Imagine you’re driving home from work, refreshing with a giant 64 oz. favorite drink and suddenly, without warning you’re forced to slam your brakes hard to avoid an accident. Your drink spills on the seat next to you and now it’s soaked! When your car’s seat has water damage, unsightly stains show up quickly, and yes, odor follows right behind.
Top Five Easy Steps to Sanity
Car seats and upholstery stain easily, especially from water spills (and sodas), and when dry, stains appear because of minerals in the water. Stains distract from the good looks of your interior, and the wetter the seat, the deeper the stain.
1. Vacuum Your Car’s Interior
Vacuuming might seem like a no-brainer, but it’s the most important step in removing stains and reviving the fabric. Remove every grain of sand and dirt to eliminate possible new stains. Vacuuming is work, but it’s worth the effort.
2. Choose the Correct Cleaner
Read the label to make sure it’s compatible with the type of fabric you’re cleaning. (i.e. nylon, cotton, polyester, leather, suede, etc.). Cleaners work well for most fabrics but pay special attention to leather. For leather, use a cleaner made for it. Never skimp on cleaners because irreversible damage to fabrics happens often because of incompatibility.
3. Deep Clean the Seats
The next step is where results show. Use a soft-bristle brush to apply and work the cleaner into the fabric. The brush helps remove remaining dirt and raises fabric to appear new and clean. Scrubbing too hard can damage the fabric. A little goes a long way.
4. Now, Wipe the Seats Clean
Use a white towel and wipe the seats clean. You’ll see the towel get dirty as you do this. That’s ok. Keep going until the towel stays clean as you wipe.
5. Drying
Just like carpet cleaning in your home, open all your windows and let fresh air take over to dry the fabric. To prevent fabric fading from the sun, put your car in the shade with a nice breeze. Seats and other upholstery should dry quickly.
Eliminate Odors from Your Car
After cleaning and drying your car seats, some odors might remain. Odors from food, urine, tobacco smoke, and vomit present a problem, but with some patience and know-how learned here, there’s still hope! Aside from cleaning your car’s seats described above, an extra recommended measure is using a product designed for odor removal.
There are no shortages of products available for odor removal. However, a majority of them perform use similar processes. The products prevent the stain from decomposing causing the smell. After working hard to clean your car’s seat with water damage, taking an extra step to remove lingering odors will pay big dividends, including a fresh new smell in your car’s interior!
For more information about protecting the seats of your car, visit our website or call us at 888-246-5653.
I left my windows open and the rain got in. Now my the foam on the window wise is much softer than the rest of seat. What could I do about this?