Auto Detailing FAQs | A ‘Stained’ (Upholstery) Situation

Adventures in Detailing! performs a job off the beaten path…or a ‘stained situation’. (a small attempt at some “Rocky & Bullwinkle^tm” title humor, for those of you old enough to remember such things.) Then again we could just call it ‘Pants on the Couch‘ for those of you who like current popular music (I think).

Anyway, this week we got called in to do what for us was a relatively unusual job. Working on upholstery to be sure, but not in a car…rather the couch at a friend’s house! Well, we agreed to come over and have a look & sure enough, the skirt the young lady had been wearing had left a nice blue-black stain on the ecru colored couch. More specifically, on an arm rest as well as two vertical & horizontal panels. (We will not delve into how those may or may not have ended up there, thank you!)  She insisted that her skirt had never left marks on any upholstery before, but was mortified that it had…even more so, since it wasn’t my friend’s couch, but his female roommate (No, they are not in a relationship!)

We actually see similar situations every once in a while in the detailing business, though it’s most often caused by someone rubbing their belt across the seat as they get in and out (I think it’s even more likely that they use a shoe or belt polish of some sort to keep the belt leather dark. Just a guess.)

For most stains on a leather couch the procedure is pretty simple; spray on some all-purpose cleaner (test on a less visible section first), use a brush with medium-stiff bristles to scrub the stain, then wipe away any foam or residue with a clean teri-cloth or suck it up with a wet/dry or shop vac. If the stain is visibly getting darker or larger, stop immediately. This is most likely because the dye (color) has been rubbed away in this area & you are actually taking off more dye as you scrub. For car seats, you will find this most often on the drivers side front seat edge where your back & bottom first make contact with the seat, then slide across it as you get in and out. The dye tends to wear thin here over time & with repetition.

In this case, we first warned our friend about the possibility of needing to redye the couch, then set about to remedy the situation. First we tested the all-purpose cleaner, which we were already pretty sure would not work (but better to go from least aggressive to most aggressive) with no results. Then we upped the ante to using a solvent used to remove crayon, ink & gummy substances from upholstery. This gave us slight, but not great results. So we took it one step further & introduced some #0000 steel wool into the mix (make sure to keep the steel wool wet as you scrub). Luckily this tactic gave us what we were looking for, because if we had to go any more aggressive, there would have been about an 75% likelihood that we would go through the dye. As it was I could see that the dye was wearing thin where we had to work it the hardest. Of course, now we had a beautiful, clean ecru section of couch, while the rest was fairly…, umm, shall we say brown?

Anyway, the end result was a nice clean couch, a room mate sans high temper, & me with a kiss on each cheek by a beautiful young Italian lady & her equally stunning older (slightly) sister.     Pro Bono work may not make you ‘wealthy or wise’, but it can certainly be ‘healthy’ & most definitely happy.

As always, thank you for dropping by…& if you have any questions for us, please feel free to email or call.

Share This

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Auto Detailing FAQs | Should I use a water based Tire Shine?

Adventures in Detailing will cover a quick question today; “Should I use a water based Tire Shine?”

Although we are not a member of any environmental group, we do believe that it is a good idea to be good stewards of our environment.

Solvent based tire shines we have tested seem to last longer than their water based counterparts, however, if you do not have a water catchment system to contain any runoff or over spray, water based tire shines’ are more nature friendly. So for all you “home gamers” or do-it-yourselfers we recommend looking for the water based alternative. This does not mean you shouldn’t still be careful where you’re spraying your water based dressing. If you use a spray on tire shine, either put down a “drop cloth” around the base of your tires to catch the over spray or temporarily roll your vehicle onto your grass. Plants are a great filtration system for small quantities of this stuff. Also, make sure you wipe your tires down afterwards (before you start driving). If you don’t wipe them down, your tires will fling off the excess, some of which will wind up on the side of your car. These drops will be sticky, & once they attract dust, the results will NOT be pretty.

If you decide you cannot part with your favorite solvent based tire dressing, please use the precautions above to keep the stuff out of our waterways (this goes double for the runoff from removing brake dust as well).

Another option is to use a gel or wipe on tire shine. If you use a tire applicator, this will help to minimize product from reaching the ground & possibly finding its way out through our storm drain system directly to the ocean where it could harm our coral & fishy friends. Again, please remember to wipe off any excess with an old terri cloth.

