Any Tips/Tricks For Heavily Soiled Cloth Seats?!

To make a long story short...the vehicle is a Chevy 15 passenger van purchased w/ out the rear seats. Rear seats (cloth) were later obtained from a local auto salvage yard to put in the van but they are...well, not in the greatest shape (stains, smells, etc.) The fabric itself looks salvageable but being a complete rookie I’m just not sure what the best plan of attack would be.

I was hoping to get to it this weekend since it looks like the weather will be warm and sunny in case it’s reccommeded that I break out the pressure washer or something similar. I’m not a pro but I do have some of the more basic stuff on hand. Your help would greatly be appreciated!

Welcome to the Forum , 317 -

Tell us what you already have in the way of Cleaners? Do you have any All Purpose Cleaners, like from Meguiars, etc., ?

I would spray them with Meguiars APC+ or the newer Orange product, brush carefully to get it into the fabric, and then Steam them, and Rinse and Extract them.
But that is because I have all those tools..

It is not a good thing to get too much water into interior seat foam, because those foams will soak the water up and be very bad about giving it up after..

Of course, if you set them out in the sun for awhile, that will help get them dried if they get too wet..

So, tell us what you have in the way of cleaners that are safe for cloth, and we can go from there ok ?
Dan F

317- Welcome to Autopia!

Hope the smells aren`t related to stuff that`s *really* hard...as in, practically impossible.. to remediate, like Mouse Urine. Once certain things happen to certain materials (synthetic fabrics, foam) that`s sometimes all she wrote.

Some seats disassemble without too awful much trouble; you can pull the fabric off the foam/frame to inspect and clean things up, and then put it all back together. Some other seats aren`t so easy...

Dan, thank you for the reply. What I have on hand is some 303 multipurpose cleaner, Folex and Tuff-Stuff. If the Megs APC is really that great then I’ll gladly go pick some up, but I’d probably need to find it locally to have it it time. Do you know of any chain stores that tend to have it on the shelf?

I think I have someone that’ll loan me a shampooer/extractor but I haven’t seen it yet so I’m not sure how ‘good’ it will be. I don’t know if anyone with a steamer so that’s probably out of the question. Other than that I have a shop-vac, a PC 7424 with a medium bristle head attachment and a couple hand brushes. I don’t mind a small invesment in tools/cleaner if it’ll get the results so if you have recommendations I’m all ears!

Thanks again,
-Andrew

Accumulator, I’ll take a closer look tomorrow and see if I can pull the covers off easily. I have an ‘extra’ seat so if I mess it up I’m not too worried about it. Obviously it’s the worst of the bunch so I’ll be doing all the initial testing on this one before moving on. Thank you for the help!

The thing with upholstery is having the right cleaner for the job. Getting the stain to let go is what the cleaner is for, something like an extractor is just there to pick it up once its been released from the material. You may be able to pick up a small Bissell extractor from a local store. Typically around $100. Not exactly commercial quality but will work for what you`re looking for.

For locally available stuff in terms of cleaners, folex may work for you. Last I remember though, Megs APC+ was discontinued and is only available in very large quantities. Not sure if thats changed.

If you can get the Bissell cleaner, and really need something heavy duty, try degreaser. Something like zep or even purple power. Nasty stuff but can be very effective. However dont go this route unless you can use the Bissell at minimum to be able to rinse and extract the cleaner as as they are typically caustic and not something you want to leave a residue of.

Good luck!

The 303 will,probably work just about as well as the Megs APC on fabric seats, but to really get them clean you will need an extractor. If the 303 and the PC with brushes doesn’t get the seats as clean as you like call around to some local car washes/detail shops and get a quote for a deep cleaning. In my area the charge would be in the $20 range depending on the stain.

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Originally Posted by 317

Dan, thank you for the reply. What I have on hand is some 303 multipurpose cleaner, Folex and Tuff-Stuff. If the Megs APC is really that great then I’ll gladly go pick some up, but I’d probably need to find it locally to have it it time. Do you know of any chain stores that tend to have it on the shelf?

I think I have someone that’ll loan me a shampooer/extractor but I haven’t seen it yet so I’m not sure how ‘good’ it will be. I don’t know if anyone with a steamer so that’s probably out of the question. Other than that I have a shop-vac, a PC 7424 with a medium bristle head attachment and a couple hand brushes. I don’t mind a small invesment in tools/cleaner if it’ll get the results so if you have recommendations I’m all ears!

Thanks again,
-Andrew

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Hi, Andrew ! Thanks for your reply !

Yes, try your 303 Multipurpose Cleaner, you already have it..
Folex used to be really good, I don`t know how it works anymore since I went to Meguiars Professional Line a long, long, time ago..
I have never found the Meguiars Professional line products locally.. I have always purchased them from places like this Autopia Store, etc...

Their Meguiars APC+ is gone, but they have a new Cleaner that looks very promising..
It is called Meguiars Citrus Power Cleaner Plus D107 or D10701..
I like these products, because they work really good, and are low-foaming, so there is no huge amount of soapy suds, etc., to deal with..

I looked here on Autopia and AutoGeek, and they don`t have it. :(
But Detailed Image has it.. :)

Yes, I would use your PorterCable with the brush attachment, and carefully scrub a spot and see how it affects the cloth..

As has already been said, the Extractor, even the little Bissell one is there to shoot hot water into the work, and then extract that water out of the cloth..

This will help you out a lot if you want to try it.. If not, and your Shopvac is a wet or dry vacuum, try using that to help extract the water out of the cloth and foam..
Good luck with this !
Dan F

Good video with good information.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSjffoeGW4w

317- Don`t thank me yet...might be a job and there are no guarantees when it comes to salvaged upholstery. I had to give up on a *nice* Caprice after mice got in it..simply no way to every remediate it :(

Hey, thought of something..the stuff I use for Mold Remediation (Mold Stat Plus, wonderful stuff) is good for more than just mold and would be my choice for Industrial-serious decontamination. They use it for sewage incidents and other nasty stuff and it`s never let me down. Funny I didn`t think of it immediately, and *no* I`m not getting old!