harmony Posted July 13, 2019 Report Share Posted July 13, 2019 Hi everyone I recently purchased a 48 Chrysler Windsor and I'm wondering what is the door panel and header material made out of? I'm not 100% sure what broadcloth is. I also understand that back then corduroy was also used. It's a off white or wheat colour and sort of looks like corduroy when you get up really close with horizontal lines such as corduroy has. It feels fuzzy like corduroy or velour. I have a dirt mark or possibly a grease mark on the door panel. I don't want to use anything aggressive. If it's grease I don't want to smear it. I was thinking of using a toothbrush and lightly brush on a mixture of baking soda and water to start. Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desoto1939 Posted July 13, 2019 Report Share Posted July 13, 2019 the headliner is ususally a cotton nap fiber and if it is original then when trying to clean it you might do more damage because of the age of the material. I would suggest that you drive the car to a good automotive interior specialist and have them look at the issue witht he stains. They might be able to steam out the stains and or give you some advise on how to remove the stains. rich hartung Desoto1939@aol.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg51T&CWagon Posted July 13, 2019 Report Share Posted July 13, 2019 (edited) If you have access to an area of the cloth hidden by a door handle or folded over onto the back etc. I'd test Resolve on it to make sure it won't lighten the color. If it doesn't alter the color, Resolve is pretty good at cleaning upholstery. It will probably lift out that grease. Blot, don't scrub, btw. Edited July 13, 2019 by Greg51T&CWagon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg g Posted July 13, 2019 Report Share Posted July 13, 2019 I believe the headiners were originally a light gray. Smoke, air contaminants, and critters all contribute to the mottled brown they seem to all turn too. This fabric can be very fragile and resistant to attempts to clean it. When I worked at a car dealership, we had some luck on older cloth upholstery stains with dry foam cleaners, soft bristle brushes and shop vacs. Spray on the foam, agetate with the brush, then go over the area with the vac to remove the remaining soil and any foam left. Work small sections about 6 to 8 inches square, overlapping the last section by an inch or so do not soak the fabric. As noted start some where inconspicuous to test the cleaner, the fabric and the technique. Go to one of your local car dealers and ask them where they get their clean up supplies, you may be able to find spray cleaners with brushes built into the can or attached. Some times older headliners will brighten up considerable by going over them with the shop vac only. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harmony Posted July 13, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2019 3 hours ago, desoto1939 said: the headliner is ususally a cotton nap fiber and if it is original then when trying to clean it you might do more damage because of the age of the material. I would suggest that you drive the car to a good automotive interior specialist and have them look at the issue witht he stains. They might be able to steam out the stains and or give you some advise on how to remove the stains. rich hartung Desoto1939@aol.com I have phoned a couple such detail places. Of course they all say they can clean it. But the risk of doing more damage makes me leary. I thought about renting a steam cleaner and trying that myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harmony Posted July 13, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2019 3 hours ago, Greg51T&CWagon said: If you have access to an area of the cloth hidden by a door handle or folded over onto the back etc. I'd test Resolve on it to make sure it won't lighten the color. If it doesn't alter the color, Resolve is pretty good at cleaning upholstery. It will probably lift out that grease. Blot, don't scrub, btw. Yes there is roping running along vertically on the inside where the door closes. It goes right to the floor by your feet and I could experiment on that area. I have used resolve before for other carpet stains but it does seem to lighten it at first. Usually with wear it will go back to it's natural colour from foot traffic. But this area doesn't get any wear or contact at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harmony Posted July 13, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2019 14 minutes ago, greg g said: I believe the headiners were originally a light gray. Smoke, air contaminants, and critters all contribute to the mottled brown they seem to all turn too. This fabric can be very fragile and resistant to attempts to clean it. When I worked at a car dealership, we had some luck on older cloth upholstery stains with dry foam cleaners, soft bristle brushes and shop vacs. Spray on the foam, agetate with the brush, then go over the area with the vac to remove the remaining soil and any foam left. Work small sections about 6 to 8 inches square, overlapping the last section by an inch or so do not soak the fabric. As noted start some where inconspicuous to test the cleaner, the fabric and the technique. Go to one of your local car dealers and ask them where they get their clean up supplies, you may be able to find spray cleaners with brushes built into the can or attached. Some times older headliners will brighten up considerable by going over them with the shop vac only. This is definitely not faded or smoked stained material. Both the headliner and door panels look original. If they were replaced at sometime it was an excellent job. I took off one window crank. Behind that large retaining washer that holds the pin in place and is about 2 in. in diameter, the fabric is exactly the same colour. I'm getting some floor carpet material from a car upholstery specialist that does a lot of old cars and hot rods. They've been in business since 1949. They will probably have a good suggestion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry Roberts Posted July 14, 2019 Report Share Posted July 14, 2019 One member has had very good results with Tuff Stuff on his headliner . Sold at Walmart auto department and also O Reillys . