Any reason not to Scotch Guard my cloth seats?

I have a couple of cans of the stuff and since I have a 6 week old daughter, it seems like it will be a good idea in the near future.

Hey guys! So I dug up this ancient thread from 7 years ago and decided to bump it

My question is a bit different. I was disappointed to find out that the cans actually say the stuff needs to be re-applied every 3 months. Do any of you have experience with Scotchgard? Why the need to re-apply? Do dealerships/furniture stores use different stuff to be able to offer quite long warranties (5 years)?

Wife and I just bought a Forester with cloth seats. We are expecting our first child. Messes are going to be a fact. I'm also intending to treat my 05 LGT interior with this stuff.

Dealer offered a 5-year warranty on their own treatment but they wanted $350. I said no.

Yes.

Maybe?

It's not really worth it. Here's the real secret... don't let messy things in the car. No eating allowed. With a baby it isn't going to be much of a secret, but the second you let your 3 year old in the back seat with a tube of yogurt and a red velvet cupcake you can expect a mess that no amount of Scotch Guard is going to protect you from. Trust me (three kids later) when I tell you that better than Scotch Guard are these things: Just an example, but you get the idea. You'll get far more dry crud dropped from your child than wet stuff. The occasional wet froot loop might fall down there and then watch out. It will leave a lovely little stain. Since car seats typically don't go in and out of cars, the crud will stay in the seat for sometimes months. Getting something like that car seat protector, or at the very minimum use a towel under the car seat, is the only way to really protect the fabric. The real damage will come later when the kid is in a booster and much more mobile and brings in messier things. You've got two or three years before that happens, but when it does I suggest getting a vehicle with leather in it just to make your job easier. Trust me on that.

I thought Scotchgard was going to be the saving grace

I was planning to get seat covers like that

Yeah, not really. The only way to bulletproof your car from kids is to just watch what your kids bring into it. Set rules that even the adults follow. No open containers and nothing but dry foods, if anything, gets brought into the car. Shoes get stomped out before you get in the vehicle just like your house. And even with the best intentions you can bet that someone is going to rip open a bag of gum drops and spray sugar everywhere that you'll have to deal with, so Scotch Guard really isn't going to save you from much. It will help save you if you catch the spill right after it happens, but it doesn't last very long and you have to keep reapplying it.

 

It is sort of like car insurance. I've been paying it for twenty years and never needed it, but you know the one time I miss a payment is going to be the time I rear end someone. The one time you skip applying it will be when they lick the top of their strawberry ice cream cone right down the middle of your seats. It is better to just get into good habits about what goes into your car.

 

But the car seat mats serve more purpose than just catching stains. The first car seat you have in there is going to be buckled down for probably at least a year and a half or two years if not more. Then they'll need something larger than the backwards facing seat and you'll be strapping down a bigger chair for the next three or four years. Kids have to be in car seats till they are somewhere between 8 and 12 years old and the seatbelt fits them correctly. So whether it is four point harness seats or just booster seats, there is going to be something strapped down back there for a very long time. You can always tell the cars that have had car seats in them long term because there are wear marks in the upholstery or leather. Covers like the one I showed you will save your car from damage from the car seat as well as catch stain causing crud from ruining them further. In my experience it is that first car seat that does the most damage because it is the one that is buckled down the hardest. So definitely at least put a towel between the platform and the seat before you lock it down.

 

Oh, one other idea someone gave me was to use bathroom runners. Those bathroom mats have grippy bottoms on them so they don't slide off the seats. Kind of clever I thought. They would probably do the trick at protecting the seat from car seat damage too. Just a thought.

So that $340 dealer treatment was just a money making scheme. They were also trying to sell a $600 paint sealant job

And there are no other stronger or longer lasting products than Scotchgard?

The dealer demo was impressive tho.

Spilled coffee and all of it was just bead up. None got absorbed.

I've done some checking and it appears that 303 Fabric Guard is a better product, if one were to want to treat cloth. Here is what I was able to find out

Silicone Fabric Guards may repel water just as well as this product, but that’s where the similarities end. This fabric guard will also repel oil, soil, grease, and dust. Silicone treated fabric lasts on average 2-3 months, as compared to High Tech Guard that protects for up to three years."

Here's a good site that talks about the difference, plus a video

http://www.myboatstore.com/scotchguard.asp

 

I've ordered a bottle from Amazon, I'll let you know how the application works.

I have a lil' one in my newer Subie...Scotchguard is a must. I also made a rule that only water is allowed to be consumed in a ride....SAY NO TO MILK! Also any foods that are messy are completely forbidden. So far so good...and now she is a toddler. Just make sure to pack your car with toys! LOL!

 

I never heard of the Silicone Fabric Guard but that stuff sounds like a good idea too... something for the future perhaps...

