The Crash Course in Cleaning Upholstery

   Ok you are now ready to get all the mud, dirt, body oils and general grime off your upholstered seats. You could pay a detailer mega bucks to clean it or hire a professional cleaner to do it as well. The most common things that people would do is go and buy some shake, spray and vacuum cleaner like Resolve or some other cleaner. The problem in this is most of those cleaners do not do what they state; they only appear to clean by the use of something called Fiber Optic Brighteners (FOB). These FOB's have bleaching agents and a cover agent that will set the spot into a stain, and make it look like it has magically disappeared by refracting light and covering the stain. Strange but true.

   A few more things are needed to know about cleaning your upholstery. One is vacuum the carpet and the seats  a lot. You need to get the dry soils out as much as you can before you start cleaning with water. The way I vacuum is with a nylon or horse hair scrub brush for the carpet, while using the wet/dry vacuum to remove the soils. You need to use the horse hair brush for the upholstery only. Nylon bristles can be too abrasive for some kinds of cloth. Now, after you have gotten all the dry soils out you could, we can talk actual cleaning.

   Let’s talk spots and stains. Now of course there is a difference between the two. 1) A spot can be removed and a stain cannot. When I was doing cleaning and restoration for a living (in another lifetime) I had a few customers who wondered why after I had cleaned their nice $3,000.00 couch or love seat, why the tobacco or other stain would not come out. I informed them that it was a stain and could have been prevented if proper measures were taken right after the spot had occurred. But since it was not taken care of at that time, it has now become a stain. Most any spot can be prevented if you take care of it right away. I will tell you how in a few moments.
   Now let’s have a pow wow about solutions. First thing is FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS. If the solution says "2 ounces per gallon" use just that. DON’T GUESS. Here is why. Let’s say at 2 ounces per gallon (OPG) the solution has 100% cleaning power. Now you use 4 OPG, you would think that the cleaning properties would be 200% right? No that is no dice padre'. You might have 105% now, but you now have to do a rinse of hot water, most likely more than once. You are going to waste time and solution. Now you want to mix it. You have read the label and it says to mix 1 OPG or 4 parts of water to one part solution. You have done that and put in your squirt bottle and are ready to go. You need to know to put your water in first and then your solution. The reason is that when you do it the other way around your solution will come out your bottle or bucket in a foam. You now don’t have the proper mixture. Most cleaners are a gimmick to sell that contains FOB's and will ruin your carpet and upholstery. I use an old cleaner that is called Erazor, and at one time could be bought from Chem-dry if you knew someone. But you don’t need that. A good general cleaner can be bought from bridgepoint.com. If you need to call and ask do so. Remember this. Oil based spots require solvents or oil based solutions (oil, grease, gum, and some paints).  Water based spots need water based solutions (Coke, Pepsi, soil, mud, etc.).  And organics will sometimes need an enzyme to break it down (blood, food and urine). Citrus can be used on both water and oil spots but work the best on oils. I have found out that Citra-Solv Natural Citrus Cleaner works well. Now you don’t want to spot clean first you want to clean with your regular solution, and then what doesn't come out you can try to spot clean then. Now let’s clean.
   Cleaning with CHAT. Yeah I know it sounds funny as hell but you will remember it. Chemical, Heat, Agitation, Time. Chemical is the solution you are using. Heat is the temperature of your water you are using, the hotter the better, not exceeding 160 degrees. Agitation is the aggressive movement of a brush or cloth (cotton is best). Time is how long you let the solution soak on the fabric or carpet. If you go down in one you need to raise the others. For example you have to use a weaker solution or no solution at all, and then you will need to use higher heat, more agitation and a longer time you let it set. Are you getting the picture yet? Ok we are ready. You will need these items:
A wet / dry vacuum with a filter to keep from killing your equipment, and with attachments to get in all the nooks and crannies
Clean bucket
Measuring cup (not the guess)
Horse hair brush or soft bristle brush
Hard nylon scrub brush
The solution you are going to clean with
Hot water
 A squirt bottle with a spray setting
some cotton terry cloths
   Vacuum your carpet and upholstery, mix your solution and get started. First let’s work on the seats. Take your horse hair brush (or any soft bristle brush) and dip it in your bucket of mixed solution. Start scrubbing the seats. When your brush gets dry, dip it again. Do the entire seat and then extract with the shop vac. Extraction is the key. Go over it a few times and get all the water out you can. If you don't, you will be over-wetting the fabric and it will take a long time to dry, and that can lead to molding. If you have a spot that will not come out, spray it with the bottle and let it soak a little longer while you do the rest of the seat. I always do the seats first and then move to the carpets. The reason is if you do the carpets first and then when you are cleaning the seats water and solutions will get on the floor again, then you have to vac the floors a 2nd time. We have better things to do than spend all day cleaning the ole Ram Charger (Like wheeling, fishing and doing the honey do list) then go back to the spots you have pre-soaked and extract them again. Now is the time to do any spot cleaning you need. Let’s say you have a spot of grease that has found its way into the floor board when you were doing your u-joints. You have cleaned it then sprayed it, extracted it, and the damned spot is still there. Now you can get out your citrus solvent, lighter fluid or goof off and spot clean it. To do so, put just a SMALL amount on the spot and let it work. You can use a quarter to scrape lightly up and down, then back and forth, in small motions, to agitate the solution into the spot. Apply a little on your white cotton rag and BLOT the spot, don’t rub, rubbing will smear the spot and make it worse. When your rag gets dirty, move to a clean area. After you have spot cleaned the area, take your regular solution and soak the spot, scrub and extract it. Do this only when you get no transfer of the grease on the clean rag. IF YOU NOTICE THE CARPET OR UPHOLLSTERY "FUZZING" STOP with the spot cleaning and go straight to the cleaning solution and extraction. This is called neutralization of the spot. After all the cleaning is done be sure to leave the doors open to let it dry completely. Now you are done, you may have spent some cash on the solutions, new clean white cotton rags, and other supplies but you have them to do your wife’s van or car and your RC again when the time comes. You will save money. The RC will be clean, and you will get brownie points for cleaning her ride. You can’t lose, unless of course you do something stupid and ruin the upholstery by not being careful. Hope this helps for ya!
                  Points of knowledge                                            Always test an amount of solution in a not so noticeable spot. Squirt the area with the solution with the strength and heat you are going to use, let soak, take your clean white cotton cloth and agitate the area then blot it. If you notice the color coming onto the white rag, stop. Get another solution (i.e., you have red interior and you notice red on the rag). You will notice some small amount of red fibers on the rag if you have never cleaned it before. That is normal.
           
