Well I decided it was time to take a shot at cleaning the carpet and upholstery in my 94 max. The car has been in my family since new and I know it has never been detailed professionally or even seen more than an occasional vacuum. Over the past 2 days, I took out all the seats, cleaned the carpet, seats, carpet on the doors, rear speaker deck, and middle armrest.

I used 303 Carpet & Upholstery Cleaner ( http://autopia-carcare.com/303-30551.html ) and Autoglym Car Interior Shampoo ( http://autopia-carcare.com/ag-3500.html ) combined with an upholstery scrub brush ( http://autopia-carcare.com/vk-111.html ) to lift stains and grime. I also used around 10 clean cotton towels to wipe away all the grime and dry the carpet.

I thought it went quite well, but I didn't realize how well it went until I looked at the pictures

Here are the before and after shots, 56K BEWARE:
http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/...rpet_cleaning/

I will try and take some full interior shots tomorrow to capture how it all looks together. My only regret is not taking a before and after of the armrest as that was just nasty and turned out beautifully. My next step is some Febreeze to get rid of any lingering smell and then I'll be set. Thanks for looking.

 

very very nice. What did you use on the floor itself, the 303 or autoglym...I gotta get some.

 

I doubt that you are supposed to mix them, but I did anyway. I sprayed the 303 onto tough stains and then all over the area I was working on. Then I sprayed the Autoglym on top of that. By time I was finished spraying, the area was wet with cleaner and it would suds up a bit when I used the brush. I went through almost an entire bottle of the Autoglym and half a bottle of the 303. I didn't get any adverse coloring by using both at the same time, but it is always good to spot test any cleaner in an inconspicuous area, such as under a seat. Good luck!

 

Nice job, Cincy.

 

Looks great, Cincy.....almost like having a new car!

 

Great job. The before/after pic of the driver side rear seat is amazing.

Now that everything is spotless, get a can of Scotchguard and spray down everything. It will make the stains easier to take out next time. Or if you spill some coffee it won't set in quickly, giving you a chance to clean the seat/carpet that day.

CM.

 

damn you even took out the seats, was that hard?

 

d@mn now thats an improvement man. i give u mad props on that one.

 

looks great! i want to do something like that to my carpets... granted they aren't in that condition, but good to know it can come up almost like new...

how did you take out the seats? must of taken you a full day to do all this, right?

 

Thanks for all of the compliments guys. People that have ridden in the car have commented on the "new color." Guess it was really dirty.

I just cleaned all of my pillars and headliner. By far, the most disgusting thing I cleaned was my headliner. My rag was so black, I couldn't believe it.

The seats aren't that hard to take out at all, especially since I have taken them all out before for various "projects" which stemmed from boredom. The front seats are held in by (4) 14 or 16 mm bolts, can't remember which size. Just slide the seat all the way back, unbolt the two front bolts, slide it all the way forward, and then unbolt the two back bolts. The back bolts are covered by a little plastic thing with screw. Put the headrests down and recline the seat all the way forward and then lift them out of the car. Try not to scratch the doorjam guards like I did

As for the rear, the seat is in two parts. The part you sit on comes out first and is held in by these snap in things on the bottom. Lift up the seat and look near the ends and you will see a U shaped part. I used the biggest screwdriver I could find and wedged it under there to pry it up. After some grunt work, the seat should pop out. I believe there are two bolts holding this bottom part of the seat down near where the two parts of the seat come together. The top part of the seat where your back goes is just annoying. It has those same clip type things, but is connected up where the rear speaker deck is. Pull the top part of the seat out towards you at the bottom of this piece and then lift/push/bang on the seat upwards until it comes unclipped. Work on one end at a time. I found it most helpful to kind of squat/stand where the bottom part of the seat was and lift with legs/arms/back.

I also removed that big black mystery cylinder in the back of my car and was amazed that I could get into the trunk from behind the seat. In the future I might point a sub towards the seat armrest and have it exposed like some others have done in 4th gens.

 

WOW....it's a different color...or is that just the lighting....
anyway everything looks way cleaner. GOOD JOB.

 

hats off to someone babying their car... it will teach me to control my itch to replace my 96 with something newer!