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 it comes to leather car seats.
Let’s start with an easy exercise. For coarse dirt, such as crumbs, fluff or similar, a good handheld vacuum cleaner is sufficient. It should be equipped with a battery if possible, as the nearest power socket is usually not nearby. Important: Soft leather and plastic in particular are 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 buttons have been collected and vacuumed up, the microfiber cloth comes into play. For the second stage of car seat cleaning, you will also need a small bucket of lukewarm water and an 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, you can take the next level of care for your covers with a wet vacuum cleaner. Instead of mixing in a bucket, the cleaning agent is mixed 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.
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 treated with special leather care products after cleaning. Important: The small ventilation holes that some manufacturers incorporate into the seats for hot summer days must not stick together. When applying and rubbing in, less is more. A care brush with soft bristles is best suited for application.
The ADAC experts believe that relying on home remedies instead of special cleaning methods is a bad idea. The risk of damaging your car seats is greater than the benefit. You have to be careful, especially with leather seats, and should therefore stay away from household remedies such as shaving foam.
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