Whether it is a hot, sticky day out or you just had an intense workout, there is nothing quite like rolling down the windows or blasting the A/C in your car afterward. That is until you realize just how much you were sweating all over your cloth car seats. Well, it is just some water right? Wrong. Sweat can wreak havoc to your car seats and eventually, your passengers’ nostrils. Here is what sweat does to cloth car seats.
Absorption
First, you need to understand that your cloth car seat is going to act like a sponge. The cloth will soak up the sweat. Your clothes and towels can easily be thrown in the wash, but not your cloth car seat. That sweat is there to stay. At least until next time you get into your car and sit in your own sweat. Then your shirt might accumulate some of that sweat back. If you haven’t been thoroughly grossed out yet, please read on.
Sweat Makeup
Let’s look at what is actually in sweat, to further find out what it does to car seats. It can be made up of salts, butyric acid, urea, sebum, protein, lactic acid, creatinine, ammonia, and carbs. So you are not just allowing simple H2O to be absorbed into your cloth car seat. These different compounds can have a very negative effect on cloth, the obvious one being salt. We’ve all seen a baseball cap or a dried, sweat shirt that has the unpleasant salt ring on it. This is the area when the H2O stopped pushing the salt further down on your clothes. This buildup can happen on your cloth car seat as well. That salt buildup can degrade the integrity of the cloth, causing micro tears and fading.
Odor
That new car smell isn’t going to last long with a sweaty car. When the cloth car seat absorbs your sweat, it creates the ideal environment for bacteria. Bacteria thrive in a warm, moist environment, allowing them to feed on the contaminants and grow. Bacteria is the reason for horrific odors. Think about a hockey bag or every your armpits sans deodorant. The bad scent is because of a bacteria buildup. So if you allow your seats to absorb sweat, you are allowing them to become a cesspool for bacteria thus producing an uninviting odor.
For more information about protecting the seats of you car, visit our website or call us at 888-246-5653.