Is it safe to wash my seats

[techieman33]

I'm putting in heated seat pads as we speak, and well my seats are dirty, since the cloth is going to be off anyway is it safe to put them in the washing machine , what about the dryer?

 

[Exploderpilot]

I would probably feel ok in the wash, but maybe hang them to dry.

 

[Exploderpilot]

And where exactly did you get heated seat pads? is this gonna be an install thread? Pictures?

 

[Turdle]

oh
I'd get some woolite and hand wash them--just to be safe-

the dryer is safer than the wash machine--dry them on low heat until just damp and hang them up--

 

[techieman33]

Ok well It looks like it's going to be a huge pain in the butt to get them all the way off, so I'll just try to hand wash them as best as I can, yes there will be a write up, it'll probably be a week though, the camera battery was dead, and I don't want to pull out the 20D and get it dirty (my dad would kill me) so it'll probably have to wait for the passenger side, but it's basically the same.

 

[Exploderpilot]

thanks JT, I didn't know that! I can't tell you how many this I have washed, but been afraid to dry!

 

[techieman33]

found a better solution, the steam cleaner has an upholstry attachment, so I'm going to use that, as soon as my mom gets back home to show me how to use the thing, normally I'd just figure it out, but it probably wouldn't be a good thing to do something wrong in the middle of the living room

 

[techieman33]

these are the seats I bought
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=200412&highlight=heated+seats

 

[Dan Whitaker]

You sissy! I hate heated seats. My mom's car has them. She turned it on & my ass felt like it was on fire. I'm hot blooded anyways so it didn't help. Now A/C'd seats I'd be all for.

 

[Joe Dirt]

What hurts the most is the strength of normal detergent, and the spin cycle-

I usually wash my floor mats every few months, and I've runied a few because they get wedged between the basket and agitator and burn the thread off the edges.

I'd also suggest Woolite for detergent, or very little normal detergent, and take them out before the spin cycle, rinse them off in the shower or laundry sink, and hang them to dry.

I've not done seat fabric before becasue it was never worth popping the hog rings off vs. using a good cleaner like Tuff Stuff or something, but I'd be even more careful with them than I would be with my mats if I tossed them in the wash.

 

[techieman33]

You sissy! I hate heated seats. My mom's car has them. She turned it on & my ass felt like it was on fire. I'm hot blooded anyways so it didn't help. Now A/C'd seats I'd be all for.

I didn't buy them for me, the ladies all love heated seats for some reason

 

[Dan Whitaker]

Crack that whip! :

My wife is cold blooded. She will crank the heat because she is cold and I will have my coat off trying to keep from sweating to death.

 

[techieman33]

Crack that whip! :

My wife is cold blooded. She will crank the heat because she is cold and I will have my coat off trying to keep from sweating to death.

yeah, I usually just turn the vents off on my side

 

[chriswells78]

Heated seats are great for the first 5 minutes, after that, I turn them off in my LS. My wife will keep it on the whole way to work.

AC seats would be EXCELLENT. I bought on model year too old of an LS to get AC seats

 

[techieman33]

Well after many delays the drivers seat is steam cleaned and the pads are in, it's a pain in the butt to get seat backs fabric connected back together but I finally figured it out and got it done. I'm off to go bolt the seat back in and to figure out how I want to route the wiring (the harness is all ready built, I only have to connect to piower. There are lots of connectors at least so I can take it apart to make running it all easier.

Heated seats are great for the first 5 minutes, after that, I turn them off in my LS. My wife will keep it on the whole way to work.

AC seats would be EXCELLENT. I bought on model year too old of an LS to get AC seats

Yeah AC seats would be nice, but I don't have leather so it's not a big problem for me. I really wish my mom's explorer had them though, that leather gets hot in the summer

 

[techieman33]

My butt's all nice and toasty now, I'll do a write up in a few days after I'm done with the other seat, and figure out how i'm going to clean up my power, there are going to be to many wires and relays down there in the center console

 

[MONMIX]

I have had great success with the ol' carpet spray and a vaccumn.

 

[huntman58]

Just adding some info on seat cleaning here. I just did this on my 93 so I can only speak on that year. I have the 60/40 bench front seat with fold down arm rest and the 60/40 fold down rear seats. I removed the seats from the truck except the back seat backs .I then removed the seat covers being there is no hog rings on them at all they are held on by plastic clips and Velcro . The clips hold them to the seat frames and the bucket backs and the Velcro to the seat cushions then self. After removal I did wash them in a washing machine full cycle including spin. Then I let them air dry. Reinstalled is simply the reveres of the removal not hard at all. They look great and came out clean .I did find a few spots that did not rinse clean so a damp rag cleaned them off.
Being the seats were out I also removed the carpet and used a home carpet cleaner on it also. It was okay for most of it but not all then in the harder spots or missed one I used a woollight carpet cleaner spray with oxyclean booster in it. Now not only dose the seats and carpet look clean but they also smell a lot nicer too, hope this helps some one out. I did this as my seats were so dirty they were even getting any light colored clothing dirty and it was really bad it you sweat or the clothing was damp so now that problem is gone. So good luck it worked for me hope it will for you also.

 

[BrianDye]

Crack that whip! :

My wife is cold blooded. She will crank the heat because she is cold and I will have my coat off trying to keep from sweating to death.

Man I thought I was the only HOT blooded one in the world haha, I would use heated seats for about 2 mins. to take the chill outta the seat, then my ass would do the rest...then I would want cooled seats LOL.

Everyone hates riding with me cus its quite chilly in my explorer haha

 

[ranger7ltr]

I used a Little Green Machine to clean mine...

Well after many delays the drivers seat is steam cleaned and the pads are in, it's a pain in the butt to get seat backs fabric connected back together but I finally figured it out and got it done. I'm off to go bolt the seat back in and to figure out how I want to route the wiring (the harness is all ready built, I only have to connect to piower. There are lots of connectors at least so I can take it apart to make running it all easier.



Yeah AC seats would be nice, but I don't have leather so it's not a big problem for me. I really wish my mom's explorer had them though, that leather gets hot in the summer

When I bought my X the seats were so dirty that if you patted the seat back or cushion dust would fly out from it...I used a little green machine to clean then vacuum the water out of the seats...The amount of dirt I got out of the seats was unbelievable...It didn't take too long for them to dry but I did leave the windows open and a box fan on to facilitate the drying process... I think it took a few hours to overnight in my garage to completely dry...

I did this on the carpet as well...IT really just extended the replacement time of the carpet though.. The previous owner was a pig...