Interior cleaning - steam or water?

[K Simmonds]

I've pressure washed cloth seats in the past, they come up like new!! It's very affective, the only down side is you then need to leave them in a small ventilated room with a fan heater for a couple of days. Not the most practical of solutions I know but if you start systematically from the top of the seat and work down it's like spraying on new fabric, the amount of crap that comes out is amazing.

[Nj]

cue A4 as fish tank mental picture

[K Simmonds]

Doing them in the car is not an option.

[Nj]

I'm just short a pressure washer, a ventilated room and a fan heater then.

[K Simmonds]

Oh well, that's a non starter then.

[Dpicariello]

Noel,

I used a steam cleaner on my A4's seats about 3 motnhs ago. In short it was far more hassle than it was worth. It left loads of water marks and I'm not sure if it actually got any dirt out. I then had to wait for the car to dry out which wasn't too bad as I have full climate in there and the air con seemed to dry it out well.

Stick with the megs stuff, put a bit of elbow grease in and the results will show.

let us know how it goes.

Dan

[Nj]

Thanks Dan, good to hear from someone that's tried a steam cleaner. buggr that then. Megs or AG and le grease d'elbow it is

[T2Andy]

since i do this day in day out ill tell you how i do it ,
vacuum well ,spray on cleaner ,i use the megs APC
do one seat at a time ,agitate with a brush and warm water
i use a numatic spray extraction machine filled with clean warm water
this machine sprays water while extracting at the same time ,
go over the fabric until the liquid ext becomes clear ,this can be seen
through the clear plastic tool,continue ext until no water can be seen.
use a damp microfbre and wipe over,this evens out moisture and any
excess fluid ,run heaters which usually dries the interior approx 20\30min
i also use a poweful hair dryer resting through the steering wheel ,doors shut
windows down slightly,water marks are caused when soap\cleaner are not removed
this attracts dirt causing the marks,do not put cleanser in the machine .
when finished have a good wipe round remove any moisture from seat runners ect,
Add air freshner or spray deoderiser ,this isnt just clean its MVS clean

[Fat Audi 80]

Nice write up there Andy!

[Nj]

cheers Andy, that's excellent. 2 questions: What kind of brush and... how much would a numatic machine cost? does it have an option to keep sucking after you've stopped the warm water supply? I suppose it must do.

[Error404]

you can hire them for £30 odd matey

[Nj]

yeah but then i might as well pay £50 or £60 and get someone just to do it for me while i drink tea and eat biscuits
I was kinda hoping to buy a cheapish machine that I can use on different cars. With one child there and another on the way (oh yeah. I don't think I've mentioned that since the missus gave me permission to shout about it) I have to assume i'll need to clean the interior again in the future... a few times

[K Simmonds]

Congratulations Noel, I dare say some sort of professional seat cleaning equipment will pay for itself within a couple of years.

[Nj]

thanks mate.
You're right of course. it's either that or I sheet the back of the car in plastic

[MikeLarwood]

I use a Bissell machine thingy, is brilliant. Sister mucks out horses daily and by the looks of it leaves it all in her car, squished into the seats. I took them out a while ago, and used the Bissell, they were as good as new!