Best way to clean fabric car seats.

bongi69

I have a cream fabric interior which of late is looking a little knackered. Seats have stains from rain when doors are open, and the occasional spill.

Can anyone recommend a good cleaner to get rid of the stains? I have a can of Turtlewax foam stuff, but it's absolutely useless. The local B&Q have a Rug Doctor to rent, would this be alright to use on a car interior?

Any help appreciated. Cheers

R.O.R

bongi69 wrote: »

I have a cream fabric interior which of late is looking a little knackered. Seats have stains from rain when doors are open, and the occasional spill.

Can anyone recommend a good cleaner to get rid of the stains? I have a can of Turtlewax foam stuff, but it's absolutely useless. The local B&Q have a Rug Doctor to rent, would this be alright to use on a car interior?

Any help appreciated. Cheers

Not sure how much a Rug Doctor is to rent, but you'd be better off spending the 70-100 euro on a proper, full valet. Get the full interior and exterior done for that price.

shanemc1

As R.O.R says its price dependant on how much to rent but if it is cheap you would need to check if there's a small washer head on it.

slimjimmc

Have you seen a Rugdoctor? there's no way you'll be able to use that to clean your seats.
http://www.rugdoctor.com/

I've used Simoniz upholstery cleaner foam with reasonable results.

bongi69

The basic rug doctor is €25 to rent for 24hrs and does have small attachments with it.
As regards a valet, what is an ok price to clean interior only?

slimjimmc

bongi69 wrote: »

The basic rug doctor is €25 to rent for 24hrs and does have small attachments with it.
As regards a valet, what is an ok price to clean interior only?

But don't you have to buy their expensive cleaner too, it's not included AFAIK?



PS: Didn't know it had attachments, thanks for that.

TestTransmission

slimjimmc wrote: »

But don't you have to buy their expensive cleaner too, it's not included AFAIK?



PS: Didn't know it had attachments, thanks for that.

Yeah, its an extra tenner.Its a great thing to be fair,you'd be amazed at how dirty carpets/seats really are.

bongi69

TestTransmission wrote: »

Yeah, its an extra tenner.Its a great thing to be fair,you'd be amazed at how dirty carpets/seats really are.

Yeah, you have to look for the small bottle cause the big (expensive) bottle is more prominent.
So I take it the Rug Doctor is ok for use in a car?

sean1141

i used vanish upholstery foam spray on my old cloth seats. worked perfect. i had dark cloth do..

bongi69

sean1141 wrote: »

i used vanish upholstery foam spray on my old cloth seats. worked perfect. i had dark cloth do..

I thought of that alright, but didn't try it as the stuff I had foamed the same way Vanish does. I'll give it a whirl and see what happens

paddydriver

Get the rug doctor - I had one out last weekend and before I left it back I did all the car carpet's and mats; all came up like knew. The seats are leather/mixed leather in the cars so could not do them.

The upholstery attachment will do a great job.

bongi69

Well I tried Vanish and all it did was move the stains around :mad: Not ideal when I blitzed the interior today, and the dash etc. is looking almost new, and the seats look like a dogs ar$e!

Off to B&Q in the morning for the rug doctor. May as well kill 2 birds and do the carpets in the house.

Will let you know what happens.

bmw3d

g101 from autosmart will get most stains out of car seats, you can hire a vax machine for E20 a day from most hire shops

giant_midget

try paint thinners, I know it sounds mad. It worked VERY well on my old Volvo s40 which had a manky interior when i bought it. wet a cloth with thinners and clean the bad area. Then use warm water and cloth. I promise you it will come up like brand new.

philstar

well OP did you use the rugdoctor?? any good??

CaraFawn

I use a Dyson steam cleaner bought from Argos.
You can clean your carpet at home but it also come with a small brush, ideal for cars, something like this.
Use something like this with a special shampoo mixed with a bit of antibacterial solution.

If you have stains, spray it after using the steam cleaner, leave it for about 15mn and rinse it.

Do not use this on your head liner and other fabric covered areas, as they are just glued, the fabric will detach itself.

anthony4335

Depending upon colour I would use vanish oxy stain removal, that you use for clothes. Worked great for me on both the seats and carpet. It is easier to get away with just this in some warm water and a spounge on darker couloured seats, but as for cream I am not sure how well it would work. Although worked perfect on a light coloured carpet for me.

Gatster

On three different motors I've owned with various colours of cloth upholstery, I've just rented a Wet and Dry Vac and cleaning solution from HSS Hire or whoever, something like €30 for the weekend if you get it on a Saturday morning.

All the seats have come up unbelievably well, in every case much better than I've seen from any valeter provided you put the time and effort in. The water that comes out is disgusting though...