Upholstery Valeting

[Mustardmit]

Being new to the world of "car pride", I've been trying to make the -slightly dingey- interior of my 190e a bit nicer.
I tried an "all in one" spray foam thingy from Halfords...what a load of old crap! It just left a soapy deposit on the fabric (even after wiping off with a damp cloth as instructed) having done little more than 're-distribute' the muck that is (still) ingrained.
I've been scouring (haha) the net looking for tips about car interior valeting but found F-all...only thing I can imagine is soaking the seats with a hand-mister full of warm water, then hoovering it off again with a wet-vac?
Any advice gratefully received.
MM

 

[classicsl]

hired a domestic carpet cleaning machine from hss, and used the attachment to clean all the upholstery and carpets in car, filthy water came out the other end, and it looked better for it, cost about £25 for the day including the cleaning agent

 

[jberks]

bought one from Argos - do the whole interior every 6 months or so.
Quite handy in the house too!

 

[tom7035]

I find the most effective upholstery/headlining cleaner is good old-fashioned household washing powder, hot water and a small scrubbing brush, mopping up after with a towel. I've done it this way for longer than I care to remember. Only downside is it takes a bit longer to dry out completely. A 'wet-vac' would certainly be a useful addition but I'm perhaps even more of a pauper than yourself - I don't have one!
I totally agree with you about the 'modern' spray-on foam crap sold at exhorbitant prices.

 

[Myros]

my old man

swore by Decosol. Sodium bicarbonate dissolved in water is good on old fashioned vinyl headlinings.

 

[Bolide]

Valeting

I swear by... taking the car to the local valeters and letting them do it!

My locals charge £80 in and out and the car comes back looking like new. They'd do the interior only, if I asked them nicely, for about £50. No materials to buy, no trips to Halfords, and the results are better than you or I could ever get

Just a thought!

BTW you have to use valeters that know what they're doing. If they do cars that come out with the interiors shiny with silicones and tyres all blacked up, don't use them. Use the people that the local car traders use and tell them exactly what you want doing

Once they've done a car once it's much easier to keep on top of


Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[paulcallender]

I swear by... taking the car to the local valeters and letting them do it!

My locals charge £80 in and out and the car comes back looking like new. They'd do the interior only, if I asked them nicely, for about £50. No materials to buy, no trips to Halfords, and the results are better than you or I could ever get

Just a thought!

BTW you have to use valeters that know what they're doing. If they do cars that come out with the interiors shiny with silicones and tyres all blacked up, don't use them. Use the people that the local car traders use and tell them exactly what you want doing

Once they've done a car once it's much easier to keep on top of


Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

Much as it pains me to say it......because I am a firm believer of 'if you want something done properly, do it yourself'......I'd have to agree here with you Nick. The professional valeters are able to make the investment in high power cleaning machines which reach the parts other cleaners can't; and also, they have access to purchase dangerous chemical products which could never be sold in Halfords, etc. However, the earlier comments are appreciated, for those who just want to keep the interior clean, or like DIY.

 

[Bolide]

Valeting

A few ideas for home valeters:

* remove mats & loose stuff in car before you start
* start by applying wheel clean (brand of your choice) to dry wheels
* wet the car (pref jetwash it) to loosen the dirt before washing
* if you've got a jetwash
- do arches to remove mud
- jetwash the trim round the sunroof to remove mould
- jetwash the rubber window trims all the way round the car
- jetwash the bumpers & lower 8" of the bodywork
* have two buckets & sponges, one "clean" and one "dirty"
* wash bodywork & glass quickly with "clean" sponge using lots of water
- wash down to about 8" above sill, normally to trim strip / lower panels
* jetwash / rinse wheels
* wash lower section of car & bumpers with "dirty" sponge
* jetwash / rinse whole car
* wash bits you missed (window corners, etc) with clean sponge
* jetwash / rinse
* use water scraper or leather dry

* open doors, boot, bonnet, tailgate, etc
* clean shuts with very soapy cloth
* jetwash / rinse shuts
* jetwash / wash rubber mats

* when dry, polish car
* polish external chrome, grille & star

* hoover carpets in car
* hoover door cards, ashtrays, console, dash, auto gate, under seats
* wash pedals & use scrubbing brush if needed
* clean door kickplates with scrubbing brush / soapy cloth
* hoover mats

* clean inside of windows & rear view mirror
* wind windows down 2" & clean inside & out @ top

* clean dashtop with a lint-free cloth
* polish wood trim

* hoover seats - open up seams to reveal dirt
* clean radio aerial with WD40 & rag
* open filler flap & clean door & inside
* clean leaves out of underbonnet drains
* polish wheels
* spray white grease on door hinges & check straps
* top up washer bottles

You should now have wrinkled hands, an aching back and a sparkling clean car. Congratulations!

I think the most vital piece of kit is a powerful jetwash with a long hose. A good Hoover runs it a close second. Nilglas make a great (non-aerosol) spray glass cleaner. Pledge (or equivalent) is great for door shuts, but wash them first. The secret to making a car look really clean is to get the windows clean...


Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[dougtsc]

Friend of mine is into cleaning his cars in a big way. He says these two websites will give you all the information you will need. I've tried to get him to practice on mine but sadly he hasn't taken me up on my offer

http://www.autopia-carcare.com/index.html

or

http://www.bettercarcare.com/

Cheers

 

[shirubaby]

Turtle wax upholstry cleaner for upholstry (obviously) and carpet stains. Just spray and scrub with a brush. For cleaning hard plastics and vinyle; try dettol mould and mildew cleaner (contains activated bleach) - spray, scrub with a brush and just wipe off.

Be careful with it though...dont get it on the carpets or any fabrics within the car...it will bleach!!!...and test in small patch before working on the whole car. I used it to remove stains from the door cards, dash, plastics on the pillars and foot rest.

 

[robbi-wan]

I swear by... taking the car to the local valeters and letting them do it!

My locals charge £80 in and out and the car comes back looking like new. They'd do the interior only, if I asked them nicely, for about £50.

Luckily for me, one of the guys working for me was a valet is his previous life, with a mini-valet (no upholstery wash) for £20 !!

 

[television]

A few ideas for home valeters:



* hoover carpets in car
* hoover door cards, ashtrays, console, dash, auto gate, under seats

* hoover mats





* hoover seats - open up seams to reveal dirt

. A good Hoover runs it a close second. )


Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

Hoover is a trade mark = Vacuam

I used to to do all what nick says,plus re spraying the around the door shuts and sills. Most customers would comment by saying its like new. the whole job though would take 4 hours or longer if the previous owner was a smoker

Malcolm

 

[philharve]

Valeting cloth(?) seats

Hi All

I was wondering in any member could suggest a cleaning process for the seats in my C230K? I wouldn't call them cloth; they look like a hard-wearing cotton fabric in basic black with white/silver streaks.

I accidentally spilled some pasty juice (diluted gravy) and there are now two small spots on the lip of the driver's seat. Vegetable stains should be fairly simple to remove with the correct cleaning process. Bucket of warm water and soap crystals?

This thread recommends avoiding foaming cleaners but there is mention of wet vacuuming which seems to be effective. I've seen wet vacumming performed on carpets but never on car seats. Is there a small wet vacuum available or do you fit attachments to a full size carpet cleaner? Doesn't wet vacuuming leave the surface of the fabric damp?

REGARDS

Phil

PS - the pasty was luv'ly, 'cept for the juice which leaked through two paper bags, my hands and onto my trousers and car seat

 

[television]

Wet vacuuming must be better than the foams, as with the foams the stains seam to come back, with wet vacuuming at least stains and dirt are sucked out.

Having one of these things in for repair , i tried it on a mat, it pulled a lot out of what appeared to be a cleaned mat, the surface is fairly dry after and would not take long to dry with the heated seat

 

[grpar]

Auto Express has the answer

Auto Express Product Honours 2007 had the answer for me ...... Comma Interior Cleaner Spray ...... £3.99 for a 1l spray.

It removed a 3-year old ingrained mark on my leather (caused by a child's car seat) which couldn't be shifted by any of the Autoglym, Halfords, or MB-brand interior cleaners that I tried over 3-years.

The bonus was it also took out all of the kick & scuff marks on the back of the front seats (courtesy of the occupant of said car seat), and if that wasn't enough, it also removed all of the dirty marks from the carpet.

The fact that it also cleaned the dash & plastic parts is almost worth overlooking. For £3.99 for a litre of squirty, it deserved the Product Honours bestowed upon it by AE.

 

[philharve]

Steam cleaning

Hi All

Any member had experience of using a portable steam cleaner to remove stubborn marks or stains from all types of car upholstery?

Steam cleaning can have a remarkable effect on cleaning and rejuvinating clothing and the high temperatures kills bugs which is of benefit to some allergy sufferers.

REGARDS

Phil

 

[CL500Wizard]

After my old brother had a reaction in the moving car and ended up spewing all over the passenger seat (& not on the matt ), after as much of a clean and dry, I had to get hold of a steam clear to kill the darn smell which went all the way in the form (cl leather seats with holes!).

now i'm looking for a proper cleaner to get rid of the really stubborn stains especially the stiching .... what to use? Gliptone seems to come recommended but can it really get rid of staines from vomit (human acids etc yuk yuk yuk)!

Tried a few professional around the area to do the seats and its one excuse after another not being able to make their appointments.

 

[47p2]

I used a steam cleaner recently on the leather seats in my Range Rover. I had tried several different cleaning products which never really did much and the ingrained dirt was still there. The steam cleaner was excellent at removing all the ingrained dirt and I was left with perfectly clean seats.

I'm sure it will work just as well on cloth, using a cloth to remove the dirt as you go.

I have a Karcher machine similar to this one

This was the seats after cleaning and feeding with Gliptone