TheSamba.com :: View topic - Interesting upholstery stain removal discovery

Mon Jul 28, 2008 1:33 pm

For those who may be interested, I discovered a product for removing upholstery stains this weekend while trying to diagnose a leaky rear heater issue.

During the process, I pulled the carpet, padding, and z-bed from the passenger area of my Vanagon (which appears to have a weepy heater core). While removed, my wife and I thought we would address some of the discoloration/stains on the upholstery of the z-bed. Our first attempt was using regular detergent, which at first appeared to be working but upon drying did not.

So, recalling that we had an episode of a crayon ending up in the dryer one time, I dug out our bottle of Zout. This worked perfectly at removing the stains will little to no scrubbing effort.

The stains are pretty prolific, but if interested, I can shoot a couple of pictures of before an after using this product.

Joe

Mon Jul 28, 2008 1:42 pm

I forgot about Zout! That stuff has worked wonders on my clothes. I removed my mattress cover and ran it through the washer on cold/gentle with regular detergent and was underwhelmed with the results.

-Rob

Mon Jul 28, 2008 6:33 pm

I would be interested in some photos.

Mon Jul 28, 2008 7:28 pm

Wonder if it would work on Headliner?

Mon Jul 28, 2008 9:29 pm

Tuff Stuff works quite well also. The wife and I cleaned every surface with it this spring. Everything came quite clean.

Mon Jul 28, 2008 10:35 pm

I'll shoot some pictures tomorrow and finish cleaning it up.

Should be in the evening (US Central time).

Fri Aug 01, 2008 3:51 am

Have never tried Zout because, Tide Laundry detergent with really hot water + a shop vac....gets the stains out every time. Also, pretreat with shout any really bad spots....always foam up the suds as much as possible when doing upholstery and try to use as much suds and as little water, then, shop vac it up asap. It also smells spring fresh, or whatever brand of Tide you use. Auto detailing trick from a previous life.

Fri Aug 01, 2008 8:14 am

Another good one for oily or greasy stains is brake cleaner. Of course you'll want to test your fabric in an inconspicuous spot first, but on my Eurovan, it got out the cosmoline undercoating that I got on my seats while installing my hitch.

Sun Aug 03, 2008 10:10 am

Sorry for the delay in getting these picks up. Pretty hectic week at work.

Anyway, here is a shot of some of the the stains on the seat. This is just a representative sample as these stains covered the entire area where the back and bottom of the seat meet.

Here is the same area after using zout and rinsing.

I want to second what some of the other posters have said about using the shop vac to remove the excess water and cleaner. Also, don't forget to rinse the area as detergents can darken up after a bit of time.

I want to mention that this is just one method I found, so YMMV.

Joe