Hi,

I have my 8 for 3 years now. It starts getting a constant bad odor and maybe it is because of the seats. I have to admit that i am sweating easily and considering that the temp here during summer are hitting 40+ celsius and this is my everyday car.
Anw...
I was wondering if there is an effective way like take them off and put them in the washing machine (very light mode) and let them dry in ambient temp.
Will that defect the fabric or maybe they won't fit back.
I also noticed that the fabric fade compared to the rear seat (rear windows are factory tinted). Suppose there is nothing to do about that except of getting new ones or newer like from ebay or a totaled rx8.

How easy is to take off the front seat covers? Is there any DIY or should consider or is better to go to a professional?

Or should i stick the traditional method of foam and vacuum? I always feel that this doesn't work. It's like covering dust and odor underneat the foam.

take the seats out of the car and hit them with a high pressure power washer.

let them dry in the sun.

i read that tip in sports car compact. its what they do when they buy an old car with cloth seats and clean it up for track fun.

I have always used a steam cleaner if they are cloth seats. It works really well and helps prevent mildewing due water not evaporating fast enough. Here is a link to one that is similar to the one that I use. Hope this helps!

http://www.amazon.com/Bissell-1425B-Little-Proheat-Cleaner/dp/B000069K6U/ref=sr_1_51?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1221497299&sr=1-51

I have always used a steam cleaner if they are cloth seats. It works really well and helps prevent mildewing due water not evaporating fast enough. Here is a link to one that is similar to the one that I use. Hope this helps!

http://www.amazon.com/Bissell-1425B-Little-Proheat-Cleaner/dp/B000069K6U/ref=sr_1_51?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1221497299&sr=1-51

So a serious valeting centre should use such method that you are mentioning?
Maybe I will take it to a valeting centre and pay 100eur or something like that and get the job done.

I wouldn't be surprised if they used something similar. They probably have a much more expensive one though. The good part about owning your own is you can do it whenever you want and you don't have to pay each time to get the seats cleaned.

Jason