mold spots on vinyl seats

Just spent all weekend cleaning our first used boat. Stiff brush, bucket of clean H2O,plenty of towels & "AMAZING ROLL OFF"! I have been using it for years in the Auto industry. It was created to wash compet*tion Sailboat sails without harming them or the environment. A little bit of H2O to activate it. Scrubb in gentle circles w/hardly any pressure & watch the dirt,mold,grease pool up. Wipe w/a clean rag & keep going till it meets your expectations. Will clean almost anything.Tried the simple green,did ok but won't make it the eye popping clean you are looking for. Follow up with "303 Aerospace protectant"(32oz for $20 but worth every penny).

tjlake wrote: once you get them clean and conditioned try this: After I let my boats air dry and before putting the covers on, I put about 1/2 cup of diluted bleach and water (1/2 and 1/2) in a plastic cup. Put the plastic cup in a cup holder and cover the boat. It has significantly cut down on my problem. Just don't forget to remove the cup before moving the boat..that can get ugly..

Good idea!

I've always been a big fan of soft scrub. Light bleach, hopefully not enough to hurt vinyl. Tough spots, I smear it on and let it set a few hours. Lightly scrub with one of those sponges with the scrubby backs. I've gotten out just about everything mother nature can dish out with the stuff.

I see every cleaner posted but one! I don't know if it will work for you but whenever I have to scrub mold or a stain I have used Scrubbing Bubbles and Soft Scrub bathroom cleaners and then condition the vinyl afterwards.

Try diluting the bleach 1:10 with water. The water will help the bleach get into the material where the cells are. If that doesn't work, a solution of boric acid. It will break down the mold cell walls.
Lastly, you may need a solvent that is simulair to the mold products. Try rubbing alcohol first. If that doen't work try some turpentine.
Use all of these sparingly and rine well with water and condition the vinyl afterwards.
Engine degreaser will get rid of the mold stain but it will also get rid of the vinyl!

This is the best seat cleaner I have ever used. I have tried them all and this by far works the best

http://vinylvictory.com/

cheers

have you tried starbright yinyl cleaner? or castrol super clean? i have had luck cleaning stuff with both of those. maybe use them with a magic eraser. i would try and not let it get on the st*tching.

Gotta get rid of the spores where they are attached, don't just try to kill 'em.
Use one of those "magic eraser" sponges (5 bucks for 3 or 4 of them)with plain old H2O to rub the spores off. Then, if it makes you feel better, use any type of vinyl conditioner product like armor-all.
Man, those magic erasers are unbelievable. I've used them for mildew (never came back) and I got rid of rub marks on decals, rub rails (from white bumpers), and rub marks on hull from trailer guide rails. Don't know exactly how they work, but they left the shine intact on my '79 after rubbing fairly vigorously to get the trailer guide marks off of the hull.

Ya let me know. Because I just tryed all the above included straight bleach and I still have the spots. The bleach sort of worked but I had to use alot and scrub real hard and the spot is still there its just a lot lighter. ( I hope your home remedy works because it would take me weeks to do this with bleach.) Let me know

Thanks
Trev

Dilute the bleach 1:10 parts water. Spray on; wipe off after a minute. Then use some conditioner.

Hi Trev
I don't know if it will get it out but.

I just had all my seats Upholstered.

I asked him about how to care for my nice new off-white seats.
(The first thing he said was not to sit on the seats with a screwdriver in your back pocket)

The Upholsterer said to use Mineral Turps on a rag to clean the vinyl seats.

He said that allot off the commercial cleaners available get the vinyl clean but they also pull the oil out of the viny and hence the eventually crack.

The Upholsterer said Mineral Turps puts oil back into the vinyl.

So if nothing gets the mold out you could use the bleach like Corey says and then rub it with a rag with turps so that the vinyl does not dry out.

I have used turps on my seats, but if you try it would test it on an inconspicuous spot first

Regards
Rob

ok, so i searched the forums and found the one about cleaning vinyl with simple green, magic eraser, and such, but none of these work at all for me, I just bought a 86 martinique and it was left outside and there are little black mold spots on all the vinyl. I searched the internet and there seems to be 3 main players Starbrite,meguires,and 3m. Anybody try these or had a similar experience with mold not coming out.

Thanks in Advance
Trev