Cloth seats & door cards refurb - Any Ideas?

[Bjorn]

Right,

Had some work done a while back and the mechanic has got his grubby mits all over the light grey door cards & seat bolsters on my IS.

Any one got any ideas on removing it? (its the general black filth you would expect to find on an overal clad hooligan).

Ive got a mate who works in a garage (Kia) and he tried some spray on foam with a quite a stiff brush. The test bit he tried is slightly cleaner but the upholstery has started to go fuzzy. Not really keen on this happening to the rest of the interior.

Any one tried a wet vac or steam cleaner or is this a bit extreme (or wouldnt it work as the stains are prob oil based?)

Any ideas would be great.

Bjorn

[E30BeemerLad]

just a daft idea and again this is a bit trial & error, but swarfega does a rather splendid job of cleaning up hooligans hands when they are covered in oil, so it is worth rubbing some in with a damp cloth and seeing what happens?

What's the worst that can happen, some door cards from a scrapper? Ԛ£20?

[Bjorn]

Thanks

Not something id thought of but Ive got a knackered sport seat at my folks house ill give it ago the weekend.

Cheers

[doug325i]

You can use petrol, I use it to get oil out of my clothes all the time.

petrol on a sponge and rub, then wash with detergent based stuff


(there are probably less smelly thinners)

Make sure you do it in a well ventilated area! and dont smoke
takes a couple of days for the smell to go but it goes!


Doug

[Bjorn]

thanks for the tip.

[kenwoir]

Turtlewax professional interior cleaner, u should be able to pick it up at a half decent motor factors. The same thing happened on my brother in laws car on light grey seats and this took it out no bother, i have used it on some stains i thought would never shift and it did a great job. If you cant find any i'll send you a wee bit in a bottle for you to try.

[keggy]

i use that vanish oxy action powder mixed wid water to take oil out of the carpet in my car works real well

[Cotty]

just a daft idea and again this is a bit trial & error, but swarfega does a rather splendid job of cleaning up hooligans hands when they are covered in oil, so it is worth rubbing some in with a damp cloth and seeing what happens?

What's the worst that can happen, some door cards from a scrapper? Ԛ£20?

Thats a good tip I picked up from Practical Classice magazine but was for use on Vinal seats and it works a treat scrubbed in with a nail brush and wiped of with a clean cloth. Not sure what would happen on fabric seats

[placey]

swarfega wil remove the dirt for sure - but it also removes the colour dye sometimes. worth trying in an inconspicuous area first.

repeated treatments with a foam based upholstery cleaner applied and agitated with a brush should do the trick. use plenty of clean water too. it's worth removing the seats and cards for the job imo.

paul