Hi everyone,
Despite not driving the car while wearing gardening clothes, the black and white check seats on my eleven month old lounge are getting quite grubby. I had "Diamondbrite" fabric protector applied to the seats when the car was new, but I think that it has not been of any real benefit.

I tried Halfords "foaming upholstery cleaner" but it made no visable improvement. I've managed to get them cleaner by using "Vanish" soap and water, but I see myself having to do this every six months or so.

Has anyone else had this problem and can offer any advice on a seat cleaning product that will prove effective?

Thanks in advance.

FireballXL5man said:

I tried Halfords "foaming upholstery cleaner" but it made no visable improvement. I've managed to get them cleaner by using "Vanish" soap and water, but I see myself having to do this every six months or so.

Has anyone else had this problem and can offer any advice on a seat cleaning product that will prove effective?

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I've never tried Halfords stuff, but the Auto Glym shampoo stuff is supposed to work well.

If you need to do this frequently then it's best to get yourself a carpet cleaner. You'll want one with extraction so that you can squirt water at the same time as sucking. I've got a Vax one and it is brilliant. You can also use it around the house for carpets and door mats.

You need to squirt the shampoo/cleaner onto the seat, then scrub it with an upholstery brush. Go over the seat with the vac with is squirting out water and sucking at the same time. This will remove all of the shampoo and dirt. When you stop seeing bubbles (shampoo) switch the water pump off and keep sucking up as much as you can so that it dries quickly. Leave for a few hours to dry and they'll probably be looking like new.

I did this to my old car which didn't look dirty at all, but it pulled out loads of dirt!

I've moved this here as you will get more helpful advice in this section. My seats are the same as yours, and they have got dirty very quickly too. My best advice if you can't afford to buy a wet n dry vac is to use a warm water and fabric cleaner mixture with a scrubbing brush. It takes a lot of hard work and a long time to dry but after a few scrubs the stains should be gone or minimal.

see here

https://www.fiatforum.com/car-care/231859-quick-guide-cleaning-car-seats-cloth.html

Lloyd71 said:

I've moved this here as you will get more helpful advice in this section. My seats are the same as yours, and they have got dirty very quickly too. My best advice if you can't afford to buy a wet n dry vac is to use a warm water and fabric cleaner mixture with a scrubbing brush. It takes a lot of hard work and a long time to dry but after a few scrubs the stains should be gone or minimal.

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Another option would be to use one of the carpet cleaners for hire at DIY stores or some supermarkets. Can co-incide with renting one for cleaning rugs etc.

One thing I have noticed is that dark new clothes can bleed colours until they've been washed a few times. This might be a contributing factor (just a thought).

Thanks for the replies guys. I think my Vanish soap plus warm water option is the one I'll use, probably about every four months.