If you have any questions about detailing or the detail industry that you would like “Adventures in Detailing” to tackle, please feel free to email me at gavin@autodetailaces.com.

|f you have more immediate questions, you may call me directly at 222-8000. Thank you again, & happy detailing.

Share This

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Auto Detailing FAQs | I’ve got spots all over my car. What can I do?

In this episode of “Adventures in Detailing” we will be tackling the problem of contaminant removal.

“I’ve got spots all over my car. What do I do?”

The first step is identifying your contaminant.

• Do you know where the spots came from?
• If you don’t, are the spots like rings? If so, they might be hard water spots, usually from sprinklers or another source of city water where the minerals have set into the paint.
• Are they rust colored? If the spots are industrial fallout, they will stand out the most on white paint & on silver you will probably be able to see them. On most other colors, you may not even notice they are there. What is “industrial fallout”? Either you’ve been under metal appliances or piping or there’s been some construction somewhere in the area & the cutting or grinding of metal has caused little metal particles to drift on the wind & find their way to your vehicle.
• Are they a different color? Colored spots are usually paint overspray, often from someone spray painting a fence or house or something similar somewhere in the area. The wind picks up or shifts & all of a sudden your vehicle is covered in spots.
• Did you park next to bushes or trees? Yellow or clearish spots could be pollen or tree sap.
• Are the spots black? If they aren’t black paint over spray and you traveled over a newly paved road, you could have tar on your paint, especially if the spots are located on the sides behind the tires.
• Is the contaminant white or yellow behind the tires or in the wheel wells? Is there just as much splatter as spots? Chances are this is road paint that you went over before it was fully dry.
• Are the spots irregular, hard & rough? Maybe off white or sand colored with maybe a little black speckle? This could be concrete, or cement if not hardened.

“So what can I do about them?”

Now that we (hopefully) know what they are we have a better chance at taking care of them expeditiously.

• Hard water spots? A store bought chemical wash (automotive water spot remover for paint. remember to follow the instructions**) is probably best. Though for light spots, you can probably get away with a white vinegar solution (maybe 50% vinegar/50% water) or a rubbing compound or compound wax. Tougher spots might require first the chemical wash & then a rubbing compound. If you can’t get it done with that combination, it’s quite possible your paint has actually been etched by acid rain or something similar. Consult a professional.
• Industrial fallout, paint over spray, still not sure what your spots are? Try the claybar with lubricant.
• tar-like unknown substance? try a degreaser first, then claybar, acetone (carefully**), & compound. If none of those work, consult a professional.
• sap? Try a sap removal product or a citrus cleaner. Step up to acetone if you need to.
• road paint? Try to peel it off or use claybar. If you have a lot or it’s too difficult I would suggest taking it to a professional. This job may take too long & the fumes from a strong solvent could be hazardous to your health. If it doesn’t peel off or come off easily with claybar, let a professional handle it.
• cement? This is the one that you are most likely to scratch your paint with. If you decide to tackle it yourself though, use some white vinegar to try to melt the lyme & break up the concrete. This could be a very time consuming procedure. You can also try to pick it off by getting under an edge & lifting up away from the paint. This is another one that I find most people will prefer to take to a professional.

Feel free to contact me if you decide to do any of these & need suggestions or directions.

As always, best wishes & happy detailing!

**Perform this procedure in the shade & neutralize the solution afterwards with soap & water and wipe dry. On a dark colored paint wipe softly when you apply the solution. It may still leave light scratches. Use a rubbing compound to remove the scratches.

Share This

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Auto Detailing FAQs | How do I get rid of red dirt stain from the inside of my car?

This episode of Adventures in Detailing will tackle an issue that we find coming up in the Wahiawa area quite a bit; Red Dirt turning our carpeting & seats an ugly, dirty brown. So what can we do about it?

First of all, try some preventative measures:

• buy some rubber or plastic floor mats. A 4pack of generic mats can often be purchased at a big box retailer for less than $25. Many of these have deep enough ridges, you could even spill an entire can of soda in them without overflowing into your carpeting.
• consider fabric guarding your carpeting. Although, all the fabric protectants I’ve read information on seem to be made more specifically to guard against stains from beverage or food spills, I’m sure it couldn’t hurt.
• if you have fabric seats, consider purchasing protective seat covers.

“It’s too late! I’m in the military, I’ve been in the field & I’ve got family coming to visit. What do I do?”

