Cleaning cloth interior

Good morning,

I made a significant investment in my project/race car this weekend... I bought a truck. I bought a 2007 GMC Sierra 1500 Crew Cab. Tows race cars, carries babies.

Overall, the truck is in excellent condition and I made a good deal on it. The worst area on the truck is the interior. I has a cloth, two-tone, light and dark gray interior. There are spots, especially in the lighter areas that have stains/marks/spots and other blemishes. Any one have a good set of tips for cleaning these up, short of seat covers or replacements?

Thanks for the help!

http://www.amazon.com/STP-Stuff-Multi-Purpose-Cleaner-aerosol/dp/B0002KL7KK

Pull the seats and power wash them. I'm serious. Pull them from the truck and use a power washer, detergent that is safe on fabrics, and a stiff brush. Scrub them, spray them, repeat.

Then set in the sun to dry for DAYS. It works. They'll look 100x better than they do now.

This also works for carpet.

got a carpet steam cleaner? I've used my hand-held one for cleaning up spills around the house on the truck with great results...

I love the rug doctor. Rental is like $20-25 with the upholstery attachment. Hot water mixed with their brand shampoo (purple power or simple green works in a pinch) and pretreat stubborn stains with a full strength spray or two, agitate and go to town.

I'm a +1 for pulling the seats and giving the interior a good clean. A good shop vac use after a good power washing will get you back driving the next day...unless you sit on towels for a while.

This also allows for a proper treasure hunt (a must for new used auto purchases), you can clean the carpet and door panels, interior windows and dash!

Bruce

x1000 on a pull n pressure wash.

You can do the whole thing over a weekend if you get nice weather (70s +, good direct sun, breeze, not too humid)

Basically you pull the complete interior, whatever comes out. I have even pulled and pressure washed hard plastic panels and dashboards.

Then I use Purple Power degreaser, cut 50%, and make sure the seats are wet first or it can damage the color. Spray it on, scrub, pressure wash the seats until the water runs clear. Same for the carpet. I would not pressure wash a headliner. Those either have to be recovered or come from a wreck or a stealership if you need a new one. Let it dry for at least a day in the sun and you should be good to go. You can assemble the interior when its still a little wet/damp with no issues as long as you leave the windows down for a few days afterward. Not suggested but certainly possible.

If this is going to be an actual truck I would suggest ordering a vinyl floor from ACC vs keeping carpet in it. I have a vinyl floor in my truck and woudlnt trade it for anything.

I learned this tip from an old timer auto upholstery shop owner - for spot cleaning, use Coleman camp stove fuel. Put a little on a clean white towel and rub the spot. Repeat until the spot is gone. I tried it, and it works quite well on cloth as well as vinyl upholstery.

i just did some seats from a suburban. light tan. somebody had taken apart the motor from the suburban, and sat the engine tin, crank, rods, and heads on the front seats. needless to saym they were pretty bad.

took the seats home, vaccum. then spray with straight castrol superclean. scrubbed the hell outta them with a concrete brush, reapplying castrol as i went. sprayed them down with the hose set on fine spray for more pressure (my pressure washer wont start). kept spraying and working the foam like a sponge until the water came out clean. let them sit outsind in the sun for a week. came out mint.

Raze wrote: got a carpet steam cleaner? I've used my hand-held one for cleaning up spills around the house on the truck with great results...

I usually pull the seats and floor mats out, drench them with the hose and then pull the water back out with steam cleaner. Then use the cleaner and use the machine to pull that out too. Repeat until satisfied and leave them outside on a nice summer day.