Yes, we are very careful about keeping our car seats clean but that is only sometimes possible. We have a family, but after repeatedly warning our children, they put something in the car seat, which can cause stubborn stains on the seat. Excluding the kids, I would say it could be us, we love to travel, we like to party. So we carry food or drinks in the car. So it is quite normal to get these stains on the seat.
Life goes on so all this will continue but the stained seats cannot be left in that condition. We need to make arrangements to clean it quickly. However, if you want to hire a cleaning service to do the job, it is better to say that they charge a good amount for this type of service. You may have to do the work every few days. That means that the cost is going to be regular for you. But I will discuss some of your ways to save you this cost so that you can do the job of cleaning very easily with some common materials in the house.
How to Clean Car Seats Stain with Vacuum Cleaner
I have already told you that with some common materials in the house, you can easily clean the stains on the car seat which will look exactly like before. Here are the things to start working on.
Get ready with
- Vacuum cleaner: You need a vacuum cleaner that will be portable so that it can be easily moved from one place to another. It can be a handheld vacuum, many handhelds nowadays have separate attachments for hose pipes and car cleaning you can keep them with you.
- Spray bottle
- Cloth (that are microfiber)
- Vinegar
- Water
- Brush
- Dishwasher soap
There are about two types of seats we use, cloth and leather. So we’ll talk about both. The above ingredients are enough to do the job of cleaning.
First, let’s talk about cleaning cloth seats.
Step-1: Vacuuming
In daily use, a lot of dirt accumulates in every place of the car, and we see a lot of dirt accumulates in a hidden way, so it is important to clean the dirt next to the seat before cleaning it. You can use your regular vacuum cleaner to do the job, but to make the job easier you can use the extensions that come with them and clean the dirt well from any deep place.
Step-2: Mix Up the Vinegar with the Water
All you need to clean the seat is an effective liquid cleaner. You will find thousands of products in the market but it is difficult to know which one will be better and which chemical will have a detrimental effect on your seat. So I want to tell you that the solution is in your home without visiting the super malls. You mix one cup of vinegar in one gallon of water. Mix water and vinegar in the required amount to make a very effective cleaner.
Moreover, you can make a very effective liquid cleaner by mixing water and baking soda. I can say with certainty that this mixture of baking soda will be no less effective than any other chemical mixture. You can also use this liquid for other cleaning purposes in your home.
Step-3: Spray on Stain with Homemade Cleaner
After making the vinegar mixture, apply it to the stain. Spray well on the stain and you can also spray a little around it. When doing this work, be careful not to spray the cleaner so much that it penetrates the cloth cover and goes to the cushion, but it will be very awkward because if the inside is wet, it can give off a foul smell, which can cause you to change your entire seat.
Step-4: Scrub the Stain
After spraying this special cleaner on the stained area, your next task will be to give some time to get 100% effectiveness from the cleaner. Now the stain has become much softer, again rub the spot on the spot with a brush. You can use a small brush to work with any brush. Keep rubbing until the stain has completely vanished. If you apply this method, you can be sure that the stain will be completely removed.
Step-5: Apply Soapy Water or Detergent
Since we are talking about cleaning the cloth seat, you can use dishwasher soap or detergent in the last part of cleaning it. You can clean the whole seat in the same way as I said. In this case, apply soapy water on the whole seat and if you think you will only clean the stained area, then apply it only on that place. In this case, a wet-dry vac may come in handy. You can suck it after cleaning it with soapy water. And in the same way, rinse again with clear water and suck the water with the help of wet dry vac.
Step-6: Dry the Seat
Our last and most important step in cleaning a cloth seat is to dry it properly. I always pay more attention to drying them at the end of such cleaning work. This is because if due to carelessness there is a feeling of wetness in them and you start using it in this condition, it cannot be dried and the odor may come out and it is likely to be spoiled gradually.
So choose a place where air flows to dry them. Moreover, you can keep it in any place with high temperature. It would be wise to spend a whole day drying.
Clean Leather Seat Stains of Car
Let’s learn how to clean leather seats in a very simple way with some common materials in the house, some easy ways to remove stubborn stains. The method of removing stains from cloth seats is the same as the method of removing stains from leather seats. The only difference is in the method of removing stains.
Step-1: Just Vacuum in the Same Way
In the same way to clean the leather seat, with the help of your regular vacuum, vacuum around the stain in a good way and suck the loose dirt so that if you apply any liquid to remove the stain, the dirt will not get mixed with this liquid.
Step-2: Try Rubbing Alcohol or Stain Remover
Apply nail polish remover to remove stains from leather seats. It helps to remove stubborn stains from leather. Moreover you apply rubbing alcohol and take some time the stain will definitely come loose. If you notice that the stain is loose, wash it off with lukewarm water and soapy water. You can use detergent or dishwasher if you want. Wash the stained area very well.
Step-3: Wipe Up the Seat
Note that this is not a cloth seat so the use of a brush will be completely eliminated here. The friction of the brush can cause extensive damage to the leather. So after using soapy water, wipe well with a microfiber cloth.
Additional Tips for Cleaning Car Seat Stains
Above we have discussed how to thoroughly clean cloth and leather seats. However, there are situations when it is not possible to clean the whole seat and to apply certain stains. Let’s talk about some of these tips.
- For ink: Ink stains tend to be quite stubborn, you can use vinegar or baking soda mixture to remove these stains. Moreover, another effective way is to keep rubbing with the dishwasher bar for a while and at some point you will see that the ink stains have completely disappeared.
- Gum: Gum is another irritating stain that we are worried about but to solve it I would say hold the ice pack in the spot for a long time and notice that it will almost come up. Pick up as much as possible and remove the rest with a knife. I would recommend using the vinegar solution for cleaning every time to get a better cleaning.
- Coffee: Coffee is a part of our daily life and we are friends of tired time so coffee stains on car seats are a very normal thing. To remove the coffee stain, wash the area thoroughly with water as much as possible, and then apply a mixture of lemon juice or vinegar. I hope it will work. If not, you can try rubbing a few drops of alcohol.
- Oil: You can use dishwasher liquid to remove oil-like substances. Do the work with some hot water. Clean and wash. It is more likely to stain.
- Pet smell: We like to take our pet around with us, so it’s normal to have a pet smell in our car. But we would never like to travel with such a smell. You can sprinkle borax powder or baking soda to remove the smell.
Wrap Up
We use the type of seat we like, be it fabric or leather, how to clean a seat and how to keep your seat bright is very important in this case. Cleaning is definitely a hassle so I recommend using a seat protector for your car seat so that the seat protector will be dirty instead of the seat getting dirty which is a lot easier to clean.