How to Clean Car Seats | The Complete Guide
How to Clean Car Seats, is a common concern among millions of car owners across the globe. A clean and hygienic car interior is crucial for better health and maintaining great looks. Your car’s seats may be fabric or leather. Dirty seat covers harbor allergens and bacteria that can negatively affect everyone’s overall health. Cleaning the car’s seats and making those more hygienic can take about two hours.
Be careful when you use water for this cleaning task as water can get into the electrical system and lead to short-circuiting. Even the cleaning chemical you use shouldn’t go under the carpet; it’s all about using the right amount of water and chemicals. Let’s get to the answer to the burning question, “how to clean car seats?”
How to Clean Car Seats By Vacuuming:
If there are no stains on your vehicle’s seats, then vacuuming would be sufficient. A powerful vacuum cleaner can take off dust and other particles, including insects. Even professional cleaners vacuum-clean vehicle seats as the first step to removing all debris. Change the nozzle and hold the cleaner to every nook and corner. You can use a soft, plastic brush with the vacuum cleaner and make the cleansing process more efficient and effective.
Getting Rid of Stains:
What made you think of “how to clean car seats?” Is it that ketchup stain on the back seat? Well, such incidents are traditional in families with kids. Avoid having food in the car if you can. Food, beverage, oil, and even blood make the most of the stains on vehicle seats.
After the initial cleaning with the vacuum cleaner, you can use a mild cleaning chemical to get rid of any stains. Make sure you choose the right cleaning liquid, depending on the seat’s cover type. For example, use a cloth or fabric cleaner for cloth seats, don’t use all-purpose cleaners.
Using the minimum amount of cleaning chemicals to get rid of the stain is the key factor to keep in your mind. Cleaning chemicals are liquids, meaning those cleaning agents can get into the underside of the seats’ cover if you use them in excess. 3-5 sprays would do the trick.
Use a soft plastic brush and brush off the stain (gently) with the cleaning chemical.
A quick tip:
some stains are stubborn in terms of spreading everywhere when attempting cleaning. If you feel that DIY cleaning would lead to a big mess, leave the task to a professional cleaner.
Don’t let your concern about “how to clean car seats” cause damage! Having a stain is perhaps OK than getting the expensive seat damaged by harsh cleaning. Once you have brushed off the stain with the soft brush, wipe off the remaining with a microfiber towel (do this before the cleaning chemical dries off.)
One round may not be sufficient, depending on the stain type. You can repeat the cycle until the stain vanishes.
Clean the area with a vacuum cleaner once you have completed the stain-removing process (after drying out.)
Cleaning Chemical Options:
How to clean car seats is a concern after spilling something, in general. For example, your 5-year-old daughter has spilled her chocolate drink on it. What can you do in this case if you don’t have a fabric cleaner?
Removing the stain ASAP is the key to protecting the seat cover from persisting stains and nasty smells. You can prepare a DIY cleaning solution with the ingredients you already have at home. Below is a list of options:
1) Laundry Detergent:
Mix laundry detergent with hot water and fill a spray bottle with the prepared liquid. You can also use a sponge and dampen the stained area, and wipe with a microfiber towel after cleaning. The towel would be sufficient for mild stains.
2) Vinegar:
We have to focus on Stubborn Stains when describing “how to clean car seats?” Food, beverages, and oil stains are stubborn patches that are relatively harder to remove. If you don’t have a fabric cleaner, you can use vinegar to get rid of some tough stains.
Make sure you use white distilled vinegar for the cleaning task. You can make a safe cleaning chemical by mixing 250 ml of white vinegar, four liters of water, and a few drops of dish soap. Rise the stained area with this mix and use a soft, plastic brush to remove the stain. Clean the area with clean water afterward, and use a microfiber towel for brushing and drying.
Professional Cleaning:
DIY cleaning works most of the time, but how to clean car seats is a question that sometimes needs professional hands. For example, stubborn stains, such as coffee, blood, and oils, need professional cleaning solutions and methods.
Steam cleaning is a brilliant choice to remove tough stains, but DIY steam cleaners don’t fit the bill. Professional car cleaners use commercial steam cleaners for this purpose. If you are worried about DIY cleaning as you are not confident about doing it safely, take your vehicle to a cleaning center. They have the best answers to this, “how to clean car seats?”
Helpful Tips:
You love your car, and we know it. However, even if you and your loved ones may have food in the car, it is something that you should avoid at all costs. Spilling coffee, tea, and ketchup are common incidents that ruin car seats.
Vacuuming the car interior at least once a week prevents dust and debris buildups. It only takes about 30 minutes to vacuum the car interior, but it saves hours and many hundreds of dollars in the long run. You can also keep the car looking classy and clean by implementing a regular interior cleaning schedule.
Final Words: How to clean car seats is a typical concern among car owners, but DIY and professional cleaning methods are there for your help. Hundreds of fabric and leather cleaning chemicals are now available on the market, but be careful when you choose those.
Some harsh cleaning chemicals can cause permanent damage to expensive fabric and leather. Choose the least sharp method that is “just” sufficient to clean your car’s seats. Need More Info to keep update with US.