washing the seat covers....

just curious if anyone has ever taken the factory seat covers off and tossed them in the washing machine to clean them? Before I get just reemed on this please know that I have never taken off or installed seat covers on any car seat so as far as I know they are just stretched over the foam. But I was noticing that my seats are looking a little bit dirty from years of use and thought maybe just removing the covers from the seats and tossing them in the washing machine would be a good way to get them very clean. Anyone done it? Or can it even be done?

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=76638

It's been done many times. Just don't dry them in a dryer.

Nice to see its has been done before but they are all talking about older models. I have a 97 so do you think it would be the same for the 97+ model years?

I've washed numerous older style seat covers in the washing machine with amazing results. I will be doing the set in my '01XJ in the very near future. They seem to fit tighter and don't look like they come off as easily as the older style seats, but I have seen people do it.

Make sure you use non-scented detergent, though. The first set I ever did, I just used some Tide I had and while the truck smelled good at first, it kind of wears on you during a long drive...

On a 97+ (I think it's probably all 95+, but not sure), there are stiff pieces of wire with loops on the ends, and some loops embedded in the foam, held together with hog rings- that's what makes the covers fit so snugly to the seat itself. I cut the rings, pulled the rods and wires, and stripped the covers off. When you get the seat off the brackets, you'll figure out how to tear it down easily enough.

After the wash and air dry, I used 4" zipties instead of the rings while reassembling, as I had zipties, but not the rings or pliers to install them. It's holding up fine so far. My buddy had done this with his 96 a year or two prior, with good results, so I did the same thing.

It's pretty straight forward. If you can get the seat off the base, you can definitely handle this.

remove the whole seats and take em to the quarter car wash..... cant count the # of seats ive done that way and they come out very clean.... let them dry outside for 24 hrs then reinstall.

hubs97xj said:

On a 97+ (I think it's probably all 95+, but not sure), there are stiff pieces of wire with loops on the ends, and some loops embedded in the foam, held together with hog rings- that's what makes the covers fit so snugly to the seat itself. I cut the rings, pulled the rods and wires, and stripped the covers off. When you get the seat off the brackets, you'll figure out how to tear it down easily enough.

After the wash and air dry, I used 4" zipties instead of the rings while reassembling, as I had zipties, but not the rings or pliers to install them. It's holding up fine so far. My buddy had done this with his 96 a year or two prior, with good results, so I did the same thing.

It's pretty straight forward. If you can get the seat off the base, you can definitely handle this.

Click to expand...

Would this be the same on the seats that have the separated adjustable headrests that come in the Country/Limited models? My 97 is a country which is why I ask.

So while we are on the subject of seats I figure I will through this question out there too.

My driver seat on the left side of the seat bottom the foam seems to be skrinking or flattening out. Has anyone else experienced this? I say this because over the years a fold in the fabric has been developing right at the stitch seam due to an excess, if you will, of extra fabric as if there wasn't enough foam to fill it out the seat cover on that side. I have noticed this getting worse and worse so I am assuming the foam has deteriorated underneath from years of use. Am I correct?

Also would this be an easy fix for an auto upholstery shop to fix if I brought both the cover and seat bottom to them already removed out of the car to fix? I know its TV but I have watched shows like Overhaulin' where they reshape seats by adding foam to the existing foam with glue and shaping it so I would guess that they could do the same in this situation to add foam back. This is kinda where I got the idea to remove the covers in the first place.

http://www.go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoSeatRepadding.htm

And yes, an auto upholstery shop should be a good place to have auto upholstery done, I think.