Detail a 2012 Kia Soul

[jerseyguy123]

I had a Kia come in for a detail and the cloth seats had a lot of stains, they appear to have never been cleaned.
I used Tuff Stuff and they are still a mess. Any recommendations for an upholstery cleaner? Thanks Guys

 

[CharBaby]

WOW, this sound pretty bad.

Since I can't see how bad the seat fabric is, I can tell you that I have had better success with a mild solution of dish soap and water such as, Dawn/Palmolive etc. I have also used a very, very mild solution of electric dishwasher detergent as it has some bleach in it. And I've used it without damaging or bleaching out the fabric.

As you know/may not know, that the more soap you use, the more soap you'll have to remove. And any soap left behind will only attract more dirt.

You can Youtube...
Sweet Project Cars
&
Dallas Paint Correction and Auto Detailing

Both have some great videos on all detailing projects. I think you'll find something in either one.

 

[knerml]

Hyundai/Kia cloth seats tend to look stained, but are easy to clean.

Just use any good quality upholstery cleaner. You will probably need to make multiple applications if heavily soiled.

The key is the clean all fabric surfaces at the same time with each application, to avoid spotting.

After the seats are clean and dry, apply Scotchgard.

 

[CharBaby]

Todays cloth fabric is different than the velour/faux velour stuff from the '90s. What the MFGs are using today is more of, what I call, that "nylon type fabric".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h8NTHnAy6c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZnB9Ci4YI8

 

[mattwithcats]

I use a Bessel Little Green upholstery cleaner...

There is the unheated version, and the heated...

I use the unheated one, and just start with hot water...

https://www.bissell.com/little-green-portable-carpet-cleaner-1400b

 

[daves87rs]

Folex works quite well.......

 

[RooflessVW]

The Bissel works well.

For tough stains I use a steamer and follow with a very narrow nozzle on my Shop Vac to pull the stain out.

 

[dbias]

The Civic in my signature has to have the worst seats ever made for collecting stains. Very Light Grey and will show everything that touches them and btwn my daughter and her golden doodle the seats dont stand a chance.
The entire seat must be cleaned at the same time or their will be a water mark btwn the cleaned and unclean areas.

I've used everything possible to clean them and most of the time it looks good especially if I help them dry using my monster shop vac to help pull any excess water and soap from the fabric.

 

[71Chevyguy]

I think I can offer some help here, I used to detail cars professionally years back. There were some seats that would stain if rain got on them, like Neons and Caravans. I have seen many other vehicles over the years have this same problem. There is actually a VERY easy fix to this. You can clean the seats with whatever solution you want to get the dirt out. The real trick is in the details. You need to use bottled distilled water to rinse the seats. This will remove the soap residue and distilled water will not leave any deposits or dry to a wavy stained looking seat. Now of course you have to do a good job rinsing it, because it is the soap residue that leaves the water marks in the fabric. You will be very impressed with the results. If you do it right, you will have the edge over others who don't know this secret. Judging by the looks of many cars I have seen for sale online, most don't know this secret, haha.

 

[JLawrence08648]

Krud Kutter using a scrub brush.

 

[SatinSilver]

Blue Magic Stain Remover works better than Folex in my experience. Available at AutoZone/AA for around $6 with a money back guarantee. On the bottle it says works on blood, coffee, red wine etc...

Spray it down with that first, let dwell, scrub seats with some upholstery cleaner and shop vac or a Bissel Little Green machine as mentioned. Of course an extractor would be the best machine to use but are costly.

 

[carloz]

Folex works great for me. It won't cause any fabric discoloring.