Car Upholstery Tips
- There are some simple ways to keep your car's upholstery nice and clean.inside of car image by Christopher Nolan from Fotolia.com
Finding it hard to keep your car's upholstery clean? It can be a demanding task, especially if you have kids or pets that ride along with you. After a while, you can despair of getting the spots and stains out of your seats, but you needn't. There are a few simple steps you can take to keep your interior nice and clean for years to come, and help maintain the car's value. - Remove greasy stains on both your carpeting and upholstery by applying a bit of paint thinner with a cotton cloth. Cover the stain with salt until the liquid is absorbed. You can then vacuum up the salt (a commercial car-wash vacuum is recommended) or simply scrape it up using a spatula. Baking soda works as well at absorbing the paint thinner. You can also treat it with a household cleaner such as Formula 409. Spray on the cleaner, let it sit for a while, and then use the upholstery attachment on your carpet cleaner to take the stain up completely.
- For a carsickness stain, treat with baking soda. Covering the stain with baking soda and leaving it for an hour or two will pull the moisture out of cloth upholstery and neutralize the acidity. Let the baking soda sit on the stain for a while and then scrape it up with a spatula. Apply club soda and rub to remove any residue. An upholstery attachment on carpet cleaner can finish the job for you neatly.
- Leather seats can be kept clean by using a commercial product such as Armour All wipes or spray. You can use a commercial cleaner on vinyl seats as well, but wiping them down with baking soda on a damp rag works as well and is much cheaper. To repair a crack on a vinyl seat, visit your local car parts supply store and purchase a patch kit. Under no circumstances use glue in repairing torn vinyl upholstery--it will melt the foam beneath the seat leaving a gaping hole that will cause a greater tear in the end.
