Spills and water stains happen all the time on your vehicle’s seat. Sometimes, they can get the seats messy. Are you struggling to clean the mess and wondering how to get water stains out of car seats?
You can either use household items or fabric cleaners. First, it would be best to understand that the stains might result from not drying the seats right after washing, or your car’s seat fabric takes longer to dry.
There are various ways to help you prevent and remove those tough and stubborn stains. However, ensure you choose one convenient, effective and efficient procedure and then follow it, and you will eliminate the stains.
How to Get Water Stains Out of Car Seats Using Household Items
You would be surprised to learn that removing water stains on your vehicle seat cover using common household items is possible.
1. Use Laundry Detergent
Using laundry detergent is one of the most cost-effective methods for removing stains from car seats. Of course, we all know how successful laundry detergent is at removing tough stains from our everyday clothing.
So, removing stains from car seats using laundry detergent should be one of your first to go option.
However, it’s important to note that some tough stubborn stains may require tougher stain removal detergents and not your ordinary detergent.
To clean the covers of your vehicle seats, start with lukewarm water and add the detergent. Use the solution to dampen the stain slightly.
Afterward, you can either use a clean towel or wash the detergent out of the cloth until the stain disappears. You may also scrub the area where the paint is located. After cleaning the car cover, you will need to dry it well.
2. Use Baking Soda Solution
Using baking soda is a straightforward and affordable procedure. You can do it with just a pinch of baking soda and an old toothbrush.
Baking soda is a recommended cleaning solution for the automobile fabric because it performs well as a cleanser and serves as a deodorizer.
You will need ¼ cup baking soda powder and a pail of lukewarm water; before you put the solution on the stained area of the cloth vehicle seat, make sure it is thoroughly mixed.
If the stain is particularly stubborn, let the solution settle for about half an hour before scrubbing it with the toothbrush in circular motions. If you’re dealing with stubborn stains yo can wash the fabric right after applying the solution.
Remember not to scrape the fabric too vigorously since this will cause more damage to the cloth.
So, ensure you clean the cover with a moist towel and allow it to dry until the discoloration has disappeared.
3. Try Vinegar Solution
Vinegar is one of the most incredible and less expensive options for removing stains from automobile seats.
Here, you need to put hot water in a bucket and then add a cupful of white vinegar; you can also add some detergent to help remove the difficult stains from the covers.
Pour the solution into the stained section of the cover and allow it to seep in for a sufficient time after being prepared. After that, scrape it with a brush to remove the stain as quickly as possible.
Remove the soap shield from the cover with little warm water as well. It’s preferable if you don’t close your automobile windows once you have completed this operation; it will allow the car cover to dry quickly and without leaving any stains.
4. Apply Steam Cleaning
The steam cleaning technique will work wonders if you are tired of scrubbing the stain out of the fabric cover.
It is more straightforward, more powerful, and more effective.
However, this procedure may not be cheap like other household products, but it is a simple solution.
Before starting the steaming process, vacuum the car cover and surrounding areas to remove any dirt that can interfere with the steam.
Here you will need to purchase a heavy-duty steam cleaning machine. The steam machine saturates the fabric with hot water, sucking in the dirt and filth.
The steam cleaning process works well on car covers with stubborn stains. It also refreshes the fragrance of your automobile seats.
5. Use Club Soda
The club soda solution contains carbonated water, potassium citrate, and potassium bicarbonate. It works wonderfully to remove difficult stains from clothing and can also be used for cleaning seat covers.
However, keep in mind that club soda is not efficient for tough stains and should only be used to remove light stains.
For this process, you will need a spray bottle, a scrubber, and, of course, club soda to finish the procedure. Fill the spray bottle halfway with club soda and spray the solution onto the soiled area of the cloth cover.
Scrub the area with the brush until the stain is slightly loosened.
After scrubbing, wipe away any remaining moisture in the cover with a clean towel or cloth, and then allow it to dry.
How to Get Water Stains Out of Car Seats with Fabric Cleaner
If you want to remove stains from your car seat, you can use fabric cleaners. I would also recommend you use the top-rated cleaners because they are the best and will help you clean your car quickly and effectively.
To remove the stains from the material of your vehicle’s seat, all you need is to follow this procedure as highlighted in the steps.
Now, let us follow these steps and learn how to remove stains from your vehicle’s seat with the best fabric cleaners and upholstery.
1. Vacuum the Areas Affected by the Stain
When cleaning your seat cover, it is best first to disinfect the area of the affected material of your automobile to avoid causing more stains because of dust from the environment. You can use a portable automobile vacuum cleaner to help with this procedure to vacuum.
