I have my customers clean stains mold etc off golf car seats by spraying it downwith tide ( a little diluted and let it soak in for a good while. it works well and doesn't discolor the seats
Coleman camp stove fuel is basically the same thing. It works well on vinyl and cloth, although like anything else it's best to do a careful test first to make sure it won't hurt anything.
Now you're talking business. If that vinyl is perforated and you wet the stain much, the grunge will be soaked up by the foam underneath. Then the stain will try to ooze back through the vinyl as it dries. Your method eliminates most of the wetting.
<<<<<<<<< UPDATE >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Ok so its been two weeks since I started this thread but I thought someone might be wondering what worked. I started with a little bit of everything from your suggestions ( see pics ) Greased Lightning 10:1 mix with water Kaboom W/Oxi clean Mr. Clean magic eraser GOJO w/pumice Resolve Triple Action I sort of devided the seat into 5 areas and tried a little bit of each to see what would work the best ( pic 2 & 3 ) I went through a scrub and rinse cycle about ten times over 3 days, and decided that a combination of the GOJO and Resolve would work the best. So for the last few days I've been scrubbing and rinseing 2 times a night. I don't have the most recent pics, but you get the idea. The stain seems to be getting less and less but it is definatly still there. If I can't get the stain out I guess you'll see how I re-upholster them, I'm excited too, I've only ever sewn a button back on my pants but I guess i'll learn if I have to. Thanks Jeff
Neat runoff test, thanks for posting!! A few days after this initial thread, ran into my old roomate, who had worked for a chem-dry carpet cleaning outfit back then. So I asked about tire rings like you're fighting. He said they saw a fair number of tire rings and if those were his seats, he'd call a local chem-dry style carpet place asking about dropping them off for a $30/40 cleaning. good luck
Those look like Chevy van seats from the mid 1980's. The material should still be available if you need to fix that one cushion. I would also try using purple power cleaner (I usually get it at Walmart) then leave the seat out in the sun for a few days. I've had similar stains from old tires and that usually does the trick.
I see that you didn't try the Meguiers #39. If you can find it you might want to try it also. It is made specifically to clean car vinyl before you "paint" the vinyl to change color. I used it on the seats in my '46 chevy that look like they had been recovered sometime in the 60's. I used all the household stuff we had and they looked pretty clean, a nice dark brown color. I went to the local Meguiers guy to get the vinyl paint and he said to use the #39 prep first. I did and my nice brown seats were actually red!!! This was after scrubbing with household cleaners and a brush. Amazing stuff. It's been over 15 years and the grey paint I put on is still sticking perfectly.
Shifty; I'll definatly look into that before I start to re-upholster. I think I spent that much in cleaner already. Belchfire8; I'll check that out too, I'm going to a swap meet this weekend maybe i'll find a vendor there. Jeff
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