Best Way to Clean 40 Year Old Cloth Seats
 

Guys, I have original deluxe cloth interior in this car and it looks pretty good so I am not going to replace it now. They just feel drab and crusty.

I would like to suck all the dirt out of it. I think this would breath new life into it. I was thinking about taking the seats out and hiring a house upholstery cleaning company to us an industrial steam cleaner on them.

Have any of you took on a job like this. What did you do.

I have always had good luck just using the upholstery attachment on our household carpet cleaner. I just use hot water and with the detergent they sell for the carpet cleaners.

With steam cleaning I would be worried about what that hot steam my do to that old seat material and foam underneath....but maybe someone on this site has tried it?

My wife’s car has cloth seats, and I took it to our local auto detailer and had them shampooed. Good as new - and the kids had made an awful mess in there.

I have had good luck diluting carpet cleaner, spraying it on, and vacuuming it out;
liberally apply over a whole area, then suck it up.

For the best results, have a pro do it. They have the tools and materials to do the best job. If that's just not in the cards, then an upholstery cleaner from an automotive or hardware store may achieve satisfactory results.

fyi: those upholstery cleners are just diluted carpet cleaner re-packaged.
I learned this first hand the expensive way ;)

When you clean them, you need to rinse very well. The soap /detergent left in will actually attract dirt and they will dirty up quicker

Get a pro company to do it and maybe scotchgaurd them to protect them

For a home job I use Woolite laundry detergent in a 1:10 ratio with water. Its gentle on the fabric, but does a great job. As noted, rinse it well.

Thanks guys!