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harmony Posted July 14, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 14, 2019 35 minutes ago, Jerry Roberts said: One member has had very good results with Tuff Stuff on his headliner . Sold at Walmart auto department and also O Reillys . Looks like it's not available in Canada Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hkestes41 Posted July 17, 2019 Report Share Posted July 17, 2019 My daughter is a theatrical lighting designer and she drove my wife's Toyota Highlander with a light gray interior to work one day. After crawling around in the rafters of the theatre all day hanging lights for a show she got in the car to come home. What we ended up with was a stained seat that two different detailers tried to get out without any success. I had a detailer on another site tell me to get some LA's Totally Awesome cleaner from Dollar General and to test it on an area not easily seen. If it worked on that area it would be fine on the seat cushion. I can say that for a jug of cleaner from the dollar store it did a fantastic job and lived up to its name. Now I keep a jug in the garage all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Buchanan Posted July 17, 2019 Report Share Posted July 17, 2019 (edited) You guys are doing this all wrong, gotta have the right equipment: P.S. The Awesome Cleaner from the Dollar General really is good stuff, I keep a $1 spray bottle of concentrate in the shop, hangar and camper. Edited July 17, 2019 by Sam Buchanan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T120 Posted July 17, 2019 Report Share Posted July 17, 2019 3 hours ago, Sam Buchanan said: You guys are doing this all wrong, gotta have the right equipment: " Honey, I bought a new fangled vacuum for the car- would you please try it out? The car is in the garage"... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harmony Posted July 18, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2019 6 hours ago, hkestes41 said: My daughter is a theatrical lighting designer and she drove my wife's Toyota Highlander with a light gray interior to work one day. After crawling around in the rafters of the theatre all day hanging lights for a show she got in the car to come home. What we ended up with was a stained seat that two different detailers tried to get out without any success. I had a detailer on another site tell me to get some LA's Totally Awesome cleaner from Dollar General and to test it on an area not easily seen. If it worked on that area it would be fine on the seat cushion. I can say that for a jug of cleaner from the dollar store it did a fantastic job and lived up to its name. Now I keep a jug in the garage all the time. Can't say that I've seen that in the dollar stores around my part of the world, but I'll keep an eye out for it. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harmony Posted July 18, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2019 1 hour ago, T120 said: " Honey, I bought a new fangled vacuum for the car- would you please try it out? The car is in the garage"... Gotta love that attachment. Wouldn't it be cool to stumble across one of those in a yard sale one day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harmony Posted July 18, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2019 Problem solved. I had some regular foam auto upholstery cleaner by Simoniz that I had recently purchased to use on my daily driver car seats. The sun visor material is the same as the door panel where the grease/dirt stain was. So I mustered up the courage to tried a bit on the back side of the sun visor in the corner and there was no problem with damaging the material so I thought I would give it a try. I bought a new medium firm toothbrush, sprayed a little foam on the tooth brush and dabbed a little bit on it. Just basically going straight into the fabric and straight out. Then used a paper towel to blot it. The first try I noticed that the paper towel was a little gray so it seemed to be working. I kept doing it slow and easy and after about a dozen applications it was back to looking new. I washed the brush after each time with water then dried it to be sure I wasn't putting any of the grease/dirt back on the fabric. Once I got it all out I did a few gentle lateral strokes with the foam and toothbrush. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry Roberts Posted July 18, 2019 Report Share Posted July 18, 2019 It sounds like it is working well , but don't you need a bigger brush ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harmony Posted July 19, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2019 Perhaps, I could have even used the brush that comes on the end of the foam can. But I wanted to be very cautious. It all worked out great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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