Deep Cleaning Seats on a Budget

[tubafeak]

Well, I`ve been driving my CRX around for about a week now, and it smells like a really old car. It doesn`t have carpeting right now (weight reduction by a former owner), but I think the smell is coming from the seats. I don`t think they have ever been shampooed, but I`m willing to work on it while I wait for the funds for a pair of CF buckets. I have a Bissel Little Green Machine and am willing to try a few different chemical combinations and a little (read a lot) elbow grease. Is it possible to get it fairly clean with all that, or do I need an extractor. If I get an extractor I`ll be poor for a while, so I don`t want to do that if I don`t need to. Any ideas?

By the way, masking the smell with an air freshener doesn`t really work, so I`ve given up that idea.

[scottabi]

Dont forget a lot of smells hiding in the head liner!

Yeah you can get pretty good results without an extractor. I would use something like oxyclean (cheap and locally found) on the seats to clean them up. If you are really serious have a professional fog/ozone the car to remove the smells. It shouldnt cost a whole lot due to the small size of the vehicle.

[scottlee]

use the oxy mix on the seats and then your little green to rinse and extract you should have good results, just a very small amout of downy in the rinse water makes the fabric soft and smells good to

[dislocated]

Sean`s method sounds like the one you are looking for. It`s relatively cheap and it works well. Link

Or I guess you could just go to the nearest Wallmart and buy some All Purpose Cleaner (APC). People on one forum were very pleased with Castrol Super Clean (it is about 6-7$ per gallon, and you can use it almost everywhere). There are also other brands - Poorboy`s (also very good reviews) and Meguiar`s.
Hope that helps.

[tubafeak]

Thanks for the input. I tried the little green concentrate last night, so we`ll see how that worked, but the oxy clean sounds good, and the downy is a good idea. I`ll post when I know how it went.

[scottlee]

the downy works good on the carpet as well, i cant remember who i read did that but it does help alot, i just use plain water in my little green to help rinse any soap or oxy residue out of the seats, and just a VERY small amount of downy is needed, just a couple drips basically

[Josh]

Hey tuba freak, is your name mark?

Do you go to scioto?

[tubafeak]

Yeah.