How To Clean Car Interior Fabric

Can Selleys Original Sugar Soap be used on car interior fabric?

For car interiors specifically, Selleys recommends a specialty solution from partner brand Turtle Wax rather than Sugar Soap. The two named products are Turtle Wax Power Out Car Upholstery Cleaner Odour Eliminator and Turtle Wax Spot Clean Stain & Odour Remover. Both are designed specifically for car interiors, to target the mess at hand.

That is the recommendation, and it is worth understanding what sits behind it rather than treating it as a brand preference.

What Sugar Soap's own data sheet says about fabric

Selleys Original Sugar Soap does list fabric among its general applications — it spot cleans fabrics, carpet and upholstery, blinds and similar. But that entry carries a condition attached directly to it: test for compatibility and colourfastness in an inconspicuous area before use. The same warning appears again under the product's laundry uses, where clothing pre-soak is listed with the same caveat.

Two words in that entry do a lot of work. The first is spot — the data sheet describes spot cleaning, not cleaning a whole seat or carpet. The second is colourfastness, because Sugar Soap is a professional-strength alkaline cleaner with a pH of around 11, and dyed fabric is exactly the kind of surface where that strength can cause a problem the cleaning was meant to avoid.

Car interior fabric adds a further complication. It is usually bonded to foam backing, often over a moulded panel, and it cannot be rinsed and wrung out the way a rag or a garment can. Sugar Soap's directions rely on rinsing, and its stated limitations include rinsing well from glass before the product dries and rinsing floors, baths and shower recesses well after use. In a car seat, cleaner that goes into the foam largely stays there — which is why a product built to be worked into automotive upholstery and lifted back out is the better tool.

What to use instead

• Turtle Wax Power Out Car Upholstery Cleaner Odour Eliminator — for upholstery cleaning with odour removal.
• Turtle Wax Spot Clean Stain & Odour Remover — for individual stains and spots.

Follow the directions on those packs for dilution, dwell time and whether the product needs to be rinsed or extracted. Those details come from the product you are actually using.

If you do use Sugar Soap on fabric anywhere

The data sheet allows spot cleaning of fabrics, carpet and upholstery generally. If you are doing that on household items rather than in a car, the conditions are:

1. Test an inconspicuous area first for compatibility and colourfastness. Under a cushion, inside a hem, behind a seat back.
2. Dilute it. Half a cup into 5 litres of water is the standard dilution; dilute to suit the task. Neat use is reserved for stubborn or in-ground marks on hard surfaces with a non-scratch scouring cloth.
3. Spot clean, do not saturate. The listed use is spot cleaning.
4. Do not let it dry on the surface. Sugar Soap is salts based; solution that dries in place leaves a deposit behind.
5. Wear gloves if you have sensitive skin, and keep it away from your eyes — the product's safety directions warn that it causes serious eye irritation.

Other limitations worth carrying into a car

• Wipe Sugar Soap off immediately from aluminium and brass surfaces. Car interiors are full of trim, badges and fittings where you cannot always tell what the metal is.
• Rinse it well from glass before the product dries, or it leaves a hard salts deposit — a real risk on a windscreen or window when you are working inside a car. See removing Sugar Soap marks from glass if that happens.
• Never mix it with another cleaner. Selleys does not recommend adding any other product to Selleys Original Sugar Soap.

Common questions

So can Sugar Soap be used on car interior fabric or not?

Selleys' recommendation for car interiors is the Turtle Wax products, which are designed specifically for that job. Sugar Soap's data sheet lists spot cleaning of fabrics, carpet and upholstery as a general use, always with a compatibility and colourfastness test first.

Which Turtle Wax product should I use?

Power Out Car Upholstery Cleaner Odour Eliminator for upholstery, or Spot Clean Stain & Odour Remover for individual marks. Both are named by Selleys for car interiors.

Why does a car seat need a different product?

Car upholstery is fabric over foam that cannot be rinsed out. Products made for automotive interiors are formulated for that, and Selleys recommends them for exactly that reason.

What is the risk if I use Sugar Soap anyway?

Colour change is the main one, which is why the data sheet requires a colourfastness test. Sugar Soap is also a salts-based cleaner and leaves a deposit if it dries in place instead of being rinsed away.

How do I test for colourfastness?

Apply the diluted solution to a hidden area, leave it as you would in use, then check for colour transfer onto a clean white cloth and for any change in the fabric itself once dry.

What dilution would I use for household upholstery?

Half a cup of Selleys Original Sugar Soap into 5 litres of water for most jobs, diluted to suit the task.

Can Sugar Soap clean the rest of the car?

Its listed outdoor and general uses include tools, engines, chrome and stainless steel, with the standing warnings about bare aluminium and brass and about rinsing glass before it dries.

Does Selleys have its own car care range?

Yes — see Selleys car care and the Polyglaze range. Check each product's own pack for what surfaces it is made for.

Where do I find the rest of the Sugar Soap range?

The multi-purpose cleaner range lists each variant, including Instant Sugar Soap and Sugar Soap wipes, with their own directions.