How to Clean Car Seats

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{ 34 comments… read them below or add one }

Lynn November 22, 2007 at 5:06 pm

It’s much easier than trying to drag your household vacuum cleaner outside. The car wash will always have a coin-operated vacuum someplace outside, very cheap to use and saves you a lot of aggravation. Watch out, though, because car wash vacuums have really strong suction, they can suck up ANYTHING. And once it goes down the hose, you aren’t getting it back.

Lynn November 22, 2007 at 6:15 pm

Clean up spots, stains and spills with regular carpet and upholsery spot cleaner – I like the foaming kind with the little plastic brush attached to the can. Once you’ve treated the spots, vacuum the seats thoroughly using the hose attachment on your house vacuum. You can also sprinkle carpet powder on the seats before vacuuming to make the car smell better.

Lynn November 22, 2007 at 6:15 pm

Spray-on Scotchguard is the greatest thing known to man. If you spray your cloth car seats with it, nothing you spill on the seats will make a stain. You can just wipe the spill up and it’s gone.

Lynn November 22, 2007 at 6:15 pm

Don’t do this on a new car, or one with leather seats. But if you have older vinyl seats, regular household wet cleaning wipes work just as well for cleaning the seats as the expensive car-cleaning wipes do. And they also kill germs.

Lynn November 22, 2007 at 6:16 pm

If your kids make sticky candy messes that harden in the back seat or in the floorboard or on the mats in your car, you can get the hardened candy off with foaming bathroom cleaner. The cleaner might leave a spot on the seat, but if you’re letting the kids have food back there you probably aren’t too worried about the seats anyway. :)

Ronnie August 14, 2008 at 4:51 pm

TuffStuff found in automotive section cleans all stains anywhere. I have been using it for years.

Andy August 23, 2008 at 9:17 am

I like the scotchguard idea for keeping stains off. I have found that simple green works good on seats and carpet to remove stains. just spray on stain,let sit for a few minutes then scrub with a bristol or toothbrush and dry with a clean rag.

MJ August 25, 2008 at 11:04 pm

To remove scuff markes from your cars paint, do the following. Get a white cloth towel, spray any brand name hairspray on to the towel and wipe the area. The pump hairspray seems to work better.

Ronn August 26, 2008 at 11:18 pm

Anything sticky that is on the painted surface of the car (tape residue, tar, etc.) can be removed by spraying it with WD40 and then wiping with a clean paper towel. Let it soak for a minute or two. For really heavy residue, a couple of applications maybe required.

Djamilla September 11, 2008 at 3:55 am

If you want to clean your carsseats, we use cilitbang. That stuff really works, but i prefer an aftertreatment to.
We have that here in holland, do u guys know it?

Alicia Dishoungh-Snead September 11, 2008 at 11:25 am

Rubbing alcohol will remove the sticky of hard and soft surfaces alike.

Jazzy February 24, 2009 at 7:44 pm

409 is the best thing ever to clean your car. It cleans the windows, removes stains from the seats and carpets and usually dries fast.

Linda February 25, 2009 at 2:27 pm

I have heard that WD-40 works well on a lot of things, including cleaning cars.

klinner tynes June 28, 2009 at 5:00 pm

Removed stain from car seat-water mark?

We have a new SUV and there are white marks on the driver’s seat. They look like chalk. Could it be water? I do swim at a local club everyday.

paul lastnameisprivate July 3, 2009 at 11:31 am

water mark

the water mark on your seat could be bleached from chlorine

brian July 17, 2009 at 12:25 pm

dont use WD40 on cloth seats/carpets

WD 40 is not meant as a cleaner. if you use it for that, I am guessing you will be really sorry.

Ron July 23, 2009 at 4:13 pm

WD-40

If you use WD-40 you might as well also use some Castrol motor oil ;-)

HAVE FUN!!!

Randy August 8, 2009 at 12:05 am

Rust stains on leather

What can I use to clean rust stains off a leather seat. It was folded up and never used and had rusted without being discovered. Now I don’t know what to use to clean it without ruining the leather further.

Armando August 13, 2009 at 10:59 pm

WD-40

When people use WD-40 its only meant to be used under the hood. It cleans everything really well. First with a soft bristled brush dust off the loose dirt and then spray some WD-40 on the area and using a towel wipe away until it looks like new. This will also keep the dirt from sticking. Do this every two or three months and its going to make your car look much better.

james August 29, 2009 at 7:57 pm

kitty litter

kitty litter works really well to soak up the oil. then clean carpet with oxy-clean. works wonders

//Ann September 14, 2009 at 8:47 pm

gummi bears melted on leather seats?

Niece gave my hubby in the backseat a little partial bag of gummi bears, which he absent-mindedly put down and left on the leather seat on a scorching day. Glop wasn’t discovered until the next day or day after.

Here we are, more than a month later, still don’t know how to get this melted mess up/off, short of getting down and eating/licking it up! Blech – no way! I don’t even like gummi bears on a GOOD day! It’s stuck TIGHT! Help!

Jennie December 1, 2009 at 10:28 pm

eyeliner in new car seat

my sister was doing her makeup and the top broke off. she didnt know where it went…later i saw a huge line on my passenger seat from her sitting on it…i dont know what to do…i dont want to make it worse…

Shannon February 4, 2010 at 6:10 pm

Permanent problem

How do I get permanent marker off my leather seats?? my 2 year old decided to use my seats as a doodle pad. Anyone have any ideas?

John April 2, 2010 at 2:48 pm

Re:Permanent problem

A dry erase marker removes permanent marker on most smooth surfaces, it might work on your leather.

murron April 10, 2010 at 7:07 am

fun

i am cleaning my mum and dads car an do not know how to do the seats what to do ?

all di*k no foreplay April 20, 2010 at 4:50 pm

Really?

Please don’t spray WD40 or any other type of oil on your seats…

dave April 29, 2010 at 5:54 am

cleaning car seats

what can i use to clean and remove chalky stains from my fabric seats in a 2004 plate ford.

larry cleveland May 23, 2010 at 4:48 pm

sticky vinyl motorcycle seat

how do i clean the sticky off the seat ?

Jean May 31, 2010 at 11:41 pm

How to clean gum off the fabric backseat of car?

How do I remove gum off the backseat of my car. Its fabric…..

Ann June 19, 2010 at 8:23 pm

help

does anyone know how i can remove juice stains from the car seats in an 08 ford escape???

Claudia June 29, 2010 at 12:15 am

tan suede stained

I have tan suede seats in my vehicle and I spilled HI-C. It was half water hald HI-C but still stained. I had applied scotch guard before the spill but it still stained. Any ideas on removal? Any good suede cleaners out there?

aangelface54 July 10, 2010 at 11:14 am

polyurethane mess in car seat

help!!!!!!!!!!! poly accidently spilled on seats that were folded in our van it glued them together is there any way to get this stuff off without further damageto the seats?

Eric July 17, 2010 at 9:08 am

gum removal

You can remove gum with ice. Just keep it on the gum until the gum crumbles off. It takes a little while, so put the ice in a ziplock baggie. Try to get it off slowly.

olivia August 12, 2010 at 1:11 am

stain

i have stains on the seat from paint and stains from bugs on the ceiling where my friends killed them. i used tuff stuff to get it out. but now i have stains from tuff stuff everywhere. how do you get rid of a stain remover stain? :\

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