Washing Seat Belts

I’ve seen some videos on YouTube, the results were meaningful. However the processes I saw being used seemed more daily driver appropriate than a Porsche . Have any of you cleaned them? Did you soak and saturate them? If so did you dry them or air dry them. I can tell my red belts would glisten with the right approach and all convertibles are going to get a tad dirty, same for the track day cars. So comon’ P9, “ get the widow on the set I need dirty laundry”.

I don't understand your concern. Seems like you're over thinking this a bit. I'd use some diluted Simple Green in a small bucket and scrub the seat belt then rinse. I'd also put a towel behind the belt and when done scrubbing wrap the towel around the belt, squeeze and let dry.

A word of caution: Be careful not to get the parts of the belt that retract back into the spool wet - if you do, it's very important that you dry those sections out thoroughly before letting the belt retract back behind the panel. I made the mistake of getting the seatbelts in our hauler SUV wet once when I was cleaning them. I figured the belts would still dry out once they were retracted. Big mistake - a couple of weeks later, those sections of the belt behind the panel were covered in mold. I had to replace the belts because the mold just just wouldn't go away, no matter how thoroughly I tried to clean and disinfect the webbing.

Here’s what I’m overthinking, the videos I saw showed people pulling the belts out to their maximum closing the car door and then trying to wash the bulk of what they have outside of the vehicle in a bucket. Is that the approach you guys use as well? Also what Cayman S shared is gold! That’s why I asked, that gives me enough pause to consider leaving them alone. Sometimes perfection is an enemy.

I thought of the hairdryer too. In those videos, it’s astounding how much dirt comes out of these belts when they are submerged in soapy water. I think the appropriate first step will be trying it on my daily driver.

I have cleaned my belts for sure. On my BMW e46, they get dirty and slow to retract, so not for cosmetic reasons. Make a solution of warm distilled water and carpet shampoo, simple green or some other gentle cleaner like Woolite and extend them out. Then I dip a cloth in the solution and wipe the belt the entire way multiple times until the yellow cloth doesn't get dirty anymore. Then I press the whole belt against a dry cloth to absorb as much water as possible and then I let them air dry in the sun BEFORE retracting. You don't want to retract them wet. Once dry, you can retract them.

Yes, I was surprised how much crud comes out. Also on the E46 there is a metal guide for the belt and I noticed black gunk on the inside that was slowing the retractions. I wiped it off and the retraction got 50% better just on cleaning the metal guide. Finally I lubricated the mechanism when the belt was full extended with some silicone lube and it was retracting almost as good as new.

You just need the right (very large) torx driver and you can remove your belts for much easier cleaning. Or, you can buy a new set if you want to spend the $$$. My car came with belts matched to the black cars, so I upgraded to yellow on my own. And now, after 18 years of daily driving, I'm looking to do some cleaning as well.

I pulled them all the way out and used a clamp to make sure they stayed extended. Then I blasted them with a steam cleaner for a while. They dry pretty quick: just blot well with a microfiber towel and then leave a fan pointed at them for a while.

How are the results? Are they anything close to new looking? What color do you have?

They're black and they weren't super dirty, as far as I can tell, but they seemed to come out fine. I was more doing it as a 'might as well' thing.

I have a slow retracting driver's seat belt.. and I suspect that's due to gunk (tech-term) and munge (another) on the belt. It's black so I can't see if it's dirty, but it is kinda shiny, and about 17 years old, so I'm following this with great interest. It's also supposed to be mid '80's in NJ tomorrow, so I might have a car project. I'll try to remember to take pictures. Maybe. My plan at the moment - I got a steam cleaner/vacuum for Christmas, still in the box. I'll take it out of the box and see how it does on the driver's seatbelt. Dry it by hand, then clip it into the passenger belt receptacle to dry. And I have a belt clip kicking around, so I'll try to keep if fully extended. Will try to remember (notice I've repeated this.. getting old..) to post the results with the pictures

These cars have seatbelt pretensioners ... pyrotechnics that fire like airbags, but to tighten up the seatbelt tension during a crash. They are located in the seatbelt reels. If you're keeping the car for a while, maybe it's time to just buy new belts. Hmm... this message applies equally to me as well.

Somehow I think you might try cleaning them first if you check the price of replacement even of just the belt portion. I don't know if Porsche sells it without the pyro tensioner, but I'm guessing well over $1,000 each... (there are aftermarket places for the belts, but when I thought about changing mine they were not a bargain.)

Here's a video from Larry Kosilla (considered one of the best car detailers in the world): Clean your belts

I did mine today, using the newly unpacked Christmas present - a Craftman "spot cleaning" vacuum.. it has a stiff brush attachment with a solution sprayer, and a liquid extractor. I suspect it's what's used by most used car dealers to make the stripes in the carpeting. I first learned to use it on the drivers carpeting. Did a very nice job of getting embedded dirt out without getting things too wet. The vacuum brush has a clear top so you can watch the liquid being sucked up and into the dirty water tank. When the clear top stops showing liquid streaming into the pickup hose - it's gotten all it can out. The driver's belt was the next challenge. I found a belt-clip so I could pull it all the way out and it wouldn't retract. I then found a bath-sheet (very large towel) from my collection in the garage, quadrupled it up, draped it over the back of the driver's seat, and had at it. I started by spraying about 18" of belt with the liquid mix from the vacuum (the soap came with the vacuum). I sprayed both sides, then worked it into the belt with my fingers. Next - vacuum running, I worked it up and down the wet belt until the belt felt only slightly damp, and dirty solution stopped getting sucked out of the belt. Repeat until the sucked out liquid came out clear. I worked up and down the belt, then draped it over the steering wheel (buckle plugged into the passenger seat belt socket), and moved it out into the sun. Took the time to clean up the garage from last falls leaves, and various winter mess. Brought it back into the garage, took the clamp off it, and it fully retracted all by itself. No coaxing needed. Success. Might do the passenger side tomorrow.