Stiff, crunchy seatbelts? Solution found!
02-04-2017, 06:37 PM
#1
Stiff, crunchy seatbelts? Solution found!
This worked for me, anyway. This requires removing them, too. It's really not that difficult, and I'm sure someone has already written up a tutorial on how to remove them. All you need for this is a bucket (I used a 2 gallon from the dollar store) and some OxyClean powder (I've found the name brand stuff to be far superior to any imitation product, btw)
I put maybe a gallon of hot water in the bucket and a pretty good sized scoop of oxyclean in there and mixed it up with my hand until I felt no more grains/powder at the bottom. I pulled the seatbelt as far out of the unit as I could, then used a pin/needle to go through the center of the belt right at where it meets the retraction unit, to keep the belt from retracting. Then I just stuffed as much seatbelt as I could into the solution and let it soak for about 20 mins or so. My passenger side wasn't that bad or dirty, but after doing the driver side, you should've seen the water! Full of dirt and grime, it was pretty gnarly. Then just rinse under hot water and hang to dry. That's it! They already feel way better and I expect upon drying I'll be able to implement another idea I have to remove the stray fabric "hairs" that make it look so worn. I'll post another thread for that if it turns out the way I want it to.
With seatbelts being so expensive (and important) I figured I would try my best so salvage the OEM belts, which are going to be the best quality, and I'm sure this is an issue that plagues most older vehicles.
I put maybe a gallon of hot water in the bucket and a pretty good sized scoop of oxyclean in there and mixed it up with my hand until I felt no more grains/powder at the bottom. I pulled the seatbelt as far out of the unit as I could, then used a pin/needle to go through the center of the belt right at where it meets the retraction unit, to keep the belt from retracting. Then I just stuffed as much seatbelt as I could into the solution and let it soak for about 20 mins or so. My passenger side wasn't that bad or dirty, but after doing the driver side, you should've seen the water! Full of dirt and grime, it was pretty gnarly. Then just rinse under hot water and hang to dry. That's it! They already feel way better and I expect upon drying I'll be able to implement another idea I have to remove the stray fabric "hairs" that make it look so worn. I'll post another thread for that if it turns out the way I want it to.
With seatbelts being so expensive (and important) I figured I would try my best so salvage the OEM belts, which are going to be the best quality, and I'm sure this is an issue that plagues most older vehicles.
