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Cleaning Cloth Seats

ParadiseXJ

ParadiseXJ

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Paradise, CA 95969
Does anyone have any recommendations as far as cleaning cloth/vinyl seats. I got a great set of seats to put into my MJ but they're kind of dirty. As I swap them as part of my renovation I'd like to put them in clean. They're out of the Jeep now.

The owners manual/maintenance instructions says to clean them with either salt water (?) or baking soda. These seats are dirtier than that, maybe grimy is the word.

It's 102F here today and will be in the 90's all week. Humidity is not an issue (I'm in Nothern CA). Do you think just soaping them up and scrubbing them down with OxyClean or Simple Green, rinsing and sitting out to dry is a good/bad/maybe idea. Just looking for ideas.

Thanks
 
i took the seats out of the jeep.
then start taking them apart.
you can take the skins off really easily.
spray with shout and place in the washing machine with regular detergent.
dry on low so no shrinkage.
mine look brand new.
 
I've never looked at the cloth seat covers in these things-- are they attached to the seat with hog rings, or will they come off and go back without new attaching hardware?
 
I think they're attached with a couple panel screws, like with a big ol' flange on them. I will check out how "removable" they are. I also seem to remember seeing a couple hog ring type thingy's. I'll go out and look at them right now.
 
Oh I'm so cleaning my MJ seats now :roll: They've been getting a bit grungy recently.
 
what about the vinyl sides? Hot water wont make them shrink? I've tried EVERYTHING to get my seats clean...nothing works. Really interested in the whole washing machine deal for sure...been wanting to get them clean for 7 years
 
I don't know if the early seats are much different, but on the 96+, it's a handful of hog rings holding some wires in place. Disassemble seat, unzip and remove cover pieces, wash, dry. Used zipties in place of hog rings during reassembly. I didn't have the pliers or a handy source for rings, and my buddy had already done this on his heep, so I gave it a shot. It's holding up fine.

Vinyl doesn't shrink in water- the sides should be fine. I washed mine in warm water, following a good long soak, running the wash cycle twice. Jeep even smelled nice for a few weeks.
 
These are seats out of an 87 XJ in amazing shape, one tiny tear in the drivers side back. There are a couple heavy duty rubber bands (like mini rubber bungees) holding 2 wire retainers in the back, the rest are the fat panel screws. No zippers that I can find.

As far as the vinyl, I have successfully cleaned those with a diluted Purple Power, but I soaked my seat belts in OxyClean and they came out, really, looking brand freakin new.
 
I have taken out more cherokee seats and taken them to the quarter car wash than I can remember.
Spray them with stain remover before you get there and spray them down keeping the wand a cpl of feet away..... leave them outside in the sun to dry for a full day and reinstall them. They will look great.
 
Detailers at the dealership would mix Simple Green with water in a bucket, use an upholstery brush and really work those seats over--out of the vehicle--then use a shop vac to suck them as dry as possible, then leave them sit in the sun a couple days. Pretty much the same way they shampooed the carpets.
 
I've had good luck with Resolve High Traffic foaming carpet cleaner and a short and soft-bristled brush. It comes in a spray can, not the kind that comes in a Windex-type bottle. I thought I had gray arm rests in my old truck. Yeah, they were blue.

300.jpg
933B.jpg
 
For spot cleaning (like when I get grease on the rear seats from the axle shafts I keep under the bench) I use resolve... works great!
 
joe_peters said:
Detailers at the dealership would mix Simple Green with water in a bucket, use an upholstery brush and really work those seats over--out of the vehicle--then use a shop vac to suck them as dry as possible, then leave them sit in the sun a couple days. Pretty much the same way they shampooed the carpets.
Click to expand...

I really didn't want to take the seats apart, I knew I'd screw something up if I did. So I doused the seats with plain water, then I made a good strong solution of OxyClean and soaked it, brushed it, rinsed and repeated that process 4 times.

Now they are sparkling clean and sitting in the sun. I'm taking advantage of the heat wave we're having out here (100F in SF, Santa Cruz and Monterey) to let them dry. Might need 2 days for the foam etc. to get completely dry. They look great, and they smell fresh as a flippin' daisy.

Some good ideas on here.
 
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