Hello, The '64 Mercury has a light tan woven nylon cloth interior, driver's seat had grease, sweat stains, lord knows what else, this stuff really did like it claimed to...should have taken before/after pics...sorry. The key here is not too much soap, I used 91% rubbing alcohol the video never said exactly what kind. Then rinse with hot water and shop vac it as dry as you can.
I've never tried purple power on upholstery. I bought some upholstery cleaner at the parts store about 20 years ago that I sprayed on and the dirt and grime on that rather nasty seat floated to the surface of the cleaner. Never have found the same stuff since. I'm going to have to try that mix on the seats on one of my trucks though. ,
I have been a used car guy for a lot of years. I have cleaned a lot of interiors as dirty as the one in the video. Purple Power, Simple Green, and Awesome work well on todays interiors. They have little natural fiber in them. Old cars have natural fibers in them. When I started selling cars in the late 70's I had an old guy (85+) that told be what to use on them. He was a dry cleaner his whole life. The first thing was to identify the stain. Then the material. Sometimes he would clean the stain with something that would leave another stain then clean that stain. You had to break down each one. He used had me use all kinds of different things, chemicals, soaps, and natural stuff. I wish I would have written it all down. The biggest help in cleaning interiors was when I got an extractor. Now you were sucking the dirt out. Not just moving it around on the seat cover. That is why you can use all that water.
I have been using Woolite mixed with tap water in a spray bottle. It works well to clean cloth upholstery and is safe for colors.
I have pressure washed seats with purple power after spraying with a spray bottle then vacuum excess water with a shop vac then left out in the sun to dry and they looked like new.
When I did a short stint of over the road truck driving, they gave me a truck with a nasty interior. I went straight to the local car wash, opened the doors and started washing, I washed seats and all. You would not believe how much dirt will come out of cloth seats with a power washer. I pulled up to the vacuums, sucked what I could out of the seats, cover with plastic and drove home. In a couple days everything was dry and looked like new. The company mechanic was really impressed!
Hello, Caution is to be used on 91% alcohol. 70% is normally used as a disinfectant. But using 91% solution is a lot harsher on the fabric. So, care is to be used when using a compound with 91% alcohol. Most upholstery cleaners act as a soap. That is the cleaner part. The alcohol does have some cleaning purposes, but it not the catchall product to use on all fabrics. This stuff works on all carpet and rugs. It leaves no trace and it instantly cleans the soiled area. Follow the instructions and the stained carpet looks brand new. We even used it inside of one of our car’s carpet and did not discolor or damage the carpet. We also used it on a cloth covered seat on another household dining chair. The stain was not oil or car stuff oriented, but the stuff came off as soon as we used the spray on top. We wiped it off with a clean cloth. We all pickup oily residue from any parking lot or sometimes sidewalk/benches near parking lots. Hot rod guys/girls can also get oily residue on upholstery, too. Jnaki Back in the old days, our mom used a household soapy solution (percentage unknown) called “Dreft.” It was mild versus using something like Tide that had stuff in it that burned our necks from using it on our T-shirts. Dreft was a mild soapy solution to calm those once reddened necks and cleaned material covered cushions and such. Industrial cleaners can be used, but in most cases, a mild soap will take most stains off. Unless of course, it is grease or oil. So, it is up to the user as to what to use for cleaning. No need for a full spray hosing and heater or air drying processes. No alcohol, just spray on the Folex and wipe off. The worst you can do is to have to do a second spray and wipe with another clean cloth. YRMV Don’t soak the fabric. Spray and wipe off, or at least get most of the moisture off. The air will dry the rest. If you need to sit on the upholstery, then you might need a fan to blow over the small liquid cleaner removed stain. But, just opening the window, while sitting in the garage or driveway will air dry the upholstery. To paraphrase a Mikey commercial from old TV… “Try it, you might like it.”
The Jalopy Journal