   Never use carpet fresh or any of the same type granular shake down vacuumed up deodorizers. When in contact with moisture they become acidic and will ruin cloth and de- laminate carpets. IF you need a deodorizer use Febreze or a pairing agent of some sort. If you don’t know what to use PM me, or send an e-mail and I will help the best I can.
       
     Stay away from Resolve or the over the counter, grocery, Wal-Mart brands of cleaner in a bottle. Most of them contain fiber optic brighteners and bleaching agents and will set spots into stains permanently

     To clean water based spots immediately after they happen, take and get all the coke, soil, etc.. up with a cotton cloth. Blot all you can out of the padding. Blot as hard as you can. Then take some Club soda. Yes club soda, but without the vodka in it, and let it work on the spot. The carbonation in the club soda will raise the spot to the surface and you can remove it with a cotton cloth. If you have an oil based stain use the correct solvent, do the spot cleaning techniques I have stated above and then neutralize with the club soda

       The IICRC (Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification) has stated that vacuuming the carpets and upholstery at least twice a week will lengthen the life of you carpet and upholstery.
   
     You can’t wear the carpet and upholstery out by cleaning properly.

     After you clean until the goods are dry they will be easily dirtied. Try not sitting in the vehicle until it is dry.

    Make sure the attachments on your vacuum are smooth and are free of nicks and scrapes.

     Don’t pour the solution out from the bucket onto the carpet or seats. If you get the padding too wet it will take forever to dry. If you wet it  too much and it takes more that 24 hours to dry you are creating ideal mold conditions.

      If the carpet and seats are not drying quick enough, close the doors put a fan into the vehicle to circulate the air and run the AC if it works. The air conditioner works as a dehumidifier and will pull some moisture out. I prefer to leave the doors open on a sunny day until it is dry.

    If you have any questions about any of this please send me an e-mail about it and I will answer it the best of my knowledge. Good luck.
         Andrew aka Minions ram
And special thanks goes out to CAMO RAM and CAMO’S GIRL for all the help of getting the how to going.