How do you maintain fabric upholstery - Benzworld.org

jtcb · 09-24-2007, 08:33 PM

I should have asked this question a year ago when the car is in factory new condition. Now the car is one year old. Luckily I am able to keep my Orient Beige Utrecht Fabric upholstery as clean as possible. I bought four sheepskin seat covers. Although the sheepskin is golden yellowish in color and doesn't really match the much lighter beige color and makes the interior looks uglier, it gets the job done nicely for now. In addition to the sheepskin, I also got a 3M fabric protection spray of the whole interior by my MB dealer for $500.

I wish one day I can remove those sheepskin because they just look plain ugly.

I know MB UK and other countries except Canada has orginial MB seat cover for the B. The cost is $150 EUR or GBP I think. I should have got those instead.

I should have chosen black and be worry free or went for a turbo and real leather.

Now I want to know what have you done to keep your upholstery clean.

Mike Tee · 09-24-2007, 10:46 PM

Good question...we were wondering the same thing, because although our car has not been delivered yet, we ordered the grey cloth (because it looks nice with a two tone interior, black on black is pretty sombre).

We will save the $500 and do the ScotchGaurding ourselves for maybe $50, and also get a Green Machine/SpotBot - type upholstery cleaner for maybe $130.

I guess the answer is to clean the upholstery once a year with your own cleaner, and dealing with spilled stuff immediately.

But just think, black hides all that dirt, do you really want to be sitting in dirt all the time?

kdbcom · 09-25-2007, 12:34 AM

Don't be too disappointed that youv'e not got black upholstery as like the black paintwork the black upholstry also shows the marks. It's suprising how many white bits of fluff and white powder that seem to appear after you have had the car a few weeks. And the dash top seems to look constantly dusty. You may have made the right choice.

Regarding the Scotchguarding does it come in a spray on form?

Mike Tee · 09-25-2007, 07:56 AM

You can buy a can of the 3M stuff here for under $20 I think. I know someone who just did his smart seats that way.

CA-B200 · 09-25-2007, 01:47 PM

Wipe up spills immediately. Scotchgard helps too. Have a blanket ready for traveling with pets.

My routine for years has been to thoroughly vacuum once a month (check the oil and tire pressure too). I then wipe down all cloth parts (seats, doors and floors) with dampened towels (micro fiber works great for this). I did this with another car with tan cloth seats and it always looked great even after 13 years.

jtcb · 09-25-2007, 08:24 PM

I feel like an idiot now after reading all your comments. I could have DIY for maybe half the price or even less than I paid for the dealer.

Mike Tee · 09-25-2007, 10:29 PM

Ahh it's OK, you were just trying to protect a beautiful car.

I think a steam cleaner for upholstery would be a good thing to buy.

Tristan5 · 10-05-2007, 09:21 AM

I have the light grey seat upholstery. Every couple of months I spray the seats with diluted upholstery cleaner and vacuum dry them with a machine that can suck up liquids (mine is a Hoover). Hey Presto - perfectly clean but slightly damp seats!

Mike Tee · 10-05-2007, 10:44 PM

Yeah we bought a Bissell SpotBot last weekend, which will do the same thing. The car isn't here yet......