I want to know how to clean my car seats properly. My car seats are filthy (i crawl through some pretty old dust at work lol) and hitting them with a vacuum just doesnt cut it. They have stains and what not so was wondering if its just as easy as pulling them off the seat and chucking them in the washing machine, or if something like a steam cleaner is needed???

Pretty noob question but never seen or heard of people doing it before
Cheers

Cleaning the seats or seat covers? Seat covers can go in the washing machine, seats themselves will need to be shampood. Most car detailing places usually do it for about $50 I would think. Otherwise, you can hire those machines from Woolies and the such which are like shampoo vacuum things.

can of degrease and a pressure washer on a hot day does the trick, i used to do my seats in my sports one a year and they would come up a treat

Yeh sorry i should of specified. Ive got cloth seats (not leather) but they arent seat covers. I mean the standard trim that is on the seats.

A car detailing place sounds good. Probably cheaper than hiring the machine from woolies i should think???

Yeh sorry i should of specified. Ive got cloth seats (not leather) but they arent seat covers. I mean the standard trim that is on the seats.

A car detailing place sounds good. Probably cheaper than hiring the machine from woolies i should think???

Not sure. I don't think the machines are very expensive to hire, but you would probably get a better result from a car detailer.

Upholstery cleaner is just fine and a stiff brush to work the cleaner into the dirt and then was with water and leave to dry

try the hot shampoo stuff they have at car wash places... that works well on the carpets so might work well on seats

Don't, for the love of god, pressure wash your seats. It will eventually ruin the foam and weaken and flatten the bolstering.

I have actually pressure washed seats before - they were out of a Farm Ute that spent many years on King Island. They took a good 3 days to dry enough to sit on them but there was still moisture trapped in the base of the foam. I doubt they would ever fully dry out. And of course, damp/wet foam/material will eventually become full of mould.

If you aren't sure about doing it yourself (it's pretty straight forward so long as you have the right products/equipment) get it done professionally.

I usually charge around $100 for seats and carpet and I use a Dry Steam Extraction Machine which yeilds better results, it's more hygenic (steam kills bacteria - therefore smells/odours are removed) and because it's Dry Steam the seats are completely dry within 30 minutes. Try and find a professional Detailer that uses Dry Steam - if not, normal Wet Vac Extraction will be fine so long as you let your car fully air out..

Not sure. I don't think the machines are very expensive to hire, but you would probably get a better result from a car detailer.
+1. Mum's hired them out before, they do work, but they're not great. They're probably fine for an 'interim' clean, but it's not as good as the results you'd get from a pro.

Cheers guys. Due to my lack of expereince and wisdom lol i think i will go to a pro
Cheers

I just cleaned the interior of my spare Magna with a hose and a nail brush... Literally.

I removed the seats, hosed them down and used warm water with Radiant dissolved in and proceeded to scrub like my life depended on it. Then when all clean i rinsed liberally and left them outside to dry for a few days (ok if you have a 2nd car) and then refitted them. They came up brilliantly! lol

But, as you have side bags in your seats i would not recommend using that much water near explosives and electrical connectors...

I just cleaned the interior of my spare Magna with a hose and a nail brush... Literally.

I removed the seats, hosed them down and used warm water with Radiant dissolved in and proceeded to scrub like my life depended on it. Then when all clean i rinsed liberally and left them outside to dry for a few days (ok if you have a 2nd car) and then refitted them. They came up brilliantly! lol

But, as you have side bags in your seats i would not recommend using that much water near explosives and electrical connectors...

If you do this method above, don't be like "oh they are dry lets sit on them on our 30 minute drive" because after 1 minute your ass will be wet and you'll be sitting on a floormat, so air them out for days on end lol

;1257957']If you do this method above, don't be like "oh they are dry lets sit on them on our 30 minute drive" because after 1 minute your ass will be wet and you'll be sitting on a floormat, so air them out for days on end lol
This is true. Its been a week and it still is a bit damp... lol So i would advise only do this in summer and/or if you can use another car.

The detergent and hose method works brilliantly, provided you don't have electric seats or airbags. Summertime is best. Once hosed down lay the seatback right down, and stand them upside down, otherwise water will be trapped by the seat base. Back away from the seats slowly and come back in a week. Reinstall and put a towel over the driver's seat. Works well on rear seats also.

That water that sinks to the bottom will more than likely turn to mould before it dries out. If you do it in summer and you put your seats back in before they are completely dry then you're just asking for problems unless you leave all your windows down for weeks.

If they are that dirty, get them cleaned professionally or better still, get an upholsterer to remove the fabric and wash it in the washing machine on a gentle cycle. You only want to be cleaning the cloth surface, not the inches of foam underneath because there is no way you will remove the dirt from the foam.

YEh im not liking the whole "hit it with a hose thing" lol

Steam cleaning with the proper shampoos sounds like the right option here, esp as i need to drive the car on a daily basis so wont have weeks to let the seats sit out in the sun to dry. Especially with this crappy NSW weather of late

The other thing against wetting the seats is that both sides have airbags in them....and they cost $$$$. If it was me, I'd buy a pressure pack of carpet/fabric shampoo, spray it on an area no more than 200mmX200mm, scrub it with a nailbrush, wipe thoroughly with a damp Wettex/Chux a few times being careful not to make it wet...then vacuum if it's damp (not if it's wet!) That is exactly what a detailer will do....and charge you at ~$80 per hour.

Well he didn't wet seats with airbags in them, Obvioulsy that's for standard seats.