fabric seats in various cars

**imageautodetail** · 11-27-2007, 08:49 PM

I dont do a lot of cars that are fabric, but I have encountered a few that I would love to know what others have done with them, Mid 2000 ford explorers, late 90`s audis and mid 2000 jeep liberty`s all have a silky type fabric that spots so easily and never turns out right, I have been cleaning and re wiping with water over and over again and just not getting good results, anyone have any tips for these types of interiors?

**jordanrossbell** · 11-27-2007, 09:56 PM

I have a 2006 Ford F150 with tan cloth interior...and let me tell you it sucks...my plan of attack is to replace it with aftermarket leather lol....(i am but that was a joke sorry)...i have had best luck doing the following...i do not have an extractor warning this is very ghetto...

Pretreat spots with Folex and let dwell

Meguiar`s D-Line APC+ 10:1 ratio then agitate

Spray bottle of very warm water and immediately ----v

Coin Op High powered vacuum.

The residue is almost non existent, which is the problem i have had from the beginning..i cant get the residue out..but rinising with hot water and then extractin with a vacuum is as good as i can do w/o a carpet extractor....the color did not brighten much..still darker from past residue i think :angry

**imported_Jakerooni** · 11-27-2007, 10:48 PM

Yep the new Fords and the New Dodges interiors absoultly suck to clean. The new GMC full size truck line has microfiber interiors which sucks to clean as well because everything just clings to it. I`ve had to turn a few Ford F-150`s away because their interiors were just to horrible to deal with.

**imageautodetail** · 11-28-2007, 06:53 AM

I have tried different methods trying to find one that works but everything seems to spot up and actually lorks worse than before at times, the extractor seems to make it worse, just all over spots, maybe dynamite will work????

**imported_weekendwarrior** · 11-28-2007, 07:59 AM

It seems to me that cloth interiors are increasingly becoming harder to clean (at least from my own experience), and I don`t know what exactly changed. I have never had a problem cleaning cloth interiors until around 2002 or so.

Specifically, we have a 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer ES with light khaki seats that get dirty simply by looking at them, and are very hard to clean. Here is a shot of that interior:

We also have a, `06 Honda Element with some kind of water resistant fabric on the seats. These seats are water resistant, but they are also kind of hard to clean - which you would think they would wipe off very easily, but the grain of the fabric is very strange.

In terms of cloth interiors, the interior that has held up the best for us has been our 2002 Hyundai Elantra. This surprised me, seeing as to how it was a pretty inexpensive car. This car has 100,000 miles on it, and we take our dogs every Saturday to the park or some outing in it, and it has held up great. I love the fabric on the seats. This picture was just taken a few weeks ago - remember, the car is 6 years old, and has 100,000 miles on it:

**White lexus 23** · 11-28-2007, 11:20 AM

another pia interior is the honda elements seats

**jordanrossbell** · 11-28-2007, 12:45 PM

That mitsubishi interior is sure gorgeous...but i could see how it would be a pain...reminds me a ton of my F150..i bought it with 3000 miles on it and it was in great shape..i called the dealership and asked what they used and i got some donkey on the phone telling me a citrus degreaser..he wasnt sure how he used it or what dilution...might as well have saved my time. Then i called locally and some BS detailing rig wanted 300 just to clean my upholstery by hand....what a joke! i would pay somebody good with an extractor, experience, and great products...but not some guys with Simple Green! It actually says on the bottle to not use it on upholstery because it will erode the fibers

**imageautodetail** · 11-28-2007, 09:15 PM

I have heard someone on a different forum mention citrus degreaser, but it was not a reliable source, and it just doesnt seem like it would work, on normal fabrics I am a wiz with, it is the stuff that seems to be stain repellent that turns out to be a b:+<#

**imported_Islander** · 12-02-2007, 11:48 AM

I have a Hyundai Azera with a micro fiber suede - like cloth interior, very light beige in color. I applied scotch guard to them when 1 month old. Vac them every other week during warm months. After 1.5 years, they lookd just a tad darker than new, but overall very clean.

I`ve cleaned them with a foam cleaner twice (Simoniz Tuff Stuff), followed by a moist clean towel, followed by a dry towl, then after allowing to dry for 24 hours, re-applied scotch guard spray. I do this for the carpets and mats too.

It`s not a perfect system, but if you`re starting out new, it might help you avoid the problems described above.