The car seat protectors are great ideas, however (iirc), none of them are approved for use with a car seat. they also void all car seat manufacturer warranties and protection guarantees. Basically if you use them, and your car seat 'fails', it's all on you.

I used to soak my jeans in scotch guard till they were DRIPPING with them to turn them into water tight ski pants.

If they would apply something LIKE THIS to the seats, then I would be all for it.

 

http://www.neverwet.com/

 

I'm just waiting for them to put something like that into an application that can be applied to a car. Either a sealant or in the paint itself. That would be awesome. Say good bye to washing your car in the winter!

The car seat protectors are great ideas, however (iirc), none of them are approved for use with a car seat. they also void all car seat manufacturer warranties and protection guarantees. Basically if you use them, and your car seat 'fails', it's all on you.

True, however 303 "addresses" that issue. See my link.

Whether or not it is "approved" by manufacturers unfortunately it's another issue.

I scotch guarded Mrs. KRB. It was a difficult process, what with having to tie her down and such whilst she struggled, but in the end, I think she's been preserved rather well by the process. She's really easy to clean, too.

True, however 303 "addresses" that issue. See my link.

Whether or not it is "approved" by manufacturers unfortunately it's another issue.

 

I have read some stuff that would kinda make me shy away from it personally... Just about all of the problems that people have had, have been user related and could have been avoided if the pad was fit or installed correctly, but... i dunno. Seems like a lot on the line.

 

I like the idea more so to battle the indentations of my alcantara... But i will deal with it. Its only a seat

When my kids were in car seats we used a rubber sheet for a kids bed to protect the upholstery. I'd highly recommend one under anyone eating in a car....or evict anyone eating in the car. Scotch Guard is still a good idea, just keep up on re-applying. People moving over the upholstery will certainly affect how long the Scotch Guard lasts.

 

Aaron

Someone once asked me if they could smoke in my car. They were halfway to lighting up while they were asking too. I must have looked shocked because they stopped short. I told them that I don't even pick up Pizza in my car because it could leave a smell, so what makes them think they would be able to smoke? lol But that is how I feel about eating too. If someone wanted to go through the drivethru and get food and then eat it in my car, I'm afraid I'd have to pull over and have them eat it on the side of the road. I'll admit that I might go awhile without cleaning the car, but that doesn't mean I don't still avoid things that will make it dirty. That is one of the reasons I CAN go a few weeks between washes or cleanings. It is amazing how clean you can keep your car if you avoid certain things.

I'll admit to eating in my car on occasion, but I always have some paper towel close by and use the fast food bag or whatever as a "tray". I hate it when people get greasy fingers all over stuff so I have a container of wet wipes in the back of the car next to the paper towel.

 

My friends know how picky I am about fingerprints on doors, etc... and they usually respect my desire to keep it clean.

 

It drives me nuts when coffee drips out from under the plastic lid on the paper cup, however. I need some cupholder cups to put my coffee cups in to contain the drips

Food is the worst in a car. The longer you keep it out, the longer you can hang on to that new car smell.

I've treated the rear two seats, the back of the front seats, the carpet and the trunk. Only the seats took. The material used in carpeting and trunk must have a different pattern or whatever you call it but it seems that the stuff doesn't get thoroughly absorbed. I poured some water and even though the excess rolled off, it did soak in at the are where I poured it on directly.

The 303 worked perfectly for the rear seats. No chemical smell. Dried right off overnight. I love it. Gonna treat the fronts and likely the interior of my Legacy too.

Trouble is I went through a 32oz bottle of the stuff just for the areas outlined above. I think I wasn't applying it right, bottle says it should cover 80sqft, depending on material. This time around I know what I'm doing

The plan is definitely no food, most likely seat covers as well. But some accidents just happen. If the kid is going to be sick, not much you can do about it.

 

While on the subject of smells, I've used Febreeze sprays before supposedly that neutralize smell, they hardly worked.

I got a sprayer bottle of Meguiars odor neutralizer and that stuff works great!

The LGT had a very faint, lingering smell akin to a damp shirt.

Highly recommend the Meguiars stuff. Car practically smells like ... nothing!

I love that meguiar's odor remover. It is absolutely awesome. In fact, in one of my very very first write ups I strongly recommended that product for cigarette smoke smell removal from your car. I've been using it for years and have always been blown away at how effective it is. Spray that stuff down your vents and on your cabin air filter and then let your car run on recirculate for awhile and see what it does to the smells. It is awesome.

 

I used it on a trunk that had spilled milk in the middle of August and let it sit for a few weeks. After getting all the milk out it still stunk. I sprayed a few shots of the meguiar's odor remover and it totally killed it after a few other steps, but it was mostly the odor remover. Definitely something to have around if you are trying to kill smells. It is the very best stuff I've ever found locally for actually removing odors.

I've used 303 and it works great, just wears off really fast and you need to reapply. Pretty sure the dealer just sprays 303 when you buy their option.