Upholstery Foam Bleed Through?

[MarkD51]

Hi All,
Late this morning, I decided to tackle the interior on my beater 2001 Kia Spectra, was in need of a good going through.

I did not drag out my Hoover Shampooer, and do an extraction.

I simply used Folex, coated each seat section with a light coat-misting of the product, used a soft nylon scrub brush, and a small clean cotton washcloth with a bucket of hot water.

All looked much better, and the light grey cloth interior was looking nice and clean.
(I didn't do much with the carpets, just vacuum, but did clean-wash all the carpeted mats.)

So, I parked the car out in front of the house in the midday sun, left all the windows cracked about 2", and 2 hours later, all was dry.

As I pulled the vehicle back into the shade, and was preparing to vacuum the entire interior again, I noticed about a 8' circular yellow spot in the middle of the rear bench seat, and a couple of other very small areas on the rear seat side bolsters, and one small area on the passenger seat.

So out came the folex again, some more warm water, and another clean white washcloth.

What I was seeing was yellow coming off onto the washcloth as I again lightly misted, and wiped with the damp towel. The Water in the bucket as I reinsed the towel was yellow.

I was seeing that when I first cleaned, but was thinking at first this was just the dirts, and dusts coming out of the material.

This sounds like bleed through of the foam, doesn't it?

It looks good now, but it might return again? About all I can think of doing, is again just very lightly dampening the top surface of the material, without any saturation of water-(or cleaner if I choose to use it again) through to the foam?

Any other suggestions, or observations perhaps?
Thanks, Mark

[Pureshine]

Wow never had that happen before. Was something spilled there before?

[MarkD51]

Wow never had that happen before. Was something spilled there before?

Hi, and thank you for responding.

Since I was the second owner of this vehicle, I had thought about that, and that could be a possibility?

That either the bleed through was some beverage, or the yellowish bleed was a beverage that somehow compromised, and damaged the underlying foam cushions?

I do know for a fact that the underlying foam is yellow in color. Reason is, is that a small hole developed in the driver's seat, and odd thing was, I couldn't get a replacement cover from Kia no matter how hard I tried, the fabric was a totally different design.

I was forced to disassemble the seat, revove covering, and take to a local Upholsterer to have it patched.

This morning, I still noticed a little bit of yellow bleed, but nowhere near as bad as yesterday, was much smaller, and much less noticeable.

I simply took straight Folex Cleaner, sprayed it again onto a clean white washcloth, and lightly rubbed the surface without saturating the fabric. That seemed to work, and the fabric looks OK now.

First time I ever had such happen.
Mark

[Rsurfer]

You did mean 8" and not 8' circle? Really sounds like a bleed through from something left on the seat prior. The more you saturate the area, the more color will come through. You did the right thing by spraying onto a white cloth and blotting it. Can't imagine the yellow foam letting out color.

[MarkD51]

You did mean 8" and not 8' circle? Really sounds like a bleed through from something left on the seat prior. The more you saturate the area, the more color will come through. You did the right thing by spraying onto a white cloth and blotting it. Can't imagine the yellow foam letting out color.

Yes Rsurfer, I meant an 8 inch circle, sorry if I flubbed with a typo there. It was smack dead center on the rear seat bottom, so yes, not seeing any such issues on the upper seat backs, this may have been a spill issue, that the previous owner, or the car dealer took care of before I bought the car.

As for what this was, who knows? LOL Maybe I should be thankful I didn't take a Black Light to the seat? LOL
Mark

[Pureshine]

Hi, and thank you for responding.

Since I was the second owner of this vehicle, I had thought about that, and that could be a possibility?

That either the bleed through was some beverage, or the yellowish bleed was a beverage that somehow compromised, and damaged the underlying foam cushions?

I do know for a fact that the underlying foam is yellow in color. Reason is, is that a small hole developed in the driver's seat, and odd thing was, I couldn't get a replacement cover from Kia no matter how hard I tried, the fabric was a totally different design.

I was forced to disassemble the seat, revove covering, and take to a local Upholsterer to have it patched.

This morning, I still noticed a little bit of yellow bleed, but nowhere near as bad as yesterday, was much smaller, and much less noticeable.

I simply took straight Folex Cleaner, sprayed it again onto a clean white washcloth, and lightly rubbed the surface without saturating the fabric. That seemed to work, and the fabric looks OK now.

First time I ever had such happen.
Mark

Glad it worked out :)

[BillE]

Good to see you have it 'fixed.'

I was thinking about what it may have been, you say you are the second owner and the spot is on the bottom seat area...aaahhhh, ya think the previous owner may have had a child that rode back there? Maybe, just maybe, said kid had an 'accident'?

Bill