Cleaning grotty interior?

1886

I valet professionally and if you want to have a good go at cleaning the fabric seats yourself I'd recommend initially trying an all purpose cleaner from your local supermarket.
For example you can buy one litre from Tesco and it's all very strongly scented. All you need to do is put some in a spray bottle and add water. You can make it incredibly strong or incredibly weak, there should be dilution rates on the container.

For quite a stained fabric seat I would dilute it say 50\50, you won't cause any damage. Give the fabric a really good soak, all of the fabric, not just where the stain is otherwise when it dries it will look odd.
You'll also need a nice clean cloth, I'd recommend a micro fibre cloth, also available at supermarkets. Usually a pack of three for a few pounds and the all purposed cleaner will be a similar price.

It will take a fair few hours for the fabric to dry so try and do it on a warm day and also a day you don't need to drive the car as the fabric will be soaked.

You can buy bottles of all purpose cleaner for just general cleaning but if you buy a one litre bottle of neat all purpose cleaner you can make it way, way stronger and you can also get maybe five dilluted bottles out of it so it's a good money saving tip.

I can't recommend the chemical I use as they are sold only to the trade, my distributor does'nt deliver to normal shops.

There are limits to what will and won't come out of the fabric but for the sake of say £5 have a go. I have seat covers in my car, you could fit some if you still are'nt happy

HTH

lee678

1886 wrote: »

I valet professionally and if you want to have a good go at cleaning the fabric seats yourself I'd recommend initially trying an all purpose cleaner from your local supermarket.
For example you can buy one litre from Tesco and it's all very strongly scented. All you need to do is put some in a spray bottle and add water. You can make it incredibly strong or incredibly weak, there should be dilution rates on the container.

For quite a stained fabric seat I would dilute it say 50\50, you won't cause any damage. Give the fabric a really good soak, all of the fabric, not just where the stain is otherwise when it dries it will look odd.
You'll also need a nice clean cloth, I'd recommend a micro fibre cloth, also available at supermarkets. Usually a pack of three for a few pounds and the all purposed cleaner will be a similar price.

It will take a fair few hours for the fabric to dry so try and do it on a warm day and also a day you don't need to drive the car as the fabric will be soaked.

You can buy bottles of all purpose cleaner for just general cleaning but if you buy a one litre bottle of neat all purpose cleaner you can make it way, way stronger and you can also get maybe five dilluted bottles out of it so it's a good money saving tip.

I can't recommend the chemical I use as they are sold only to the trade, my distributor does'nt deliver to normal shops.

There are limits to what will and won't come out of the fabric but for the sake of say £5 have a go. I have seat covers in my car, you could fit some if you still are'nt happy

HTH

excellent post, well said

motorguy

loskie wrote: »

depends on what is making them grotty smart rse My first co car was passed to me from a senior employer, within it 5l of unpasteurised raw milk had been spilled.
The only way to get rid of the smell was a new interior, no amount of cleaning products could fix it.

The O/P hasnt suggested that 5 litres of unpasteurised milk has been spilt, so i'd suggest hes fairly "safe" with a £30 local valeter.

Of course, just to be safe he may wish to reshell the entire car too as i heard once that someone had acid spilt down the backs of their seats and it ate through the chassis..... better safe than sorry.

motorguy

1886 wrote: »

There are limits to what will and won't come out of the fabric but for the sake of say £5 have a go. I have seat covers in my car, you could fit some if you still are'nt happy

HTH

If they're as bad as the O/P is suggesting its unlikely to remove all the stains satisfactorily.

And why put seat covers over stained seats for the sake of letting a professional sort it all for £30?

In fact why put seat covers on at all? They look naff, they rarely fit, and the dirt and grime just does through them to the seats anyway.

We used to get cars traded in regularly with seat covers on them and the seats beneath were still horrid because of all the grot that gets through, so they needed valeted anyway.

jimjames

motorguy wrote: »

Yes because buying an entire interior from a scrappie and then getting it fitted (and risking upsetting the airbags) is cheaper than paying a valeter £30 do it for you :rolleyes:

It might be. I got a complete interior for under a tenner on Ebay

motorguy

jimjames wrote: »

It might be. I got a complete interior for under a tenner on Ebay

Cool. You just need to get someone to spend a day fitting it, and resetting the airbag lights that will light up the dash like a christmas tree for less than £20 and you're quids in! :j

In seriousness - i take it its something old which you'll do yourself and you got a bargain? Sounds good!

I've replaced seats before now - but only if they've worn or damaged - makes a big difference to a car and did work out cheaper than a seat repair

motorguy

I remember years ago the place that did our valeting for the dealer i worked for had taken on a YTP or apprentice or whatever they were at the time.

They'd got a really grotty minibus in and the owner quiped to the apprentice that it was that bad they'd need to take a power hose to the interior.

Came back an hour later and there was the apprentice inside with a powerhose hosing away!!

Granted it did get it clean, however it took days to dry out...

jimjames

motorguy wrote: »

In seriousness - i take it its something old which you'll do yourself and you got a bargain? Sounds good!

I've replaced seats before now - but only if they've worn or damaged - makes a big difference to a car and did work out cheaper than a seat repair

Yes it was a MK4 VW Golf. Easy to swap but yes you do need battery off to stop airbag lights coming on. Seats were knackered so swapping for these made a massive difference.