Do you think its safe to.....

[Tracy]

pressure wash the shell of a carseat?! Sam's is DISGUSTING! I didn't realize how bad until I took the cover completely off. His seat is full of these little pockets/indentations and they were FULL of food (melted chocolate, crumbs, parts of cheeseburgers, chicken nuggets, french fries, etc). We DO NOT eat in the car other than trips (so one last Oct and one in Dec) and I could have sworn my dh cleaned the seat since then but I guess not!

Anyway, we're going up to my my MIL's this weekend and then camping and back to my MIL's and then home. We MUST have the car totally cleaned out becasue of bears! If they smell food, they WILL rip doors off the cars to get to the food. So, I cannot get this seat clean. I took a knife to dig out the food and tried wiping it but its too much and its not coming out. My brother has a pressure washer (I can set how hard it sprays) and I was thinking I'd borrow it. Do you think it would damage the seat? I won't leave it in the sun to bake dry. I can take the straps off (or just hose them too!). The cover is in the washer now.

He has a booster seat to use for now but we're driving 7hrs to my MIL's, then 4-5hrs to camp, then 4-5hrs back to my MIL's and then 7hrs home. Thats too much driving (and the bulk of it with semi-trucks!) for me to feel comfortable with him in a booster but if this seat is not 100% clean, I can't use it (and DH WILL NOT buy a new seat!!! ;))!!!

[4BlueBlessings]

I wouldnt see why not?? They only say not to use the seat after it's been wrecked... i wouldnt see how that would damage the plastic at all?!

[Chris]

We have before. We did not stand as close as you would if you were pressure washing something else. And there was no damage:)

[Kimberli]

I don't know that I would leave it out in the sun for too long, since the heat can damage/wear on the plastic but I think as long as you weren't completely pounding the seat with high pressure water, then using it should be fine.

[Tracy]

My brother said he'd drop it off on his way to work today! He managed to sneak it into my yard without me knowing. He sent me a text that I didn't see (Megan had my phone) and because the house was quiet he figured I was sleeping! HAHAHAHAHA! At 7:45am! I WISH! I heard a noise and thought I saw his car out my side window but by the time I got to the backdoor, he was long gone so I thought I was seeing things!

[Tracy]

I figure I'll start with the pressure low and work up until the stuff comes off.

[Marissa]

Not sure tracy, good question though, I would imagine a low setting should be okay, I would jsut be concerned about rust on any metal parts or waht not taht don't get dried up completely......I tried looking stuff up on this but I have not found anything precise.

[Raquel]

i'd just do it kinda far away not to damage it. good luck. carseats are a pita to clean

[Bridget :)]

what about wiping it down with bleach water in the dirty spots?

[Tracy]

Marissa, my dh wanted to soak the seat so I figured spraying it would be the better option because I can spray just the seat and not soak all the metal pieces. I could always hook up my dh's air compressor and blow it dry too!

Bridget, some of the spots are too small for my fingers to get into. I had a Lysol wipe over a butter knife and was trying but I can't get into every little corner. I even poured some of the solution in and let it sit but its just a sticky mess. I may be going overboard but I've seen what bears can do to cars and I'm not willing to risk mine.

Here's what I'm dealing with. It looks like crumbs but its almost like a hard toffee melted to the plastic.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y175/LittleManCam/SamsSeat.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y175/LittleManCam/SamsSeatClose.jpg

[Raquel]

damn!!! thats a job....

[Tracy]

Tell me about it! I don't think I've taken the cover off in years! I've pulled up the sides and washed inside (in the first pic, those 2 bottom sections that are MUCH cleaner-thats what I clean out typically) but never looked higher or more toward the middle! You should have seen what I scraped out! I wanted to be sick!