How to Remove Chewing Gum From a Car Seat

Chewing gum adheres to just about any fabric or car seat upholstery. If you are lucky, you will notice the gum before it has been sitting in a hot car and has melted. However, even if the gum has been on the car seat for awhile and has been smeared, you can remove much, if not all, of the gum with time, patience and a few common household products.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Paper towels Cloth or gloves Ice Plastic scraper WD-40 Paper towels Upholstery cleaner Cloth towel Sponge

1. Place a piece of ice in the cloth or wear gloves to hold the ice (to protect your fingers) on the gum. This will make the gum harden.

2. Gently pull off the gum from the car seat. If pulling gets you nowhere, use a blunt scraper to scrape it off. If the gum gets soft again while you are scraping, reapply the ice until the gum hardens.

3. Spray WD-40 on the remaining areas of gum.

4. Scrape off the rest of the gum. Blot the area with a paper towel to remove excess WD-40.

5. Spray upholstery cleaner on the seat. Scrub it in with a soft cloth towel. Then wet a sponge with warm water and scrub the seat to remove the upholstery cleaner, leftover traces of WD-40 and any remaining particles of gum. Allow the seat to dry completely.

Tips & Warnings

• When using WD-40, make sure the windows are rolled down in the car so you have good ventilation. Keep car windows down when letting the seat dry. If the gum is extremely difficult to remove, use a gum-removing solvent, which you can find at home improvement stores near the adhesive removers.
• If you are concerned about WD-40 or gum-removing solvent staining the car seat, test it in a discreet area first. Some fabrics stain more easily than others.

References

• Removing Gum From Fabrics
• Using WD-40 for Removing Chewing Gum