How to Clean Car Seats

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Cleaning car seats has never been easier! Learn how to clean car seats with these natural cleaners and simple, quick process. Ditch the expensive store-bought cleaners and make your own to have on hand to clean and remove stains from cloth and leather car seats.

Spraying DIY car seat cleaner on a car seat.

Car seats are one of those things that just get dirty. If you have small children, you especially know how quickly the grime builds up!

Sticky fingers, sand, mud, and water all take their toll on our car’s upholstery.

And let’s not forget our own spilled coffee as we drive out of the gas station (oops).

To get those seats cleaned as fast as possible, I keep a bottle of this homemade car cleaner in the car with me at all times.

I find that cleaning seats in a car is always needed, whether it’s after a weeklong vacation or simply a day out.

If your car seats need a little TLC, keep reading to learn how to clean car seats like a pro with natural, homemade cleaners. I’ll also teach you how to get those pesky stains out of fabric car seats!

Table of Contents

Why Make Your Own Car Cleaner?

Natural ingredients: There are a lot of questionable ingredients in many commercial car cleaners. I prefer to keep it natural by making my own! With just vinegar, dish soap, and water, these cleaners have very simple ingredients.
Save money: Why spend extra money on car cleaners when you could make your own with ingredients you already have on hand? DIYing your cleaning products is an easy way to save a lot of money!
Effective: You really don’t need anything fancy to get those car seats sparkling clean. A little bit of scrubbing with homemade cleaner is all it takes.
Eco-Friendly: Skip the excess products and their cans and spray bottles. Homemade cleaners reuse the same spray bottle over and over again without extra waste. Plus, they are made with eco-friendly, natural ingredients!

What Goes Into These Recipes

Water
Vinegar: Vinegar is an amazingly effective natural cleaner. I use it for a lot of cleaning products, including my glass cleaner and all-purpose cleaner, for that very reason. The acidic nature of vinegar works to dissolve dirt, grease, and grime. Vinegar can also kill bacteria, making it the perfect cleaning ingredient. You’ll want regular white vinegar for this recipe.
Dish soap: You can use your favorite natural store-bought dish soap or make your own homemade dish soap.
Microfiber cloths: Microfiber cloths trap and hold dust and dirt particles, lifting them away from the upholstery, giving a better clean overall.

How to Clean Cloth Car Seats

Step 1. Always remove trash and vacuum the car seats before cleaning them. If you skip this step, you run the risk of making your seats even dirtier by rubbing excess dirt into the upholstery.

Step 2. Combine 1/4 cup of vinegar with 1 cup of water in a spray bottle and shake well to combine.

Wiping a car seat with a microfiber cloth.

Step 3. Mist seats with the cleaner and wipe clean with a microfiber cloth.

Clean car seat after the stains have been removed.

Step 4: For tough stains, allow the vinegar solution to soak into the stain for 5 minutes, then scrub with a microfiber cloth to remove it.

How to Clean Leather Car Seats

A measuring cup with soap water for cleaning leather car seats.

Step 1. Mix a squirt of dish soap with about a cup of clean water.

Wiping a leather car seat with a microfiber cloth.

Step 2. Dampen a microfiber cloth with the soap water, then wipe the leather seats. Repeat with plain water to rinse.

Spraying a leather car seat with a spray bottle of soap water.

Alternatively, you can add soap water to a spray bottle and lightly mist the car seats before wiping them with a microfiber cloth.

Step 3. Dry the seats with a clean towel or microfiber cloth.

Expert Tips

Feel free to add 10 drops of lemon essential oil to the cloth seat cleaner if you find the vinegar smell overwhelming.
If you have stubborn stains that won’t come out with these methods, try using this method for getting stains out of carpets.
Avoid using vinegar on leather seats; they require a gentler cleaning solution. Learn more about caring for leather in my homemade leather cleaner post.

FAQs

How do I clean between car seats?

My best advice is to invest in a quality cleaning tool designed for this purpose. I have a specific tool on my vacuum, which is for narrow spaces, so we use this to clean areas in between car seats. You can also get special car cleaning dusters which are perfect to slot into those narrow spaces.

How do I get water stains out of my car seats?

For cloth seats, you can apply a teaspoon of white vinegar directly to the water stain and let it soak for up to 5 minutes. Then with a microfiber cloth, gently blot the stain and wipe over it with a damp cloth rinsed in water. Wring the damp cloth out well to avoid additional water stains.