Cleaning Car Seats

[homewithtwins]

I had been putting off giving the car seats a good cleaning but finally gave it a shot the other day. We have the Eddie Bauer seats that they sell at Toys-R-Us. They have a nylon and neoprene cover.

I took the covers off and washed them in the washing machine with Woolite on the gentle cycle, dryed them in the dryer for a few minutes, then let them air dry for about 24 hours.

For the straps and buckles I soaked them in the sink with Lysol disinfectant. I scrubbed the bad spots with an old tooth brush. I let it all dry for 24 hours. I gave the plastic seat base the same treatment.

Re-assembly was the worst part, it is hard to put them back together with two two year olds trying to sit in them. The covers shrink a tad and have to be restretched and the straps have to be reassembled in an exact order. Leave one piece out and you have to start over.

These seats have been used heavily for a year and now look brand new. The only down side to these seats has been that the harness gets twisted and you occasionaly have to take the seats out to get them straigtened out.

Another car seat tip, hydrogen peroxide works pretty well getting the smell of vomit out of your car. You have to smell the peroxide for a few days.

[dad305]

Thanks for the info. I've been putting off cleaning the car seat and the car booster chair for fear of finding some unknown life form or some wmd's.

You now have inspired me and I think I'll take some time next week to do this.

[Weston]

OMG .....

That sux!

:(

[homewithtwins]

Put about 20 Bounce fabric softeners in your car. Put them under the seats, console, glove box, pockets on the doors, anywhere you can stick them. They will make you car smell cleaner. It will not eliminate the smell but it will do more than afruity spray. Use the name brand Bounce, they have more scent than the store brand.

There is a product called Odoban, you may find it at Sam's, that will work on some odors. I used to use it when I managed a car wash.

Good Luck.

[andywindsor]

I had the same putrid smell in my car with milk. Luckily it was on top of a removable carpet that had slipped under the seat along with the bottle. Unlike you I was lucky enough to be able to just toss out the removable carpet. I feel for you man. The worst thing that has happened was that we toss an old mattress that was puke on. Tried febreeze plus many other things, but it still stunk.