seat laundering pics: before and after
- dlb
- Highest Ranking Member
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- Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:03 pm
- My tercel:: '87 sr5, '83 dlx parts car
- Location: bc, canada
seat laundering pics: before and after
i'm so mad right now because i took pics of these seats when they were filthy and mouldy, but it seems that i deleted them before uploading them to photobucket. regardless, i still have the older photos (pre-mould) that i can use as reference so i'll go on anyway.
i just washed the front seats from ted, the parts car. as i mentioned, though only the driver seat wing had a few small holes, all were filthy, stained, and both bottoms were mouldy. i washed them like crazy last night using 'stain away' pre-treatment, lots of soap, a bit of bleach, hot wash water, and did it five times. the result was remarkable. they are not perfect but i'd rate them at about 85%, which is especially remarkable considering how they were before.
before (and before the mould)
after
bottom #1
bottom #2
back #1 and head rests
all
the other back is being mended by my friend and thus absent from the shots. i'll post the final pics once the seats are all assembled. i think i've convinced myself to wash the seats in ron this spring/summer.
i just washed the front seats from ted, the parts car. as i mentioned, though only the driver seat wing had a few small holes, all were filthy, stained, and both bottoms were mouldy. i washed them like crazy last night using 'stain away' pre-treatment, lots of soap, a bit of bleach, hot wash water, and did it five times. the result was remarkable. they are not perfect but i'd rate them at about 85%, which is especially remarkable considering how they were before.
before (and before the mould)
after
bottom #1
bottom #2
back #1 and head rests
all
the other back is being mended by my friend and thus absent from the shots. i'll post the final pics once the seats are all assembled. i think i've convinced myself to wash the seats in ron this spring/summer.
- splatterdog
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- Joined: Sun Mar 26, 2006 10:26 am
- Location: Minnesota, USA
Re: seat laundering pics: before and after
If there's anything leftover make a vest! You could then be THE geekiest T4 owner alive. haha
- Petros
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- Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:31 pm
- My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
- Location: Arlington WA USA
Re: seat laundering pics: before and after
And a matching British golf hat to go with it!
Cleans up nice. Amazing how well the fabric holds up, consider it is over a quarter century old!
Cleans up nice. Amazing how well the fabric holds up, consider it is over a quarter century old!
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
- dlb
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- Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:03 pm
- My tercel:: '87 sr5, '83 dlx parts car
- Location: bc, canada
Re: seat laundering pics: before and after
all finished this job. i had my friend, a professional seamstress, repair two holes and a tear along the seam of the driver seat back. the seam just had to be taken in but for the holes, she darned them and then added some leftover sweatshirt material as backing to strengthen the remaining fabric. she did an awesome job.
exterior of the repairs.
the inside view of the repairs. note the darker sweatshirt material on the left.
close up of the interior repair.
put this cover on and the seats are done. i'm really happy with how they turned out.
driver seat (formerly the passenger seat covers and foam)
passenger seat (formerly the driver seat covers and foam)
rear seat backs
rear bench
the whole gang, chilling in my crawlspace
i learned a lot from this round of cleaning. i'm glad i took more time with the washing because i found was able to get 90-95% of all stains out. it just took a lot of washing, stain away spray, hot water, bleach, and 'delicate' washes. i also removed the carpet from the parts car and gave it the same treatment and was amazed at how it turned out too. the rear carpet had had a mighty stain in the driver side foot well which cleaned up quite easily. those are sitting in the crawlspace too, in case anyone is interested in them. not mint, but in good shape. i removed all the underlay to wash them but you can replace that if you want.
exterior of the repairs.
the inside view of the repairs. note the darker sweatshirt material on the left.
close up of the interior repair.
put this cover on and the seats are done. i'm really happy with how they turned out.
driver seat (formerly the passenger seat covers and foam)
passenger seat (formerly the driver seat covers and foam)
rear seat backs
rear bench
the whole gang, chilling in my crawlspace
i learned a lot from this round of cleaning. i'm glad i took more time with the washing because i found was able to get 90-95% of all stains out. it just took a lot of washing, stain away spray, hot water, bleach, and 'delicate' washes. i also removed the carpet from the parts car and gave it the same treatment and was amazed at how it turned out too. the rear carpet had had a mighty stain in the driver side foot well which cleaned up quite easily. those are sitting in the crawlspace too, in case anyone is interested in them. not mint, but in good shape. i removed all the underlay to wash them but you can replace that if you want.
- ARCHINSTL
- Goldie Forever
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- Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 1:52 pm
- My tercel:: Goldie is a 1986 SR5 attualmente con Weber/also owned the first T4WD in STL in late '82
- Location: Kirkwood, a 'burb of St. Louis
Re: seat laundering pics: before and after
Boy, lookin' great!
