Seat cleaning

[octanejunkie]

I'm looking to "deep clean" my seats, mostly the cusions, and was wondering

1. Spot Clean, and if so, what method?

2. Remove seat covers and throw them in the wash (or dishwasher)

What have you all done?

I've seen a few youtube videos that look easy, but it never really is lol

EDIT: cloth seats. Sry

 

[Brian.]

upholstery attachment on carpet cleaner. But watching the detailing vids on youtube, it looks like there's a brush attachment for a drill for "scrubbing" (would have been handy, I just used elbow grease and a handheld brush) and some of them use a garden sprayer with their cleaning agent of choice for application to the seat cloth before agitating and then using the extractor/carpet cleaner suction.

Obviously, that's for cloth... but I'm assuming cloth because no one would mention tossing "leather" in the wash.... I think?

 

[brillo_76]

For cloth the best way is to take them off and clean them via the dishwasher or washing machine. I would clean the heavy soiled before going through the machines.

No clue how to clean leather...

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[ToyotaBrah]

Personally never liked using brush drill attachments on carpet or seats. It achieves the job of removing stains, but the fibers and cloth always seem to look distorted after. I use a carpet extractor and a tooth brush for stubborn spots with Blue Coral cleaner.
If the seat covers are heavily soiled, I would remove them, spot clean, and then into the clothes washer on a hot cycle.

 

[spartacus]

Take them off and get them dry cleaned at the cleaners. Put them back on the seats and spray'em with scotch guard water repellent let it dry.
edit: for cloth seats only.

 

[octanejunkie]

Thanks for the replies so far, gents!
Much appreciated

Would there be any harm in my treating & washing them first and if the stains don't lift then dry clean?

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[phattyduck]

Removing the seat covers to clean in the washer or some other method has the added benefit that you can swap seat foams around to get the nicest parts on the driver's side. The downside is the huge hassle compared to spot cleaning with standard methods (spot treating and extracting).

-Charlie

 

[3bears]

I need to do this job this summer as well,

so, if you wash the seats, do you then throw in the dryer ? Will that shrink them and make hard to put back on ? How hard is it to put them back on.

My rear seat has the worst stains, from a little kid with previous owner

agree would be a good time to switch foam around, wonder about install seat heater at the time.

 

[spartacus]

I need to do this job this summer as well,

so, if you wash the seats, do you then throw in the dryer ? Will that shrink them and make hard to put back on ? How hard is it to put them back on.

My rear seat has the worst stains, from a little kid with previous owner

agree would be a good time to switch foam around, wonder about install seat heater at the time.

You can probably do gentle or delicate but air drying is probably better because polyester in the seat covers will shrink with heat.

 

[blarchitect]

Do you then throw in the dryer ?

Don't do it. They will shrink. Let them air dry.

 

[rglsr]

I've had good results both ways, depends on how dirty. Spot cleaning on not so dirty seats fully assembled is fine. If they are really dirty/stained removing the covers is helpful. An auto upholstery shop I use turned me on to Oxi-Clean total interior cleaner, good stuff. (it's a spray foam cleaner)

One of the key things is getting all the cleaner out, I use a small Karcher carpet extractor, some Home Depot stores rent them, $25 a day. Clean the heavily soiled areas by hand with cleaner, go over everything with extractor w/diluted cleaner, then extractor with hot water to rinse. Let the covers/carpet air dry.

 

[pluton]

I washed the OEM covers from my earlier Toyota truck. I didn't trust that they would survive the top load washers that we had, so I washed them in the bathtub, then air dried.
IMO, the problem with wash-in-place solutions is that a certain amount of whatever concoctions you use to clean them will remain inside the seat. I wanted them clean, not chemicalized.

 

[sleepydad]

Thanks for the replies so far, gents!
Much appreciated

Would there be any harm in my treating & washing them first and if the stains don't lift then dry clean?

