How to clean cloth upholstery

I have a '95 LeBaron with cloth upholstery, mostly tan with some black
woven in and maybe another color or two. I've looked in the shop
manual and in Google, but can't learn more.

I want to clean it, but this one upholstery cleaner says "Use on
fabrics with a "W" or "WS" cleaning code. Do not use on fabrics with
an "S" code Do not use on velvet or silk".

Do you know what the cleaning code would be? W or WS?

I don't think there is any silk in the fabric, is there?

But the back of the front seats is something like velvet, except not
as thick as that usually is.

Are there any restrictions on what products can be used.

Thanks.


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http://www.behome.com/bh/misc/cleaningcode.asp

I highly doubt your cloth is "S" On the bottom of the seat there may be a
sticker if it hasn't fallen off. Most people just test in an inconspicious
spot.

Cloth upholstery is the easiest kind to clean - assuming that it hasn't
faded with the sun - if that is the case the fabric may be very weak
and ready to fall apart.

If the cloth is still strong then use a wet-dry shop vacuum, and a 1
gallon spray pump bottle. You can use an upholstery cleaner if you
want, but any good hair shampoo (ie: Johnson's Baby Shampoo) that's
not a cleaning/conditioning shampoo will work. If you can shower with
it and after rinsing your hair doesen't feel like the shampoo residue is
still there, it's fine.

I use carpet shampoo myself since I'm generally also cleaning the
car carpet, and that works fine.

Mix cleaner according to the directions (generally a few ounces per gallon)
with hot water from the tap. Pump up the spray bottle, and spray a
section of the cloth then immediately vacuum it with the wet-dry vacuum.
If you have ground in dirt then spray, scrub with a soft bristle brush, then
vacuum. A lot of these cleaners have Scotch Guard in them which
helps the cloth resist further staining, and just about all of them say safe
for upholstery.

Of course, you will want to
let the car sit for a day in the hot sun to throughly dry it out, or use
a towel to sit on - as long as the cloth is still damp it will act as
a dirt magnet.

Note this is standard cloth, NOT velvet.

Silk is not strong enough for car seats, besides it's too expensive.

That is a whole different ball game. Do not spray velvet!!! To
clean that get a bucket of warm water, a bucket of cold water,
a couple wash cloths, and several very deep, fluffy towels. Put a
cap of Woolite in the warmwater, put in a washcloth then wring
it out, then gently rub the washcloth over the fabric. Then take
the other washcloth and put it in the cold water, wring it out,
rub it over the same area, then take the towel and dry the area
off with the towel. The same trick works on headliners.

Ted

 

The upholstery in your LeBaron is 100% synthetic (i.e., plastic) fabric.
It contains no silk or velvet. Still, if you're really concerned about it,
go get automotive-specific upholstery cleaner. You can get numerous
different kinds from any auto parts store.

 

In rec.autos.makers.chrysler on Fri, 19 Aug 2005 00:46:59 -0700 "Ted

Not sticker.

I thought about that. The carpet cleaner suggests that. But I'm the
type who, if I did damage a little spot, it would bother me even if no
one could see it.

But I thougth about it and looked for a spot, and the only one I coudl
find was where the seat was covered by the head restraint. Strangely,
that seemed darker than most other places, and I began to think the
dark spaces were clean and the light places were sun-bleached.
Further thought convinced me that some parts must be dirty, for all
the usual reasons.

I gather that if I leave the convertible top down in the sun a lot,
that will degrade the strength of the seats very quickly.

Thanks. I did all this. The vacuuming seemed to have a tremendous
effect on the seat back, but little on the seat seat. Can't tell
exactly how much the carpet shamppoo did yet, because it's still wet.

I plan to use ScotchGuard when the seats dry.

Will do.

Did that. They were basically very clean already (car is 10 years
old) but there were about 3 little brown spots, a little grey spot, a
little blue spot at a seam, and what looked like a pencil mark about
8 inches long. I got all of them out but the little blue spot, which
is one that really didn't bother me. I put down a moving pad or two
and sometimes blankets, but I carry a lot of things in the back seat.
98% of the time don't dirty the uphostery at all, but I guess I
screwed up once or twice.

Anyhow, it's clean. Thanks.

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In rec.autos.makers.chrysler on Fri, 19 Aug 2005 18:29:50 -0400

Good to know.

You know that didn't occur to me at all. I go the auto parts stores a
lot, but I think I just rush by most of the cleaning stuff. I'll pay
attentino next time.


If you email me, please let me know whether
or not you are posting the same letter.
If necessary, change domain to erols.com.

Directions are given as if you know nothing.
There's a big range here but I don't know who knows what.