Best way to clean these dirty seats???

S

sw20_og

New member
seats inside my sister's VW Beetle



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Previously, my sis attempted to clean these seats by squirting Oxy Clean onto them but that was it...never attempted to wipe off anything. It made them 10 times worse. What's the best way to attack the dirt so I can make them look brand new?



Thanks
 
1 method... spray Carpet cleaner/diluted APC/Woolite solution on the seats, brush them around, and then wipe them dry with a towel... thats the important part. Repeat untill the seats are clean.



If you have a wet dry vac, you can spray the cleaner on the seats, brush it around, and vac it up, then spray lots of water on it and vac that up. This will be more of a "deep" clean. Both ways will work though.



As far as the actual cleaner goes, just try something that was reccomended on here.
 
dcswd said:
1 method... spray Carpet cleaner/diluted APC/Woolite solution on the seats, brush them around, and then wipe them dry with a towel... thats the important part. Repeat untill the seats are clean.



If you have a wet dry vac, you can spray the cleaner on the seats, brush it around, and vac it up, then spray lots of water on it and vac that up. This will be more of a "deep" clean. Both ways will work though.



As far as the actual cleaner goes, just try something that was reccomended on here.
Click to expand...



This method should work well.
 
Before getting it wet, beat the hell out of the seats while vacuuming. If you dont do this beforehand and start getting it wet, the dirt will settle into the fabric even more.
 
Seats this bad need to be removed from the vehicle to really get them clean. It's not that hard on most non-powered seats!



On fabric type seats I've used hot extractors on these which work very well with the right cleaner in it. If you're such a nice brother, take them to a shop and have them extracted since you may not have one. Then take the credit! Helps Xmas time you know!



If you want to do them yourself, start with mild stuff like the Woolite 6:1. You may be surprised on how well it works. Then, work up to a more aggressive chemical cleaner as you don't want to pull the dye out so be careful!



Regards,

Deanski
 
Some people on Autopia like Folex spot remover for cleaning the inside of cars. I dont know what the chemicals in folex are, but spray it and smell and what do you smell ? ( AMMONIA ). You dont have to rinse, after all ammonia is used on windows.
 
sw20_og said:
what water to ammonia ratio should I try?
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Im not sure I think ite 5 to 1. It will tell you on the bottle of ammonia. Make sure you have plenty of ventilatiom, as the smell will be strong. Dunk a terry towel in the solution wring out and start rubbing , wipe off with another dry towel. Since you are not soaking the seat it should dry faster.
 
If you want to do them yourself, start with mild stuff like the Woolite 6:1. You may be surprised on how well it works. Then, work up to a more aggressive chemical cleaner as you don't want to pull the dye out so be careful!
Click to expand...



Which aggressive chemicals are you recomending?
 
The reason oxiclean made things worse was because it would break up the dirt but because no follow up action was taken it would simply dry showing the redistributed dirt.
 
~ One man’s opinion / observations ~



Ammonia –I wouldn’t use it on velour seating surfaces (what am I saying I wouldn’t use ammonia on any automotive surface)



I go along with the extraction method, or try a 303 Cleaner &Spot Remover with a wet/dry vacuum to remove the water/residue.



I agree with Lowejackson, the Oxyclean as it was not compleatly removed, has left water staining.



~Hope this helps ~



Knowledge unshared is experience wasted

justadumbarchitect / so I question everything/ Jon
 
I agree with Deanski - hot extraction. Would the other methods of spraying, scrubbing and vaccuming with a shop vac would? Probably. Sometimes is pays to have it someone else do the dirty work with right tools. Tell your sis to not let them get this dirty again.



The problem with your oxyclean method is that you didn't remove the dirt. You just moved it around. Hence the water spot looking stains. Think about how a washing machine works. It mixes soap, water, dirty clothes and sloshes them around (scrubbing them against each other). Then is spins and pulls off the dirty, soapy water. It rinses by refilling with clean water and sloshes more (pulls out more dirt and soapy). Spins and pulls off the dirty, soapy water. Then it performes the rinse cycle again. You just applied soap and water and never rinsed or pull off the dirt. ;)
 
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