W124 interior

[W140]

Okay I have had this idea to whip the seats out of my E280 to get them cleaned. That is the simple outline, in more detail I am thinking about taking the covers off the seats and chucking those covers in the washing machine to get them really clean. I have probably been inspired to do this by watching Ed China ripping cars apart with deft ease on "wheeler dealers".

Okay the questions I wanted to ask are; Has anyone on this forum ever done this ?
Is it an easy (ish) job to do or have I been lead into a false sense of easiness by the wonders of T.V.?
Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[syncropaddy]

To my mind any inspiration that you may get from Ed China should be purged from your memory. If ever there was a 'king of bodge jobs' then its him. These TV programmes should be binned!

In answer to your question though, those seat covers are easy enough to remove if you take your time and are careful. As for bunging them in the washing machine I wouldn't be too sure about so I wouldn't be inclined to do that. There are plenty of products on the market which, with a bit of elbow grease, should do to the covers what you require. Refitting covers is slightly more difficult because if you dont get it right they will look a bit odd.

 

[robparker]

As above the covers are easy to take off and pretty easy to get back on really, might just take a little force! But they have metal in them etc and I owuld fancy putting them in the wash, they dont come off as just the material, there is still padding in them. Best of finding some stuff to use to clean them in place I would think

 

[kth286]

and if they were to shrink in size by a third ?????

they are not designed to be put into a wash machine only dry cleaned.

So, take them to a dry cleaner.

 

[SilverSaloon]

take the seats out for ease of access but i wouldnt remove the covers, clean them in situ with a carpet cleaner hoover wash & vax type machine.

 

[W140]

Thankyou to everyone for the advice so far..I am happy to hear that the covers can be removed, so that is a good start.
I remember when I was a kid, well 19 years old , I had a 2.8 Vauxhall Royale, which had pretty grubby looking interior.. The oh so 70's crushed velour !! Anyway I did rip the covers of the seats with that one and much as robparker said , the seats also had metal rods and padding in the material. I pulled the rods out and labelled them along with the padding. Once done the whole load went in the washing machine. Mum wasn't overly impressed but went along with it. That time the material didn't shrink and in fact went back on, okay there was a bit of grunting and swearing but they went on.
I 'll give it go ..I will let the forum know how I got on

 

[huey]

I agree with SilverSaloon, use a vax or even a steam hoover (the type people clean heavy curtains with)

 

[The Swede]

I have a few farmers in my family back in Belgium and they all love(d) to drive W124's... Interiors did tend to suffer.

Most common trick they used was to take the seats out (remove just the bolts underneath and lift the entire thing out), and then wash them with the high pressure cleaner.

Effective, but only recommended if they are really dirty and if you don't have fancy options like electric or heated seats.

 

[Rockall]

Many years ago I did just that with the seats on a Renault 25 - removed all the little metal bits and put in machine on a gentle cycle - great job and probably no more time consuming than trying to clean properly in situ.

Regards

Bill

 

[brianbrian]

I took my seats out the car, stripped the covers of and put them in the washing machine, put them in the airing cuboard to dry, fitted them back next day 100% happy. Hope this helps