I used Simple Green at 40% on both sides. That brought the dirt to the surface. It did not look that bad to start with, honest. I just knew they were a bit grubby.
Once the dirt was loose I hit it both sides with my Karcher and left them to dry in the sun. They now retract like new, too.
Interesting.
So the belts were not retracting properly due to being dirty?
Yep, that's right Steven. I must admit to not knowing about the dirty belts not retracting until I was told - a couple of years back.
I did the ones in the picture without removing them. I undid the lower mounting of the loop and extended the belt fully. The closed the door on it but kept it flat. My worthy assistant held the belt while I applied the cleaner and then high pressure rinse. By keeping the free end low the liquids ran away from the car. I did have to support the belt with one hand during the rinse.
Thank you M1FF...great tip! I have a set of seat belts that need a super cleaning job done to them. I will follow your instructions and see how they come out. They are red so the before and after pictures might not be so contrasting as yours.
MM please let us all know how it goes.
I have cleaned belts before and they do become much more pliable after all the dirt etc. is cleaned from them. I imagine that would be a great help for retractable belts to work.