Cigarette burn holes in car seats not only lead to embarrassing situations but can also bring down the resale value of your car. There are a number of options that can be adopted in this respect.
The first option is to go for professional repairing of upholstery which can hurt your pocket very badly. The other option is to fix it with some household ingredients and make them barely noticeable. Here are a few tricks that will work in this context.
For Plain Upholstery
The first ingredient that can be used for removing cigarettes burn holes in car seats is mayonnaise. The biggest benefit of using this product is it removes the burn mark without bleaching the surface. Things needed for this purpose are1 table spoon of mayonnaise, a damp wash cloth, tweezers, fabric glue, razor, and spoon. You can start by dabbing a 1 table spoon of mayonnaise over the burn mark and rubbing it with your finger. It will mainly help in pulling up the burn mark. What you need to be careful about is that mayo should only be settled over the top of burn mark and should not be allowed to be soaked through the burn hole. Leave it for 10 minutes and then wash it with a damp cloth. Once you have cleaned mayo, you will see that the burn mark is gone and what remains is just the hole. You can scrap it off with a razor and dab a drop of glue over the hole. Now place the fibers carefully with the tweezers and adjust them in a way that they look a part of upholstery.
For larger holes, you can remove a piece of fabric from an inconspicuous part of upholstery, cut it to match the dimensions of the hole and glue it with the help of tweezers.
For Patterned Upholstery
Removal of cigarette burn marks gets more difficult if the upholstery has patterns. However, there is one trick that can be used in this reference. You will need a box cutter blade or razor blade, small flat-head screwdriver, carpet glue or thick rubber cement style glue (epoxy) for such repairs. You can start by scraping the area near “crust” at the edges of burn hole. Just be careful that you do not rip the fabric when you do this. Now you can rip a few fibers or small sample from seat’s bottom. In case, the pattern extends only up to the piping, cut out a very small portion that can cover the hole. Now, apply the glue in the center of the hole with the help of screwdriver. Keep adding the adhesive until the hole is filled completely. User thicker glue as it will do a better job than the usual one. Place the trimming of upholstery over the hole and try to fit it as close to the hole edges as possible. Tamp it very gentle finger strokes, it will mesh the fibers with the hole. Allow it to dry, you can also use a hair dryer for the same purpose. It will help in forming a good bond between seat fibers and glue.
Another useful remedy for removing cigarette burn holes from upholstery includes fabric glue, scissors, and vacuum. You can always start by vacuuming the area near the burn mark and remove the loose and dirty threads with it. It will help the adhesive in doing its job. Make sure you remove the burned fibers before placing the upholstery scrapping over the hole. For vinyl upholstery, you can always visit your nearest auto parts vendor as get a vinyl seats repair kit.
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Video courtesy – Rub ‘n Restore
