Reply With QuoteI'll try after the before and after pics are up. Man I hate how the side bolsters feel sticky on a humid day =/
Bring the shine that the seats once had in a few easy steps and with simple house hold products basiclly.
Woolite
Lots and Lots of clean rag's/cloths
Bucket
Spray Bottle
Time
And everyones favorite, Patients. Yes this does take some time
I used 6:1 ratios. 6 cups of water to 1 cup of Woolite. Because thats what the site that makes the material (that is ALCANTRA ) says to do and what soup cleaner is safe and best to use.
You want to make sure you wipe down vacuum and over all clean up the seats really well maybe even 2 times before you start to soap and lather. This is because the woolite will pick the dead skin and dirt that is matting the ALCANTRA down giving it that worn nasty look. Use the 6:1 ratio and get a nice hot bucket of water together. Change your water once you start to notice its getting gray and dirty because it truely will take you much longer using dirty water with not much soap left in it. Dont get the seats real wet, you just want the rag to be damp as if your wiping a counter down or something. It does good enought of a job if you do it well and a few times with a little elbow grease than soaking the crap out of it and having to wait even longer for them to dry.
Once you have gone over the seats 2 times with the soap bucket rag method, grab the spray bottle and mix up another 6:1 solution in it. Take the bottle and work in small areas that way you can make sure you get them good. I used my hand at this point because you are actually trying to work some of the woolite into the base of the material. If you made the right mix and are doing small areas at a time it should actually begin to foam, that means its working right. Take a clean damp cloth to wipe off the foam and begin to scrub the seats. When you scrub now you want to try and make the material look darker instead of lighter. This means you are raising the material and that is what gives it that restored look instead of shinny and looking worn. Additionally if you scrub with the clean warm rag after you worked the soap into the base of the fabric it will help raise any dirt deep in there.
For drying dont put them in the sun thinking its a good idea, it will cause the material to dry out to fast and harden. My best suggestion is if you have some sort of wet vac or a carpet cleaner with a hose detachment. Other than that keep them in a warm area or like i said dont try and get them too wet so you dont have to wait as long. Once dry you can spray them with scotchguard so you wont be doing it again soon.
Do any of those steps as much as you feel like you need to, i did each step basiclly twice before moving on to the next and to be honest they look brand new. So, i hope this helps ppl i dont have pics right now because i dont have a camara. But i will get some before and after pics up asap. Thanks for reading.
I'll try after the before and after pics are up. Man I hate how the side bolsters feel sticky on a humid day =/
Yeah thats cuz they are all dirty bro. Ur sticking to it haha, im telling you, ull cry they look so good. Ill get the pics up in a few days
No... You get them up asap lol. Ugh my fat sweaty friend driving my car ftl
Sorry it took so long to get this done, been busy with work but here are the pictures. The more time you take with it and more you do it over and over threw the steps the better i found it cleans the material. Now the red seats where real dirty so i could even clean them again but they still came out really nice. Make sure you get all the woolite you can off if to much is left it will leave the material dried out if it dries.
Before being cleaned
After being cleaned
Thanks for viewing and hope this helps you get your seats cleaned
How well will this work on the oem ep3 seats? and how hard to do it with the seats IN THE CAR!!! lol
Use bleach. It works
its really not that hard to get them out of the car and its prolly worth it to do it that way. You will find the dirt in the darnest places when its out, places you couldnt get to when they are in the car.
But if you dont get all the woolite foam off the seat and it dries it will dry out the material.
Yes you can on do this with OEM recaros also, same material, same maker, no fancy labeling..
I wouldnt use bleach, thats a real sketchy substance. To much when on anything it totally f's stuff up. I say woolite because thats what the company that makes the material says to use on there website...They didnt say bleach, prolly tried everything and found woolite works the best.
If you did want to do them in the car, i would get a wet vac or a small carpet shampoo vaccum thing and get all the soapy woolite off that way. The carpet cleaning units i was told work really well on lifting the dirt and soap after you scrub it a little.
Bleach was obviously a joke. That would discolor any material other than white.
hahaha i was hoping but man you can never be too sure with some of the crap ppl say on these forums lol
Cleaned my OEM seats this worked out great! thank you for the DIY
Great! its the same material so it should have done great. It really takes patients because u will find spots you missed and the more you clean them the better it gets all the dirt and grim out.
Glad this helped.
They look fantastic, thanks for the info!
On the site for alcantera, they also offer another helpful tip. If you have old gum on your seats, you can put ice on the gum until it gets cold and hardens. Makes the gum easier to remove.
Thank you for an update. Other then totally freaking out, that is very helpful info i would have never looked into.
This is why, well i guess till now, i dont let ppl smoke or chew/eat in my car. Lol, gum, food, or humas, it really doesnt matter lol. Water is allowed that is about all...
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