What is a good way to clean seat belts? Thanks

What color are they? When I cleaned the ones in my nova, I soaked them in a bucket of water with a few ounces of woollite. My belts were black, so I wanted to preserve the color. They came out looking new after I soaked them overnight. I took a stiff nylon brush and scrubbed the belts after they soaked and this got out all of the dirt/grease and anything else that had accumulated in the belts in the past 35 years. I then rinsed them and let them dry.

Are they in the car or out? If out, place them in a pillow case and tie the end so they can't "escape". Toss them in the washing machine (use hot water) and let them go for 30 to 45 minutes or so. They'll come out clean and pliable again.

Ed

Dont use washing powder...it is hard on the fibres
A 50/60 mix of shampoo and water, scrub in with a tooth brush, both sides on a bench...
Hose off dry with air gun, and finish with air drying...not in the sun
Spray and rub in pledge furniture polish, then finish with a light spray of silicone...This brings the colour back and protects the fibres
My seat belts are the orginals and still in top condition...they are checked every 6 months in a Warrent of fitness (WoF) that all cars have to go thru in NZ.

Mine are black from a 69 Camaro. So far I've got soaking in Woolite, hot water washing machine with no detergent, and shampoo with silicone at the end. Lots of choices... Anyone else have anything to add? Thanks for the recommendations.

Are they in the car or out? If out, place them in a pillow case and tie the end so they can't "escape". Toss them in the washing machine (use hot water) and let them go for 30 to 45 minutes or so. They'll come out clean and pliable again.

Ed

Like Ed said. I did mine this way and they turned out great. When they came out of the wash, I hung the belts from some nails in the basement.

I used TSP (Tri-sodium Phosphate) and a scrub brush.

TSP , TKPP type phosphates are hard, long term on the webbing material.

Steptoe, Are you saying that the phosphates continue to attack the webbing after being rinsed, or just during the cleaning process? What I'm asking is, are my belts rotting away?

I can tell you they're hard on your hands, during the cleaning process!!

The phosphates, can weaken the fibres, then these eventually fray more and more with use over the yrs....same with most solvent based cleaners.
Stick with soap based....they work just as well , just need longer time to work and a little more elbow grease....
Using Pledge, replaces, the nataual 'oils' of the fibres, so they are not 'dry' and wear better.

I have to ditto on the washing machine route. When I did mine, I used Dawn and a medium bristle brush. Work the Dawn in the belts and then put them in the pillow case and wash in the machine. The biggest reason for he piollow case is to prevent the buckles from ruining the washer drum and incurring the wrath of woman!!!

Funny you mention ruining the washing machine with the metal buckles...I was telling my wife about it when this last post came in. She thinks the pillow case won't keep the metal from chipping the washing machine drum. Any comments?

Funny you mention ruining the washing machine with the metal buckles...I was telling my wife about it when this last post came in. She thinks the pillow case won't keep the metal from chipping the washing machine drum. Any comments?
Add some of your shop towels to the load and set your agitator to low if it is adjustable, but I really don't think you will have a problem.

Took mine to the car wash and they came out great. I do this with my old dirty hats too. :)

Use woolite or dreft detergent only if you have to "wash". As stated above these detergents won't attack the thread. Do not use hot water. Hard soaps and hot water will decrease the tensile strength of the webbing. I tested an uncleaned real dirty driver side 68 front belt that was also very stiff (Az sun!) that tested to 2900lbs. Spec for these belts is 3000 lbs.
I washed the passenger side in tide detergent and hot water. Tested at 1800lbs. Web broke on both belts.

I work for a major aircraft seatbelt company. We do not recommend any cleaning on both nylon or poly belts. I think the camaro belts are nylon. I have seen some "low buck" airlines attempt to wash used seatbelts with poor results. One thing that happens is the lock thread on one side of the webbing gets damaged. Next thing you know you get a web that falls apart. There is a dry cleaning process that I can't recall at the moment that works OK.

I do know a small seatbelt company in Ca. that may be interested in doing some rewebbing. If you want to contact them email me at jriley@amsafe.com

Keep in mind when using washing powder in the washing machine...
These also contain a high content of phosphates....

When I bought my 69, the black seat belts were all in a milk crate stained with rust from other hardware tangled in with them. They looked like they were pulled from the depth of hell. I soaked them 24 hours in a bucket of "Purple Power" (Pep Boys) and then scrubed them with a stiff brush. They look like new now.

Do you clean the retractable belt in the same manner? Would you pull the belt out and fasten it some how?
Thanks, Greg

Well in my case, the retractable belt mechanism/spool was already corroded so just soaked the whole thing. Probably not a good idea if the yours is in better shape. Mine still works, just sticks a little when you tug on it to retract it.

Did many seat belts by soaking them in Woolite overnight never had a problem. I had a set of Blue belts in one of My elcaminos and after washing them I sprayed them black with SEM Vinyl Dye and they looked great and lasted for years like that. It is true seat belts do weaken with time and sun and detergents.

Don't want to hijack this thread, but I need more info. I just picked up a set of deluxe 69 belts that are a little dirty and faded green. I want the belts clean and in black. Do I understand correctly that I can wash the belts in Woolite and warm water and then dye them black with Ritz dye? I don't really want to separate the buckles from the belts, so my plan was to just clean/dye 1/2 of the belt at a time and move the buckle out of the way to keep them dry. Any other suggestions? Thanks, Charlie 69 RS

That will work, but you will loose the labels.

Maybe I should post a new thread, but just need a little more help. I got my (deluxe) seat belts Woolite cleaned and then Rite dyed from green to black (looks very good, but maybe not perfect). I didn't check them before hand and am just now noticing that after being dried, the retractors don't work very well. They need some manual turning in order to roll in the belt. Anyone have a suggestion on how to get more return spring in the retracters? If your suggestion involves removing the belt and retractor from the plastic housing, please be specific on how to accomplish that feat as well. Thanks, Charlie

I had the same problem. I put the retractors in hot water to soften the plastic and pulled the retractor loose from the casing. Then I used WD40 to loosen up the mechanism. It would then retract freely, but not retract all the way.

That's where I get a little fuzzy about what I did from there. It seems like the pin in the center of the retractor is fixed in a flat sided hole. I can't remember if I had to open up the body a little to remove the pin from the flat, but if you get that far, you can see what to do. I cranked a little more spring tension into the retractor, and fastened the pin back into place and reinstalled the plastic.

Has anybody tried this with white seat belts? My interior is oyster and my belts are an off-white originally. Thanks.

Hey Unreal, your suggestion for increasing the pull of the retractors worked perfectly! It took a few minutes, but I eventully figured out how to turn & reload the spring and then insert the bolt to secure the spring in place. I had used Rite dye to go from green to black and I'm not happy! I soaked them overnight and they still look more green than black, especially when you put them up against a real black belt. Anyone have any ideas?
And sorry for the lack of replys to the tc member who posted regarding cleaning white belts. I recommend that you soak them overnight in Woolite, clean water wash and let them dry (out of the sun) and see what you have. Hopefully they are not sun faded yellow. Charlie

I used SEM vinyl/fabric paint in Landau Black. They offer several variations of black and the stuff is great. I got mine from English Color...they cater to paint & body shops. Don't expect to find it at Walmart.