Whether you’re single or have a family of your own, dirty car seats are inevitable. Activities like eating in the car, taking your pet for a ride to the vet, or carting the kids around make it nearly impossible to keep your interiors clean for long.
While there’s a lot you can do to help yourself out (like keeping wet wipes in the car to clean up spills immediately or having a small rubbish bin permanently in the car to ensure wrappers, receipts, and coffee cups aren’t littered across your car), you will always need to put a little elbow grease into cleaning your car seats, every now and then.
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HOW TO CLEAN MATERIAL CAR SEATS
Cleaning fabric car seats at home is not as difficult a task as it may seem. With the right cleaning agents and tools, you can return them to their former glory in no time.
What You’ll Need:
- A well-used hand cleaning brush.
- A small bucket of warm water.
- Bennett Read Carpet and Upholstery Cleaner.
- An empty spray bottle.
- A Bennett Read Wet and Dry Vacuum or Swift Hand Vac.
- Towels.
First, you will need to dilute your concentrated Bennett Read carpet and upholstery cleaner. You can find the dilution ratio at the back of the bottle. Pour your diluted mixture into the empty spray bottle.
Before you begin cleaning your car seats, make sure you have a clean hand brush with bristles that aren’t too hard or too soft.
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Get out your hand vac to clean away any dirt or crumbs on the surface and in between the crevices. This step is important because any dirt that’s present when scrubbing can cause scratch marks or tears in the fabric.
Give the vacuumed cloth seat covering a few sprays with the upholstery mix, then dip your brush into the warm water and then gently scrub away at any stains. Avoid rubbing any of the dirty, soapy residue left behind into the fabric. Rather use your Wet and Dry vacuum to suck it up.
Hot Tip: The Bennett Read Swift Handvac is perfectly suited for cleaning your car. It’s easy to manoeuvre, cordless, and can suck up wet spills.
For tougher stains, like coffee or sauce spills, you may need to repeat this process of scrubbing and vacuuming a few times. But be careful not to drench your seats in water, as it may take too long to dry and lead to mould.
Thankfully, the Bennett Read Carpet and Upholstery Cleaner is a quick-dry formula, making it ideal for car seat cleaning.
If you’d like to speed up the drying process, you can try the following:
- Use the blower function if your vacuum has this (most Bennett Read vacuums do) to blow over your wet seats.
- Place towels over your seats and pat these down so they absorb any water.
- Go for a drive with your windows closed and your heater on (if your heater is not working, you can open all windows during your drive to let your seats air out).
HOW TO CLEAN LEATHER CAR SEATS
Photo by Vasile Valcan on Unsplash
Leather is a luxury that’s worth maintaining. You’ll find this tough material a pleasure to clean.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- A soft-bristled brush.
- Dishwashing liquid.
- An empty spray bottle.
- A bucket of warm water.
- A Bennett Read Wet and Dry Vacuum or Swift Handvac
- Leather conditioner.
- A microfibre cloth.
- Towels.
Squeeze a few drops of dishwashing liquid into your spray bottle and fill it with water.
As with fabric seats, leather seats need to clear of any crumbs or dirt before washing. Select the appropriate vacuum attachment and gently vacuum on a low-suction setting (if your vacuum has this).
Spray your dishwashing mixture onto your seat, then dip the soft bristled brush in the warm water and scrub the soapy spot in circular motions. Vacuum up the dirty soap residue and repeat the process until you achieve your desired result.
Pat the leather seats dry with absorbent towels and leave windows open until completely dry. Once dry, you will need to add the leather conditioner to your microfibre cloth and rub this into the seats until they have their soft, supple sheen return. Leave the conditioned seats to cure before driving your vehicle.
Note: Do not use harsh detergents on leather, such as bleach or ammonia-based products and be careful to use water sparingly in order to avoid water soaking through to the foam or cushioning material (this can quickly lead to hard-to-remove mould).
If you regularly battle with mould, you may want to check your car for any rust spots where water or rain can leak through and treat these areas straight away before they get any worse.
Keep your car smelling great:
Photo by Luigi Manga on Unsplash
Cleaning your car seats should get rid of any bad smells. But if you have some particularly hard-to-rid smells, you can try the following simple tricks:
- Keep a fabric bag filled with coffee beans on your seats or side doors.
- Leave a scented fabric softener refill on inside your car.
- Roll down the windows when you smoke.
- Use the Bennett Read Pet Stain and Odour remover (concentrated formula).
- Try out the Puridene Multi-Space and Surface Sanitising Fogger (with odour neutralising deodoriser), and ensure you keep your windows rolled up when you’ve activated it.
Now that you know how to clean your car seats at home, you can save money on expensive car washes at the garage. There’s nothing more satisfying than a clean, great smelling interior, making all your hard work worth it!
