Summer is well and truly gone but are the reminder of our days at the beach still covering the floor of our car?

There really isn't an easy way to get sand out of carpet. This job will unfortunately require a bit of good old elbow grease and a special trick in step two.

The first step is to remove all of the mats, turn them upside down and beat them. Beat 'em good. This should dislodge the majority of sand.

The key to getting the most amount of sand out is to avoid jumping straight onto vacuuming. Instead, first use a stiff bristled brush such as an upholstery brush and comb the carpet to agitate and dislodge more hidden particles of sand.

Now we can move to the last step - which is is to vacuum thoroughly and slowly. Use a smaller vacuum tip or just the end of the nozzle to get the maximum sucking action.

Now we should be getting excited seeing our new sand-free mats but in some cases, we might have to repeat steps 2 and 3. Remember, the stiff bristled brush is the key to dislodging the hidden sand before we vacuum.

There is also the idea of using a high-powered air pressure machine to 'blow' the sand out of the carpet while at the same time as 'catching' it with the vacuum cleaner and vacuuming it up. This apparently works well but not all of us will have access to an air pressure machine!

Whatever we do, avoid cleaning mats or carpet with water. This will only embed the sand further into the fibers of the carpet and make it harder to get out. See more about professional car detailing here.

Now with our cosy cars nice and clean we are ready for a warm winter drive with the heater on high and some sweet tunes.

Happy grit-free driving!

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