Maintaining Cloth Seats

[jerseyrunner5]

Hi,

Like many of you guys who own 4Runners, I live a pretty active lifestyle. I use my truck to drive on the beach, tow trailers, go down dirt paths, and go up to the mountains in the snow (I do most of this to either hike, run, or paddle board. I decided to go with a SR5 because I wanted cloth since I am in Miami a lot of the year and the heat is just killer with the leather seats, and they didn't have a white trail. The only issue I have with the cloth is how to maintain it. I go to the gym everyday and I get into my car dripping sweat so I put a towel down but I still do not know how much that helps. I go to Tough Mudders and Spartan Races all the time and come back muddy and have crap all over my seats, even with towels. My question is how can I maintain these seats a little better. The car itself is leased but I still have 2 years left on it and I don't want it to smell or look like crap. I like to take pride in my possessions, especially cars, and I don't want my cloth seats to look like crap.

Not to mentions the dogs...

 

[NMJack]

You may wish to look at some quality seat covers. We have Wet Okole's on one of our 4Runners and they are great. I'm sure they would be much more resistant to sweat/dirt/etc. than the original cloth seats. Even though you lease, you could probably recoup half your cost in two years by selling them.

 

[TrkyMfns]

I second a set of quality washable seat covers, aka Wet Okole. Especially since it is a lease. Also, if you haven't already, floor liners for the floors.

 

[flyinhawaiian01]

I've said it before, get Wet Okole seat covers, they are EXACTLY what you need!

I used to surf 2 or 3 times a week when I was still back home in Hawaii, and even soaking wet with salt water (we used to surf where there were no showers to wash off), my seats in my '87 truck stayed clean and dry!

Fast forward many years, I've moved to Oregon and had many days in the wet rain and mud from wheelin' up at Brown's Camp. The seats (and everything else in the cab!) would be filthy from mud and rain!

I'd throw the seat covers in the wash and in a few hours of washing, and drying in the gas dryer, I'd have seats that looked like new and smelled fresh and clean!

These seat covers are now in my friend's 4 Runner and last I heard they still look good and aren't torn up!

These covers are now around 20 years old! So, before you freak out when you see the price of them, remember, these aren't those crappy covers from Wal-Mart! They fit very well and will hold up to most everything you throw at it!

 

[61hawk]

I'll agree with Wet Okole's, it was what I was looking for before deciding to go with Katzkin leather. I have two dogs and the black cloth seats looked good for about a weekend before I started seeing "spots" in the fabric. Cleaning the seats didn't really help much and the ribs in the cloth seemed to look something like fraying. So far it was the only thing I came to hate about the truck. With Katzkins I now love everything about it.

I had an '04 Tundra with tan cloth before this 4Runner and I loved those seats. Ten years later and they still looked near new.

 

[ECBMCC]

I just bought Marathon seat covers for mine. A neighbor bought some for his 4Runner in 2001, 345K miles on the odometer later, and the still do the job. That's all the proof I need. My two cents. Good luck. Cheers!