Cleaning car seats: Tips & tricks for fabric and leather upholstery

car Care
Crumbs, stains, germs: This is how you clean car seats cleverly and gently

It’s not just children who spill and make crumbs when driving. Because bacteria and other germs also get into the fibers over time, car seats should be cleaned regularly and thoroughly. And this is what you should keep in mind.

Parents of small and older children usually resign themselves to their fate at some point. The strict ban on eating in the car initially becomes small exceptions. Later bigger and one day everything won’t matter. This has advantages, but also some disadvantages. Because it usually doesn’t take too long until the first crumbs collect in the cracks of the car seats. These are often accompanied by blueberries, apple spritzer or chocolate. And because even the older ones always make messes in the car, you can’t help but use the vacuum cleaner every now and then. This makes it easy to remove cookie and bread crumbs from the car seats. However, when it comes to chocolate, liquids or grease stains, you won’t get very far with a classic vacuum cleaner or handheld vacuum cleaner.

The article reveals which tools reliably remove stubborn dirt from the fibers and what you should pay particular attention to when cleaning leather car seats.

Cleaning car seats: from major to minor

Let’s start with an easy exercise. Because for the rough stuff, i.e. crumbs, lint or the like, a good one is sufficient Handheld vacuum cleaner. It should be equipped with a battery if possible, as the nearest power socket is usually not nearby. Important: Soft leather and plastic are particularly susceptible to scratches and marks. Instead of using the nozzle with the hard attachment, it is best to always use a small brush attachment to vacuum coarse dirt from the car seats.

Once the crumbly remains of pretzel sticks, cookies and lost chocolate chips have been collected and vacuumed up, the microfiber cloth comes into play. For the second stage of car seat cleaning, you also need a small bucket with lukewarm water and a Upholstery foam cleaner.

And this is how you remove the stains from the upholstery:

There are stains that you can’t get through with a microfiber cloth and water. In this case, fire with one Wet vacuum cleaner the next level of care for your covers. Instead of mixing in a bucket, you mix the cleaning supplies in a separate container that is attached to the vacuum cleaner. The cleaner is sprayed onto the car seat using a small nozzle, sucked up again and collected in another container. Plan some time for this and, if possible, choose a dry and sunny day for it. The seats and backrests are still damp after wet vacuuming and need a few hours to dry completely. If possible, the doors should remain open after cleaning the car seats.

Cleaning car seats: What to look out for with leather upholstery?

You should exercise some caution if the car seats are completely or partially covered with leather. Similar to shoes, cleaning agents remove fats and oils from the material. Over time it becomes brittle and eventually cracks. Leather car seats should therefore be cleaned with special ones after cleaning Leather care products Important: The small ventilation holes that some manufacturers work into the seats for hot summer days must not stick together. When applying and rubbing in, less is more. The best way to apply is to use a Care brush with soft bristles.

The experts believe that you should rely on home remedies instead of special cleaning methods ADAC for a bad idea. The risk of damaging the car seats is greater than the benefit. You have to be particularly careful with leather seats and should therefore avoid household remedies such as shaving foam.

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