Cleaning Alcantara Door Panels (Take II Part I)

[Alex Kowalski]

OK I sent it the first time and it didn't make it through for some reason, according to the digest, so I'll break it in half and try again, without the Ultrasuede URL.

Part I:

A long while back, some listers may remember, I started a thread about cleaning 
Alacantara upholstery.  Louis Alain-Richard responded with a few suggestions and then the thread moved on into a discussion of a source for Alacantara fabric in the U.S. (Alacantara is also known as Ultrasuede and in fact, you can find the 
single U.S. automotive aftermarket distro. listed on the ultrasuede.com website -- Gulf Fabrics, Inc., in the beautiful state of Florida, from whom you can buy not just one, but TWO kinds of Alacantara in all sorts of different colors.)

Anyway, yesterday I was inspired while I had my door panels off, and decided to 
try and clean the alacantara panel inserts.  In particular, I removed the front 
driver's panel, which had a pretty gross "elbow grease" type of stain ground 
into it.  The fabric itself is also a little distressed, but not too badly -- 
the dirt was the really the worst part of the blemish.

I used about 2oz. of mild dishwashing liquid mixed with about a 2 tablespoons of Oxy-clean granules in 3 gallons of lukewarm water.  I took a soft sponge and 
slowly swabbed the entire surface of the alacantara, wringing the sponge often 
and working with relatively light pressure.  There was just enough detergent in 
the water to create a few suds, it wasn't a foam party.  

After doing that several times, I took the panel over to the kitchen sink, 
inverted it, and used the aerated sprinkler attachment to thoroughly rinse the 
insert with cold water.  Then I used paper towels to blot it dry, followed up 
with a hairdryer set on low heat for about 5 minutes to get most of the water 
out.  Yes, I rinsed it in the kitchen sink and used a hairdryer to dry it.  
Luckily, I don't have a wife to tell me not to do these things, but the flipside 
of that situation presents certain problems that suggest themselves from time to time as well, so...  ;-)

Then I let it sit overnight to dry completely.  But before I did that, I sprayed 
a tiny circle of spot remover on the excess piece of trim that is usually 
hidden, wrapped inconspicuously around the back of the panel near the A-pillar, 
to test the reaction of the fabric.

[Continued...]