Tip for Cleaning Interior Fabric

Wanted to share a tip I received from my local Toyota body shop. I was in a fender bender in my 2005 Prius and when the tow truck driver took my car, he got dirt all over the beige tan interior. When we saw it at the shop, we asked if they could clean it. He said sure, no problem.

We picked up the car later and all was clean except the driver's side fabric arm rest. We mentioned it to the guy and he went back into the dealership and came out with foaming window cleaner. He sprayed the foam on the arm rest, waited a few moments, and scrubbed back and forth with a white shop towel. Sure enough, the dirt came out of the fabric.

He said the foam in the window cleaner helps pull out the dirt. The fabric is clean and the nap looks pretty good too. He also said that if the dirt's stubborn, let it sit before scrubbing it out, and consider a second application of the foam window cleaner. The fabric dried overnight.

I've only used this on the tan interior of our 05 Prius. Don't know about darker fabric. Test in an inconspicuous area before using throughout your car. YMMV and all that jazz!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Aug 8 2006, 12:01 PM) [snapback]299609[/snapback]</div>

I had never heard of it myself until I started working in stained glass and it was recommended to me. It's not a wildly different product than regular window cleaner, but it comes in an aerosol spray can instead of a pump and sprays out white foam that clings to vertical surfaces, which is why some people prefer it. You can buy it as a standard consumer product. Here are some that I've found online. I don't recommend any one over the other, but just to give you ideas of where to find it:

http://www.superiorcarcare.net/mefoglcl.html

http://www.parish-supply.com/glass_cleaner_aerosol.htm

Here's another foaming "all purpose" cleaner that I found while surfing, which probably does the same thing the glass cleaner does, but specifically lists upholstery cleaning as a use:

http://www.midwayautosupply.com/detailedpr...iption.asp?3169

The key as I understood it from the Toyota guy is the "foaming" action, which somehow magically pulls the dirt out of the fabric. I have the foaming glass cleaner at home already from the stained glass thing, and so I just use that. Don't know what brand that is though. It's some "rebranded" foaming cleaner I bought at a stained glass supply store.