Car fabric shampoo

[Charles Morgan]

Morning all, I am busy cleaning up the new old white 190E I have bought for not a lot. A morning using a clay bar and then T-cut white polish is starting to bring the paint back to a shine, but the interior, particularly the seats, needs a good clean.

Any recs for an easily available and inexpensive fabric shampoo to get this underway?

 

[Derek Mc]

I use Autosmart G101 at a 15:1 dilution from a spray bottle and it lifts all sorts of muck with no ill effects. Hope that helps? its as cheap as they come to be frank

 

[grober]

I have used AUTOGLYM interior shampoo successfully on MERC cloth interiors. Autoglym - car cleaning products, car care products, car valeting, car detailing If the car interior is extensively " soiled" the most painless solution may be best to entrust the whole exercise to a professional valeting company with a good rep.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Auto Smart Brisk Extra will do the job Charles. Costs about £15 for a 5 litre tub and it will last you a long, long time; I've had mine for about a year and not even used 10-15% yet.

It's usually for sale for trade only but I think you can buy 1 litre bottles from eBay.

If you can't get any, let me know and I'll get you a bottle sent down by carrier pidgeon, in fact, I could send you a litre out of my big tub down?

 

[Charles Morgan]

That's most kind Lee, hopefully I'll get hold of the stuff.

My approach to this car is just one step away from Bangernomics - only spend what you have to, but it is necessary to get the paint back into shape and the interior clean as resale will be easier, given how long I keep my cars. Sort a couple of rust bubbles, replace the blown front speakers with £10 jobs, shampoo the interior and Robert's your mother's brother.

Nice little car. Before and after pictures to be shown at some point.

 

[Mike Walker]

Charles Hi
Just starting the same process on the interior of our recently obtained 190 in white - see separate thread - Sybil. Would be good to swap notes from time to time?

 

[Charles Morgan]

Mike - what a lovely name for a car. Sybil. Hopefully so named so she call tell you what is about to go wrong!

I'll do a little thread on mine when I organise my pictures. My progress will be limited as polishing is not good for my hands at present.

 

[Mike Walker]

Charles - derived from the last three letters of the registration plate and yes she does! Pictures being prepared for publishing shortly.

 

[300CE]

Hi Charles, this cleaner from Halfords is cheap and has good reviews - I bought some to use on the wife's Audi as it's rotten, however, i haven't used it as yet:

Halfords | Turtle Wax Interior1 400ml

 

[martyp87]

I can highly recommend Autoglym Interior Shampoo also. Probably best to buy two or even three bottles for doing the seats and you'll have enough left over for the headlining.

If you're doing the headlining, spray it onto a MF cloth and wipe over with the cloth carefully then rub over it again with a damp MF to remove the dirt. You'll be amazed at the difference even on clean headlining!

 

[ringway]

I (and a fair few veleting Guys) use "All Purpose Cleaner" which is sold by most supermarkets - ASDA/Tesco/Sainsburys, for the princely sum of 25p per 750ml bottle. If you have an extraction vacuum cleaner, then all the better.
APC works on all sorts of fabrics and surfaces. It's always handy to have around and at 25p you can stock up.

 

[bolide]

Charles - interior already done with Autoglym and my Henry carpet cleaner. You may have to "go industrial"!

Nick Froome

 

[br0ke]

I used lime-fresh fabric conditioner mixed with a small amount of hot water and a scrubbing brush for a filthy XC90 I bought a few weeks ago.
Used it neat where it was heavily stained.

Smells lovely too, but could end up with soapy carpets if they get too wet.

Pinched from the wife, so free....

 

[ringway]

Charles - interior already done with Autoglym and my Henry carpet cleaner.

A thumbs up for the Henry. I've owned several wet and dry vacuum cleaners and the Henry is by far the best one. Not only does it do an excellent job, it is also robust, unlike the others.

 

[ringway]

If the staining is that bad, I'd mix some non-corrosive Traffic Film Remover to the APC. As long as you extract with a wet and dry Vacuum, it will be fine.

 

[bolide]

You have to be very careful with a scrubbing brush. On post-facelift W124s you'll ruin cloth seats with a scrubbing brush as it raises the nap & leaves loose fluffy fibres. 190E seats should survive OK

Nick Froome

 

[Charles Morgan]

Charles - interior already done with Autoglym and my Henry carpet cleaner. You may have to "go industrial"!

Nick Froome

I'll try the stuff SPX suggested (it comes with a health warning so it must be good!). It is only the passenger seat that has a stain.

 

[Will]

My tip would be to take the seat out of the car for a proper clean - takes about 5 minutes and is only held in with 5 bolts. At this time of year at least you can let it dry properly before refitting it

If the seats are in beige cloth you are out of luck as I threw a perfect pair away just before Christmas!

I think I have a pair of front speakers that you can have FOC if you like - removed from my 190E that has no stereo fitted - IIRC they are Alpine and fitted the W201 dash ok.

 

[Charles Morgan]

Will - that is most kind! Seats are blue, not bad at all, but I am being perfectionist.

Two mornings of claying and polishing with the Tcut white polish is starting to have a great effect, but my hands are killing me! The crud that is coming out of the paint onto the clay is phenomenal. In retrospect I should have degreased the car first too, just goes to show the old detailers know what they're up to.

 

[Will]

Yep - white W201s take quite a bit of polishing up, and it's an almost yearly task, but it is worthwhile. You can do it a panel at a time. They dull quite noticably over time but come up like new with some elbow grease!

I know of a guy locally to me who is just starting to break up a very tidy (but with mechanical issues) Arctic White 190E - it's garaged with very tidy bodywork so if you needed any bolt on bits/panels to tidy up yours then let me know and I'll see what he's got