Cleaning car seat covers is quite hard work. It is so taxing that many would rather have them professionally cleaned.
While many professional cleaners are excellent in the job that they do, they can sometimes miss out a few spots. Worse, car owners would notice damages incurred from the cleaning process.
Now that many people have a degree of freedom with what to with their time, it is now time to consider cleaning those dirty car seat covers. With fears about viruses still abound, who knows what could be hiding inside your beloved vehicle?
General Guidelines
The first step is to, of course, remove the seat covers. This is to avoid water and moisture from affecting the mechanisms inside the car.
Next, vacuum the car’s interior. A handheld one will do wonders as it will allow you to reach into nooks and crannies.
Why vacuum when you’re just going to clean the car seats? Well, it will ensure that your car will be clean once you are going to reattach the seat covers.
Now back to the cleaning process! There are actually three types of common seat covers: cloth, corduroy, and leather.
Cloth Car Seat Cover Cleaning
The easiest to clean is, of course, cloth. You can actually modify this method so that this will apply to the car seat themselves too!
Start by mixing laundry detergent and warm water. Gently work them in the cloth using a brush.
Repeat this process until the soapy water no longer gets murked up by dirt. Since this is ordinary cloth, you can dry this out on the sun so that the moisture will be let out and your car seat won’t smell once you install them back.
Corduroy Car Seat Cover Cleaning
Corduroy can also be washed this way. However, as we have said in our article on how to wash these pieces, there are some guidelines on how you should watch your corduroy seat covers.
Hot water is a big no-no when washing this type of fabric. But you can use warm water when washing light-coloured corduroys.
Cold water must be for the darker coloured ones. This way, the colours on the fabric will hold and not fade away. Handwashing them works, but since corduroy can get heavy during the washing process, putting it in a washing machine would be the easier way out.
Incredibly, sun drying works wonders for this heat-sensitive fabric. Make sure though, to hang it nice and well so that wrinkles won’t suddenly form especially when you install it back on the car seats.
Leather Car Seat Cover Cleaning
The third common car seat cover is, of course, leather. Many people love it for its classy look, but it can actually be quite fussy about cleaning.
Unlike the other two that you can wash with no problem, leather has to minimize contact with water. The same goes for sun-drying: just a big no-no!
As we’ve said before, the best way to clean anything made of leather is simply by following the manufacturer’s instructions. This is because it is such a delicate type of fabric that tends to crack and wear out when the maintenance is done wrong.
Rubbing alcohol is the best option to remove dirt and other kinds of gunk in the leather seat cover. Be sure to do it quickly so that the liquid won’t seep in the fabric.
Leather conditioner will also do wonders to keep the covers soft and supple. Before installing them again in the chairs, air drying it will help release all the smell that may have built up, as well as keep the leather in tip-top condition.
But Then Again…
We may not be car seat cleaners, but we can do other kinds of laundry cleaning for you! While cleaning your car seat covers, we can clear out your dirty fabrics!
Singaporeans have the privilege of availing of our pick up and delivery services– truly convenient indeed!