How to Clean a Car Seat: Everything You Need To Know

Car seats are subject to daily wear and tear, often filled with all kinds of dirt, stains, and odours. Cleaning your car seats not only helps with the appearance but also contributes to a healthier environment for anyone in your car.

Whether you are cleaning your car's interior at home or at a car wash business and looking for the best ways to clean car seats, whether they're fabric or leather, this guide will help you get the best cleaning results.

What Equipment You Will Need to Clean Your Car Seats

Wet and Dry Vacuum Cleaner

A strong and powerful car vacuum cleaner is a necessary first step in your car seat cleaning process. The vacuum cleaners we supply come pre-supplied with all the necessary accessories that will give you the best cleaning results. It is also important to consider the following six factors when selecting your vacuum of choice:

• Vacuum power
• Motor power
• Noise level Design & structure
• Filtration
• Supplied accessories

Fabric Cleaner Solution

A high-quality fabric cleaning solution should be used we suggest Nu Karpet Kare, diluted inside a spray bottle and for the carpet extraction machine. This will allow you to disperse the cleaning solution more easily. Ensure that the correct dilution is used for the application. For tougher stains, use a stronger dilution to spray onto the stained seat.

Car Seat Drill Brush

To ensure you get the best results in removing stains from the fabric, a mechanical action is required. Agitation can help break up soiling, increase wash efficiency, and reduce the washing time of the seat.

The car seat drill brush is a simple tool that connects to a drill and allows you to agitate the car seats without having to scrub them by hand with a hand brush. Make sure that the drill brush is medium to soft to ensure no damage is caused to the fabric.

Carpet Cleaning Machine

For deep cleaning of car seats, a car seat cleaning machine is worth the investment. The Kranzle carpet cleaning machines effectively remove dirt and stains from seats by applying a chemical solution while having a strong vacuuming action on the upholstery. 

Steam Cleaner

We recommend a high quality Tecnovap steam cleaner that offers a versatile and eco-friendly solution for cleaning both fabric and leather car seats. The high temperatures of dry-saturated steam penetrate deep into the fibres to loosen the stains for easy removal.

These steam cleaner can be used in a wide range of applications in your car wash from interior to exterior and is a versatile machine in your car washing equipment.

How to Clean and Remove Fabric Car Seat Stains

1. Remove the Dust and Dirt with a Vacuum Cleaner

   The first step in the car seat cleaning process is to use a strong and powerful suction vacuum cleaner. Make sure to clean every crevice and other small compartments in the interior of the vehicle and the seats.
   
   Vacuuming all the dirt from the seats will ensure that the rest of the cleaning process achieves the desired results. If you are dealing with dog hair, a rubber brush can usually help effectively pull it from the seat and carpets.  

2. Add a Car Seat Cleaning Solution

   Using a car seat cleaning solution or shampoo in a spraying bottle use 1 sachet (50ml) of Nu-Karpet Kare to 2.5 litres of cold water, spray it on the entire surface that is being cleaned and not just a portion of the seat.
   
   After spraying the surface with the chemical solution, use a microfibre cloth to rub the seat evenly to distribute the solution into the seat and let the chemicals break down the stains inside of the car seat.
   
   The even spread over the car seat is important as you do not want to only clean a portion of the seat that is dirty. In the seat cleaning process, you are only cleaning the fabric and not the sponge underneath. Once the seat has completely dried, you may find the stain has moved to a new spot in the car seat.
   
   This is called “wicking”, and it is caused by the underlying fibres having dirt inside of them and the upward flow of the dirty water bringing it to the surface again. To prevent this from occurring, place a microfibre cloth over the seat while it dries, or optionally use a valet dryer that aids in a quicker drying time of the car seats.

3. Use a Drill attached with a drill brush set for agitation

   Once you have applied the fabric cleaner and rubbed the chemical into the fabric with your microfibre cloth, you will then use a drill brush attached ideally to a cordless battery-operated drill. This will make the cleaning process easier and eliminate the need to use a hand brush to scrub the surface.
   
   Importantly note that a medium to soft drill brush should be used with not too much pressure to ensure that you don't damage the fabric of the car seats.

4. Use a Steam Cleaner

   Start the process by heating up your steam cleaning machine to temperature, ensuring that you are cleaning with dry saturated steam and not wetting the seats. Get your steam cleaner and attach a triangle steaming accessory with a microfibre cloth attached to it.
   
   Go over the surface until you notice the stains become loosened up; usually, passing the area once or twice should be efficient.
   
   If you still notice a stain spot on the fabric, spray your fabric cleaning solution onto the fabric and let it sit for 10 - 15 seconds. Allow your steam cleaner to warm up and put your steamer on that spot for 3 to 4 seconds.
   
   Using a microfibre cloth, wipe down the area, drying it as much as possible. You can now see if the stains have been cleaned; if they persist, you can continue to the next step.

5. Use Your Carpet Cleaning Machine

   
   
   After you have completed steam cleaning your seats it is time to do extraction with your Kranzle Carpet Cleaning Machine.
   Having your fabric cleaning solution diluted in the tank of the machine you can use 1 Sachet (50ml) Nu-Karpet Kare with 10 litres of water diluted for the carpet extractor machine, spray over the surface with the carpet cleaning tool.
   
   Start by extracting the seat from one end of the seat to the other end. While carrying out this step, try to get the seat as dry as possible; this will reduce the drying time of the seats. A high-quality carpet cleaning machine with strong vacuum suction will leave the seat relatively dry.

6. Allow the Seats to Dry

   Once you have carried out the above steps, allow the seats to dry completely to ensure that no “wicking” has occurred in the process of drying. To prevent “wicking” from occurring, place microfibre towels on the seat; this will distribute any dirt into the cloth and not back into the fabric of the seat.
   
   Use a high-quality carpet cleaning machine to ensure seats are left as dry as possible. You may also find that during winter seasons, the drying process takes even longer. We recommend using a Kranzle Valet Dryer. This helps prevent wicking and reduces drying times of the upholstery, increasing turnaround time of the vehicles back to the customer.

7. Add Protective Coat

   This step is optional but recommended. Finding a high-quality fabric protector is important. This will ensure that any liquid or potential stains from occurring will protect the fabric from more stains and run off the seat.
   
   Follow the guidelines on the protective coat product for the best results.

How To Clean Leather Car Seats

1. Vacuum Clean the Seats

   Vacuum the car seats is a crucial first step in cleaning leather car seats, this is to ensure that the seats don't get scratched in the following steps to follow. Its also important to check your nozzle of your vacuum cleaner has been smoothed down and does not have sharp edges, this is important as to not scratch the leather.

2. Steam Clean the Leather Seats

   Using a steam cleaner, steam clean the leather to remove any dirt and stains from the leather to restore it to a like new look. Steam cleaning also helps in rehydrating, conditioning and restoring leather.

3. Apply a Leather Conditioner

   After steaming the leather make sure to apply a leather conditioner to avoid cracking and giving it a good finish.

Is It Safe for Cleaning Car Seats with a Steam Cleaner?

Steam cleaning is safe on all leather, fake leather and fabric seats. By using a dry saturated steam cleaner you will not leave the car seat full of water and you can use a microfiber cloth to wipe away the wet residue left behind on the seat.

Steam cleaning is also highly effective in removing bad odours and bacteria from these highly prone to dirty areas.