Cleaning cloth upholstery

Raskolnikov

I am thinking of selling my current car, the only problem is that the cloth upholstery seems to whiff a bit of damp and must (there was a leak in the car awhile back due to a faulty door rubber). Has anyone got any suggestions on the best way to tackle this, I mean I was just planning on buying some carpet shampoo, throwing it on and scrubbing a bit, and then leaving the doors open on a warm day to dry out. Am I all wrong, or do I want to look at a specialist car cleaning solution?

Midnight_EG

Check out CleanCar.ie...good stuff!

Hal1

Try using a can of turtle wax foam upholstery cleaner. This stuff. It smells alright too.
[Embedded Image Removed]

MetzgerMeister

Personally, I don't think any of these products like that Turtle Wax stuff are worth 1c. If you want a good, proper job done, bring it to a car valeting company in your area.

I see you are in Dublin so may I suggest a user on here with the user name Separate. He owns and runs www.detailer.ie. You can pop onto that site and see the cars he has done before (including an Audi R8).

Midnight_EG

einheisserschre wrote: »

Personally, I don't think any of these products like that Turtle Wax stuff are worth 1c. If you want a good, proper job done, bring it to a car valeting company in your area.

I see you are in Dublin so may I suggest a user on here with the user name Separate. He owns and runs www.detailer.ie. You can pop onto that site and see the cars he has done before (including an Audi R8).

What do you think the Valetors are going to use?



I sent detailer.ie an email asking for a quote and time on some jobs I wanted done...sent it twice and no reply over the space of a month. Then I PM'd Separate on here about it...still nothing

Good communication is the key :rolleyes:

MetzgerMeister

Midnight_EG wrote: »

What do you think the Valetors are going to use?



I sent detailer.ie an email asking for a quote and time on some jobs I wanted done...sent it twice and no reply over the space of a month. Then I PM'd Separate on here about it...still nothing

Good communication is the key :rolleyes:

Valetors are not going to use rubbish in a can. They use proper wet/dry vacuums, carpet shampoo and steam.

You have to understand that Andy (Separate) is a very busy guy and can't do everything! I do agree with you though and it'd be in his best interest to try and reply. Then again, it's not really my place to be saying that either.

Midnight_EG

einheisserschre wrote: »

Valetors are not going to use rubbish in a can. They use proper wet/dry vacuums, carpet shampoo and steam.

You have to understand that Andy (Separate) is a very busy guy and can't do everything! I do agree with you though and it'd be in his best interest to try and reply. Then again, it's not really my place to be saying that either.

I meant they'd be using products :pac:

I only use Meguiars when I'm cleaning the car, both inside and out!


I gave him three chances to reply...was a nice sum of money too, pity!

MetzgerMeister

Midnight_EG wrote: »

I meant they'd be using products :pac:

I only use Meguiars when I'm cleaning the car, both inside and out!


I gave him three chances to reply...was a nice sum of money too, pity!

Yeah, they'd use products but they'd have the right machines to do the job properly. Not just a plastic brush on top of a can!

I'm a huge fan of Megs too. I use it on all the cars I valet for customers. Sure it's expensive, but I'd much rather use Megs than something I wouldn't use on my own car.

andyseadog

products like the turtle wax stuff above are just short of useless, and wickedly expensive for something so futile too.

i've never understood how rubbing in a foam can remove a stain. all it does is smear it around.

i previously wrote this in another boards thread about cleaning upholstery, so here you go

Andyseadog wrote:

best thing, if your on a budget and have no tools or supplies i found previously is to borrow stuff from around the house that you already have so it costs you zero.

get an empty spray bottle (an empty mister muscle, or windowlene or any bottle that has the 'trigger misting thing' on it) and give it a good rinse.

then get some detergent that you use in the washing machine (daz, surf, bold, whatever is lying around) and add it in a fairly concentrated mixture with some warm water into the empty spray bottle.

then get a basin and a clean cloth and fill this with clean water (it doesnt have to be warm).

first dampen the cloth in the clean water, and use it to dampen the area of the seat your going to clean, then spray on the detergent that you have mixed up in the spray bottle, leave it to sit for a short time, then give it a good scrub with a nail brush, when you reckon you've scrubbed enough, take the clean cloth, wet it again, and use it to blot off the excess from your scrubbing. it leaves the seats a little damp, but it works.

common sense applies to the above (change the clean water when its dirty, test on a small concealed area first for colour runs etc.)

i've done this countless times, usually works a treat, after a while though i realised it was really very labour intensive so i splashed out on a wet vac, from lidl works a treat!

edit : here the rear bench in a corsa i done with the above method.

Before


During


After


Admittedly, not 100% but pretty decent for all but free. The white patch was gloss paint which simply wasnt going to come off via the normal method, and thats some mildew in the middle rear between the belt buckles, nothing i found can shift mildew from fabrics without serious effort.

Seperate

einheisserschre wrote: »

Personally, I don't think any of these products like that Turtle Wax stuff are worth 1c. If you want a good, proper job done, bring it to a car valeting company in your area.

I see you are in Dublin so may I suggest a user on here with the user name Separate. He owns and runs www.detailer.ie. You can pop onto that site and see the cars he has done before (including an Audi R8).

Thanks for the recommendation. Sure the Veyron is more impressive then the R8 though?

Midnight_EG wrote: »

What do you think the Valetors are going to use?

I sent detailer.ie an email asking for a quote and time on some jobs I wanted done...sent it twice and no reply over the space of a month. Then I PM'd Separate on here about it...still nothing

Good communication is the key :rolleyes:

I've PM'd you there. Sincere apologies for missing you. You'd get me there and then on the phone if needed. I get 100's of PMs/Emails a week which can take me a couple of days to get through when I've alot of work on. I'm not sure how I missed you twice though.

Happy to look after you best I can with price in the way of apology.

thewintermute

I rented a rugdoctor wet vac from Homebase for a day, Did four cars and all the carpets in the house. Great value if you're willing to put in the work. I sparyed the worst car with an autoglym product first and that took everything out, it came up as a really excellent job on cream fabric.
I would highly recommend if you're not into paying a valet.