Interior Maintenance & Repair

Kirstie_H

Does Crayon come out of cloth upholstery? Had an experience with those do-it-yourself leather repair kits? Post your interior maintenance questions and answers here!

kirstie_h
Roving Host
Edmunds.com

tarfin

Hi all,

Curious what people are using to protect their leather interiors and also what are you using on your fabric now that Scotchguard isn't available?

Kirstie_H

Here's a great tip from one of our members, cantremember11 --
The solution is so simple and inexpensive. I've used it on my husband velour seats in his Z, the bed pillows, hair, and carpeting. RUB IN A DAB OF PEANUT BUTTER. IT WILL DISSOLVE THE GUM AND THEN WASH THE SPOT WITH DISH DETERGENT. PROBLEM SOLVED. GUM GONE. GOOD AS NEW.

kirstie_h
Roving Host
Edmunds.com

brothwell

I tore my leather seat in a 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee.

1) How do I repair?

2) Do leather repair kits work?

The tear is only at the surface. The tear is less than a 1/4" in length.

ochizon

I bought a used car, and the interior was messy. I washed the floor rugs with one of those foam sprays that has a brush cap (made by turtle wax, i think). It worked beautifully on them, but when I tried it on the upholstry and it absorbed the foam too quickly and there was little to scrub. I think it actually made the bench a little more dingy. Anyone else have a similar problem? Is there another product or method that might work?

Thank you,

Alex

gmlover1

Your best bet is an upholstery steam cleaner.

pepper50

In the past I always sprayed my new car seats with Scotchguard fabric protectant, and it did a good job protecting them. For a while Scotchguard was off the market, but I saw it recently in the autoparts store and in reading on the internet have learned it's now back in a reformulation. The directions say to test for colorfastness first on an inconspicous place. Have any of you used the new Scotchguard? Or how do you feel about Scotchguard in general, or any comments on any other brands of fabric protectants? Thanks.

mkreddy

I have a 93 Toyota Tercel and the vinyl seats are cracking like crazy. I want to get the seats re-upholstered but with fabric. I have always hated the vinyl seats and am tired of having to use seat covers. I've been getting quotes for $500 and above to re-upholster the two front seats and back bench type seat.

I'm starting to think about salvaging some old fabric seats off of another car.

Any advice?

mkreddy

Ochizon-

I have used Quick and Brite on the rugs and cloth seats of my mom's Honda Accord. It worked great. She had coffee and grease stains on the rugs and other food-like stains on the seats, but, after I was done with it, the rugs/seats looked like new.

swschrad

I have reupholstered a recliner in my dim past. royal pain in the keister, nothing good to say about the experience at all... except that the chair looked like a million darn dollars when it was done, and stayed in good shape until I sold it off in a moving sale. there were a few other folks who saw the chair and immediately asked how long I spent recovering it.

if you REALLY wanted to change those seat covers, you could locate a shop with auto-grade fabric, pull the old covers off after finding and undoing all the tuck sewing and/or strings that hold them on, cut and pull the stitches apart, and use the old vinyl as templates to cut the new fabric. fix up any ratty foam you find along the way with high-density UV-resistant stuff, and have fun sewing that heavy fabric by hand.

I think you'll find out of the $500-odd, you only save between $100-150, and your equivalent labor cost will work out something like $2.50 an hour by doing this yourself as the first job. if you are doing this with a shows-all-flaws material like vinyl or leather, like half of my recliner used the one and only original Naugahyde (tm), all non-machine sewing will be apparent.

use cheap materials and sew while barleyed-up, and the results will reflect that from the first moment the seats are clothed again, and even worse after the first week.

WARNING! if you have side air bags in those seats, like my Explorer has, all bets are off. the panel that covers them has to have specific characteristics so the air bag can burst it correctly and work.