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

I have actually done it a couple of times now... I also have a pretty good collection of decent seat covers... all cloth if your looking for something?

you can compare the outcome here before and after the process

https://i.imgur.com/nJjKopL.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/XQUHUWp.jpg

I remove the seat covers, soak them in the laundry sink for 24 hours in dish soap, shout. you should see a difference and can do some scrubbing on the bad stains.

then just wash them like normal in wash machine, I also put them thru the drier for a bit to get most of the damp out then air dried for a day or so before re-installing them.

obviously if you have very sketchy fabric it's not going to survive.

 

[sleepydad]

I need to do this job this summer as well,

so, if you wash the seats, do you then throw in the dryer ? Will that shrink them and make hard to put back on ? How hard is it to put them back on.

My rear seat has the worst stains, from a little kid with previous owner

agree would be a good time to switch foam around, wonder about install seat heater at the time.

tiny bit of shrink but nothing terrible when I did it. don't dry them on lava hot setting for hours. you just run them on air dry for maybe 20-30 mins to the majority of the moisture out. then finish with with fan + air dry.

 

[BeaterFORErunner]

Not sooo much about cleaning persay, but does anybody know anything about sourcing a cheapy set of seat covers that will work for the rear seats? like a 6 piece kit ( bottom, backrest, headrest x2)... in black vinyl/leather prefered. i really dont want to spend $250-300 on the rear seat... i have black wannabe leather front seats, but the rears are tan and the last step to converting my interior to 100% black.. i've been searching and searching and it's like maybe something will work, but not definitive, especially with the 3rd gen seat design that's 6 pcs....

 

[fatherohenry]

My rear seat has the worst stains, from a little kid with previous owner

The kid had a previous owner? Hope you got a good deal on it!

 

[MTRunner00]

I washed the OEM covers from my earlier Toyota truck. I didn't trust that they would survive the top load washers that we had, so I washed them in the bathtub, then air dried.
IMO, the problem with wash-in-place solutions is that a certain amount of whatever concoctions you use to clean them will remain inside the seat. I wanted them clean, not chemicalized.

For Reference OP, I sprayed upholstery cleaner on the covers while installed on the seats, then used my shopvac to remove the cleaner off the seat.
Now the seats have the cleaner smell embedded in them. It is a strong annoying smell.

I would NOT recommend cleaning the covers on the seat. Remove them and clean them in the bathtub as shown above.

 

[Brian.]

For Reference OP, I sprayed upholstery cleaner on the covers while installed on the seats, then used my shopvac to remove the cleaner off the seat.
Now the seats have the cleaner smell embedded in them. It is a strong annoying smell.

I would NOT recommend cleaning the covers on the seat. Remove them and clean them in the bathtub as shown above.

Well.. right tool for the job, and a shopvac isn't that in this situation. Spend the $30 to rent a carpet cleaner WITH the upholstery attachment (little handheld suction). Then just hot water and suction will pull all the junk out of the fabric, including the remaining upholstery cleaner that the shopvac stood no chance at removing.

I've done it to several vehicles, seats and carpet, with a carpet cleaner I own and there is Never a smell left behind, or other negative issues. It works. Maybe it's not the best overall solution, but it's cheap, fast and easy to get 90% of the way there.

 

[MTRunner00]

Well.. right tool for the job, and a shopvac isn't that in this situation. Spend the $30 to rent a carpet cleaner WITH the upholstery attachment (little handheld suction). Then just hot water and suction will pull all the junk out of the fabric, including the remaining upholstery cleaner that the shopvac stood no chance at removing.

I've done it to several vehicles, seats and carpet, with a carpet cleaner I own and there is Never a smell left behind, or other negative issues. It works. Maybe it's not the best overall solution, but it's cheap, fast and easy to get 90% of the way there.

Yes Agreed. You learn by Blood or Money. In my case it will be by Money. I will rent one of those and try to remove my mistake.

 

[Sarki]

I recently cleaned the lower seat cushions front & rear as well as the rear carpet and used a spray on foaming fabric cleaner from Chemical Guys with a fabric cleaning brush attached to my Dewalt drill.
After using the brush attachment on the seat I used clean microfiber towels and removed the foam and dried the area cleaned.
Repeated the process 2x in areas that were more heavily soiled/stained.
Very satisfied with results.