Posted by James in car detailing, car upholstery, maintenance, tips

For Fabric Upholstery

If vinyl is easy to clean although it is difficult to keep it cleaned, fabric on the hand is the most difficult to detail, to clean and to keep it cleaned. Why? Two reasons, it easily stains and it easily soils and fade. With this reason you may think choosing fabric upholstery for your car’s interior is just impractical but the comfort it provides makes it just as the best choice for most car owners. But this is not the post I will discuss the other benefits and advantages of a fabric materials for car upholstery, this is a post in continuation on how to detail car’s upholsteries.

When cleaning your fabric upholstery, you have to seat at least two to three hours to get it done. Unlike vinyl that would only take less than 30 minutes to wipe off the dirt and clean it dry. But with then right cleaning materials and learning the very basic method in cleaning it, that two to three hours time could be cut in half.

What is the best product choices left to your option?

• Spray cleaners.  Either the foaming or non-foaming type, these type of cleaners are easy to be applied. It sinks in the fabric lifting the dirt and stains off to the surface so you can just wipe it away.  This comes in strong solution so the stains are easily removed since it gets deep into the stain. When using it for the first time, apply it in hidden area of your upholstery. Observe if it changes its colors or affected its texture. If the answer is yes, do not use this anymore and try another cleaner that is less concentrated than it. 
• Shampoo. Or a homemade laundry soap solution. By using this, you are just washing your fabric upholstery like ordinary clothes. But you need to use brush or sponge along with it and you must rinse it thoroughly to avoid moldy smell. Shampooing up your fabrics could be a very good and effective way to clean it but you need to put much detail on rinsing it. The secret lies in rinsing that all soap remains must be removed. Vacuum dry the fabric also after shampooing for a quick dry to ensure it well smell good. You can also use a blow-dryer if you don’t have a vacuum with you. Blow dryer could be use especially if you’re cleaning under a very good sunny weather where you have the sun to help you dry your fabric fast.

 

 

7 Easy Steps To Clean Your Fabric Upholstery

1. Get one small bucket and pour enough warm water in it. Keep an extra galloon of clean water for rinsing.
2. Using the spray cleaner you have, spray directly over the soiled areas. If using a shampoo, mix it with 4 ounces of cleaner in the bucket of water for a more concentrated solution.
3. Grab your scrub brush and rub it in circular motion to thrust the cleaner solution in the fabric evenly. Spray water over the solution constantly so it will not stick and remain on the fabric.
4. After rubbing it, wipe the solution with a sponge or damp cloth or micro fiber towel but soak or dip the cloth into the water from time to time.
5. Throw away the soapy water in the bucket and replace it with clean warm water. Use this new water in rinsing your fabric upholstery by using another damp cloth. Dip the cloth in the water if it’s getting dry again or it has soap on it already.
6. After rinsing, get you vacuum and dry the fabric up or use blow dry to extract ang wring the excess rinse water out.
7. Apply a fabric protectant when it dries already.

Posted by James in car detailing, car upholstery, maintenance

Even if you take a poll, most of us spend more or less a couple of hours every day inside our cars, so that makes us spend over 9 – 14 hours each week in our cars. With this, it is just proper to keep our cars interior clean and tidy. After all, it is only us that will succumb whatever our interior welcomes us. So what to do? The upholstery of your car should be also your top concern when it comes to maintaining your car’s interior neatness. This upholstery from seats to consoles is the vehicle parts that we relax and become in contact each day. If only we could find time at least five minutes every day to clean it but busy schedule is there to hinder us or give us difficulty from doing so.  Besides, it is common in cars to have different type of upholstery that needs a different demand of cleaning method. There is the vinyl, leather and fabric. Whichever of this three needs special way of cleaning so it will not get damage or it doesn’t easily wear out.

So, for this post I will detail ways on how to clean this different upholstery material. This will help you in cutting much of your time since you will exactly know what to grab for a cleaning material and what to do. Is brushing good for this material or not? Is a cleaner okay with fabric or leather? What is the best solution to clean out vinyls?  These are the question you will easily have the answer so just read on:

FOR VINLY UPHOSTERY

It is true that vinyl is the most durable and less expensive upholstery available but don’t you know that it is the type that is difficult to maintain its cleanliness as compared to others? This is because the surface of vinyl is static that makes it a dirt magnet. Being a dirt magnet, it is just normal for it to easily accumulate dust, dirt and grimes. However, even though it is difficult to maintain cleanliness on it, cleaning it is very easy on the other hand. In choosing the best cleaner for vinyl, always opt for solvent based that is safe for plastic or vinyl. Do not use concentrated solutions, even regular household detergent soap can fade the colors of your vinyl and its natural shine will permanently remove if you use this.

 

So having the right cleaner in your hand, follow these easy steps in cleaning your vinyls:

 1.      Spray your vinyl with the cleaner you have. Just the right amount so it will not drip over. Do not over spray it for it will cause uneven splotches on its surface. Spray first on the seams, edges and seats.

2.      Using a scrub brush, brush the solution over it. You can also use small pointed brush to reach the deep sections and small crevices.

3.      Rinse the cleaner solution with a towel that is constantly dipped in a bucket of water.

4.      Grab another dry towel, using this dry towel, follow the surface where you have rub your damp towel.

5.      After making sure that the vinyl has already dried up, apply a vinyl dressing for an extra sheen and that impressing clean-look. You can also apply protective finishes that is resistant to stain and damage due to direct exposure to the sun.

 ** You may want also to vacuum it first if you have a vacuum cleaner with you.  Vacuuming it will come loose any debris so it will be easy for clean it using only cleaner and cloth.