Seats, Floors & Carpets

Seats, Floor and Carpet Cleaning

When you are dealing with the cloth interior of your car – the carpet and cloth seats – you want to make sure you have time to wash the interior as well as let it dry adequately. Allow for an overnight drying period or longer depending on the weather. An hour before you are heading to Disneyland with the kids is probably not a good time. You can use a mild all purpose cleaner or upholstery cleaner to deep clean your carpets and cloth seats.

When you are cleaning seats, do not saturate the fabric. Using a mild, all purpose cleaner, spray the product onto a clean cotton or microfiber towel and wipe areas of your upholstery until clean.

As with seats, mats need time to dry before you put the car back into service. Start with a very thorough vacuuming, then use a professional quality all purpose cleaner such as Diamond Professional APC Plus as it contains fabric softeners to help keep the fibers from feeling bristly and rough. After vacuuming, generously spray all stained and heavily soiled areas, then spray the remainder of the mat. Using an upholstery or stiff bristle brush, scrub the entire mat and let stand for 10 minutes. Rinse with a pressure hose and hang vertically to dry. Another method is to spray generously, then use a carpet and upholstery extractor with clear, hot water to remove all soap residues, then hang dry.

When cleaning your carpet, use a high-quality all purpose cleaner such as Diamond Professional APC Plus (diluted as recommended for carpet). Spray the dirty carpet and make sure to do a large enough area so that it doesn’t look like you have a big clean spot in the middle of the carpet. Often it is possible to clean between two seams and or contours of the carpet to avoid the spot-cleaned look. If you are not using a carpet and upholstery shampoo extractor to finish the job, be careful not to apply excess amounts of cleaners as it will lengthen dry times and it is likely that you not remove all of the shampoo. Using an upholstery or stiff bristle brush, scrub the entire area thoroughly, follow with a dry absorbent terrycloth towel and remove as much of the soiled liquid as possible. Then rinse the towel in clear water and repeat with the damp towel until the soap solution is removed. Using a dry towel, absorb as much of the remaining liquid as possible. When finished, leave doors or windows open and allow adequate time to dry.

NOTE: If you leave the doors open, remember to turn off the dome lights, remove the fuse or disconnect the battery so you don’t come back to a clean car with a dead battery.