Here are some of your options:

• Easiest: take your vehicle to your friendly neighborhood Auto Detailer. Do you mind if I shamelessly plug Auto Detail Aces here?
• Most expensive option: Get your vehicle reupholstered. If money is not an option, you can’t beat the results of a newly upholstered vehicle…unless you just shell out & replace the whole thing!

• Do it yourself option. Depending on the amount of red dirt you have in your vehicle & how long it’s been there you will need a few things & could use a few others:
  • hot water extractor? nice if you have one, too expensive to get just for this purpose. You might as well get your vehicle reupholstered!
  • carpet cleaner or all-purpose cleaner. You can probably get away with a gallon of Clean-all^tm or Safety Clean^tm, distributed by Auto Chem Systems, or RedHot^tm from Auto Magic. All of these products should be diluted significantly (probably about 10% solution & 90% water to 5% solution & 95% water). check the directions for the particular product you have purchased) with water, so you will have plenty to finish your entire interior & then some. Failure to dilute your product correctly could result in a stain of a different type. You should probably test in an inconspicuous area first.
  • spray bottle
  • shop vacuum or wet/dry vacuum. If you have anything more than just a little surface dirt, this is going to be a necessity.
  • pressure washer. Not a necessity, but if you have one it can make things a whole lot better for your removable mats. I would recommend probably about an 1800psi model. You can probably go up to about 2100psi or so, but you’ll have to be careful to keep the end far enough away to not damage your material. I have seen threads start to pop up to the surface from the misapplication of a strong pressure washer. Always use a fan tip or an orbital tip, never a pin point one.
  • carpet brush. A fairly stiff nylon brush usually works quite well.
  • a bunch of clean terri cloths. Some people like to put them through the wash once to get rid of the extra fuzz.

“So I’ve got my stuff, now what do I do?”

• if you have just a really light surface stain, spray the area a couple of times, scrub quickly with the brush, wipe with your clean terri & voila, it could be as easy as that.
• if your stain is a little more deep set, try this instead:
  • spray enough into the stain to saturate the area
  • scrub vigorously. You should get some brown foam coming up from the area.
  • use the shop or wet/dry vac to suck up the excess foam. If you did not get one, use a terri cloth to wipe the foam away from the area. Fold the foam into the cloth or wipe it off into your yard (don’t worry, it’s biodegradable, though I would water the area afterwards, just to be sure)
  • repeat the first three steps until the foam is coming up completely white instead of dirty brown. Vacuum the area as dry as you can & wipe over with your folded terri cloth (the cleaner the better)

“I thought I got rid of the stain, but I came back a little later & it was brown again! How did that happen?”

Unfortunately, underneath the fabric is a layer of foam or other material which is necessary if we want to be able to vacuum little bits of debris from your carpeting, or have something comfortable to sit on. If we have dirt in that foam layer, when the fabric above it dries, it sucks up that dirt & makes it look brown again.

“Okaaay. So, what can I do about it?”

If the stain is in a removable mat, take the mat out, place it on a firm flat surface where the run off will be caught by plants or grass, then pressure wash (or if you don’t have one, use a garden hose, scrub, hose, repeat) it out. If you have dirt remaining in your removable carpet, you should see the runoff have a brown tinge. Continue pressure washing in strips from one end of the mat too the other until the runoff is as clear as possible.

if your stain is not on a removable mat, or you failed to get all of the dirt out of your mat, try misting some cleaner into a clean terri, wipe lightly over the area you previously cleaned (after it dried & the dirt stain came back up). You might be able to get it looking better by just lightly cleaning  the surface & not getting the deeper areas wet at all.

“I tried all that…& it does look better, but it’s still there & I can’t stand it. Is there anything else I can do?”

There are a few other things you can try. You can purchase an aerosol carpet dye. Find one that is as close to a match as possible to your existing fabric color. Follow the directions. They will probably be something like this: Clean, let dry, spray on, work into the carpet with your brush. Spray some more. Let dry.

The problem with this is that it is quite likely the next time you try and clean the area, you will take out the carpet dye as well.

If it’s still to unsightly for you to bare…sorry, looks like you’re back to reupholstering again.

Thank you for sitting through another episode of “Adventures in Detailing”. If you have any questions that you would like us to visit here, please email us at gavin@autodetailaces.com with your question, please also mention a “question for Adventures in Detailing” in your email. If you have a more immediate question, please feel free to contact us directly.

Share This

Bookmark It

Hide Sites