A portable car vacuum cleaner is one of the most reliable enough to remove excess debris surrounding the automobile seat cover. It also makes dealing with the water stainless difficult. After vacuuming the affected spots of the cover, you can now go ahead and use your preferred fabric cleaner to remove the stains.
If you want the perfect vacuum cleaner, I would recommend you get HOTOR Portable Car Vacuum DC 12V or BLACK+DECKER dustbuster.
They both have excellent performance and last long.
2. Spray Fabric Cleaner
After using the vacuum cleaner, the dirt around your soiled cloth vehicle seats is gone. You will now need to get a dependable upholstery cleaner to help you remove water stains from vehicle seats.
The material of your car seat determines the upholstery kit you will get, so you should understand it so that you can get the appropriate type. Most fabric cleaners are designed for cloth and leather covers.
So, ensure you get the most suitable upholstery to help you get the stain out of the cover.
While some of the car upholstery cleaners might work on various covers, it might sometimes fail to remove stains on some car seat fabrics.
If you are looking for spray cleaner and are unsure which spray cleaner to use, you can get Multi-Fabric Cleaner and Upholstery Stain Remover or Lane’s Car Products. They are both excellent and will give you great results.
Professional vehicle detailers use this fabric cleaner for car seats because of its pleasing aroma.
You can, therefore, start utilizing top-grade automobile upholstery cleaners like these if you are looking for speedy results in effectively cleaning stains.
3. Apply a little brushing to the sprayed areas
A brush is essential in easily removing stains on your car seat’s fabric.
So, after vacuuming the area and spraying the stain with fabric cleaner, get a good brush to help you clean the debris off quickly.
This process is likely to take your time to remove a tough stain; however, rubbing the dirt repeatedly can significantly degrade the quality of your car seat cloth.
In this case, you will need to get a high-quality brush; it is vital especially for cleaning textile vehicle seats without causing any damage.
However, if you do not have a good brush at your disposal and are unsure what type you should buy, I recommend you buy Upholstery Set; it is of good quality and will help you remove all the stubborn stains.
4. Use a Microfiber Towel
This far, you will be almost done with the water stain removal after vacuuming, using a fabric cleaner the brushing off the debris. You will have about 20% of the work to do, and your automobile seat will be very clean without any stains and sparkling, just like you love your space.
To remove any moisture or leftovers on the seat’s surface, use lightweight and premium quality microfiber towels for automobiles in the next step. Even after utilizing seat cleansers and brushes, some water retention may lead to re-staining.
As a result, the towel will help you remove moisture from the seat covers.
If you want to get a towel that will help dry your seat cover and not damage it, you can get the Meguiar’s Microfiber. They are perfect and you will likely love the experience. In addition, they are of good quality, and you will wipe away the wetness from your automobile seats.
5. Allow time for the cloth car seats to dry
After completing all of the above processes, the next procedure is to let the material of the vehicle’s seat dry completely.
When you fail to allow the seats to dry fully and use them while still moist, you will be making a mistake. Using them in a moist state may result in natural harsh stains.
Therefore, it is vital to let it dry after attempting to remove the stains with vehicle upholstery and brushing off the dirt.
Avoid exposing the covers in direct sunlight; it will severely damage the automobile upholstery. So, ensure you allow for natural drying to remove the stain.
6. Repeat Steps 1–6 until it is clean
The following procedure may appear simple at first, but you might discover that there are still stains on the seat covers despite your best efforts of following the process keenly.
It would be best not to panic because these stains can sometimes be stubborn and may not be removed with a single cleaning. If the stains do not go after you have cleaned them first, you may need to repeat the entire process.
Repeat the technique until there are no more water stains on the automobile upholstery.
Final Thoughts on How to Get Water Stains Out Of Car Seats
Water stains on vehicle seats are typically unclean and displeasing to the eye. Therefore, it is best to avoid them first, and if that is not possible, you should eliminate them using the most effective and efficient techniques possible.
So, how do you get water stains out of your car seats?
You can either use household items or fabric cleaners. I recommend you choose one convenient procedure and then follow it as explained in this article to remove water stains from cloth vehicle seats.
Numerous automobile detailing solutions are on the market, including top-rated upholstery cleaner for car seats, which efficiently removes water stains from fabric car seats. You can use whichever method you like to maintain your vehicle seat material clean.
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Hi I’m Marshall based in 1478 Doctors Drive Santa Monica, CA. I’m your DIY Car Repairman with more than 5 years experience in automobile repair, a skill I learned from my old man.
I started this blog to share my experience on both simple and technical aspects of your car.