleaning those, APC is fine - you just need to take care to ensure the spray won't dribble down the gaps. A good trick is to spray your microfibre cloth and clean the buttons thereafter. That method is perfectly safe. Dry detailing brushes also works wonders when clearing off dust. -
Are APCs safe near children and pets?
The simple answer is no. While APCs are some of the mildest car care products out there, they are still full of harsh chemicals, so contact with children or animals is a big no-no and can cause irritation on their skin if not cleaned straight away.
You must always take care to keep APCs stored away from children as you usually would with any cleaning product, as it's harmful when used incorrectly.
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