It was definitely worth it!
Tom M.
It was definitely worth it!
Tom M.
T4WD augury?
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
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- Member
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- Joined: Thu Mar 20, 2014 12:46 pm
- My tercel:: 86 Tercel 4WD SR5
- Location: Fargo ND
Re: seat laundering pics: before and after
another awesome informative post!!! Thanks for sharing
From the South but in Fargo because wife found her dream job
86 Tercel SR5 4WD (couldnt wait for that perfect rust free 22RE 4runner)
03 Mercury Marauder sold 4/5. In mourning
03 Altima 2.5SL (wifes cruiser)
86 Tercel SR5 4WD (couldnt wait for that perfect rust free 22RE 4runner)
03 Mercury Marauder sold 4/5. In mourning
03 Altima 2.5SL (wifes cruiser)
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- Top Notch Member
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- Joined: Sun Aug 29, 2010 9:59 am
- My tercel:: 1988 SR5 Wagon
- Location: Vancouver Island
Re: seat laundering pics: before and after
looks like a party in there, those are the cleanest looking plaid turd seats I have ever seen! lol
how hard were the seat skins to come off?
looks great bw
how hard were the seat skins to come off?
looks great bw
2JZGTE-powered Tercel SR5
- dlb
- Highest Ranking Member
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- Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:03 pm
- My tercel:: '87 sr5, '83 dlx parts car
- Location: bc, canada
Re: seat laundering pics: before and after
thanks! these seats are in toughtercel's daily driver now.
the covers take some time to remove and replace. the second time i did it was much quicker than the first though. i'd say it takes 2 hrs to remove the seats and the covers, and then a bit more to replace them. the hogs rings can be a pain to work with but i am used to them now and don't find them too bad. some guys just use plastic zip ties or zap straps, whatever you call them, instead of the hogs rings when replacing the covers.
the covers take some time to remove and replace. the second time i did it was much quicker than the first though. i'd say it takes 2 hrs to remove the seats and the covers, and then a bit more to replace them. the hogs rings can be a pain to work with but i am used to them now and don't find them too bad. some guys just use plastic zip ties or zap straps, whatever you call them, instead of the hogs rings when replacing the covers.
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- Joined: Thu Sep 11, 2014 10:29 pm
- My tercel:: Hadatercel
- Location: Oakland, ca
Re: seat laundering pics: before and after
Know its an old thread but this is of interest to me, can anybody see any reason not to use zip ties?
It takes more fossil fuel resources to produce new vehicles than it would take to maintain and fuel any 70's or 80's vehicle for a million miles.
- dlb
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- Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:03 pm
- My tercel:: '87 sr5, '83 dlx parts car
- Location: bc, canada
Re: seat laundering pics: before and after
in the post just above yours, i mentioned that some guys use zip ties instead of hog rings. i think it should be fine as long as you use fairly broad, heavy zip ties. i wouldn't use small, thin ones as they might not hold against the pressure. it would suck to have to pull the seat and redo them if that were the case.
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- Top Notch Member
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- Joined: Thu Sep 11, 2014 10:29 pm
- My tercel:: Hadatercel
- Location: Oakland, ca
Re: seat laundering pics: before and after
Right, I just think that maybe where the seat back hinges against the seat bottom that there may be chafe from a zip tie knot that could damage the seat bottom over time - if, as it were, there was enough reclining action over a long enough time line.
This thread makes me happy, I wetted, scrubbed and shop vac'd my S-10 blazer seats (red & grey tweed) and though they came clean the chafe of the brush and shop vac pipe frayed some of the higher traffic spots of the tweed, irreparably damaging them.
My tercel has the grey & blue tweed centers, already has a crotch area chafe rip, so low chafe cleaning method is of particular interest to me.
This thread makes me happy, I wetted, scrubbed and shop vac'd my S-10 blazer seats (red & grey tweed) and though they came clean the chafe of the brush and shop vac pipe frayed some of the higher traffic spots of the tweed, irreparably damaging them.
My tercel has the grey & blue tweed centers, already has a crotch area chafe rip, so low chafe cleaning method is of particular interest to me.
It takes more fossil fuel resources to produce new vehicles than it would take to maintain and fuel any 70's or 80's vehicle for a million miles.
- dlb
- Highest Ranking Member
- Posts: 7320
- Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:03 pm
- My tercel:: '87 sr5, '83 dlx parts car
- Location: bc, canada
Re: seat laundering pics: before and after
yes, that's actually a very valid point. in my first terc, i used a small rug doctor to clean the seats and found that the abrasive scrubbing really damaged the old tweed-ish fabric. now i try to be as gentle as possible when doing spot cleaning like that. if something requires serious treatment or affects a larger area, pulling the seat covers off is the best way to deal with it.