Other than cleaning, what's the best method to improve this?

I'm going to remove mine and give them a good clean tomorrow, I know on some cars you can take a clip out and tighten up the spring, any idea if you can do that?

Luckily mines a low mileage 2006 car so they still go back perfectly fine, just wanting to get it 100% for the future more than anything.

no idea on the spring tbh.

 

Seen some people who've used Mr Sheen etc but I wouldn't use that; don't know what's in it and how it will react with the belt.

 

I think, not 100% on this, you're supposed to use water and a mild detergent. ie a few drops of Fairy liquid in a bucket of handwarm water and dry fully.Beware of getting any water into electrical connections.

When I clean the interior with Autoglym Vinyl & Rubber Care I pull the seat belts all the way out and give them a good clean with this stuff too - actually on the fabric. I also cleaned around where it passes through on the top of the B pillar. The seat belt is a damn sight smoother and felt almost like new again - retract is excellent!

Yeah that was the plan,

Going to wind it out all the way and put a crocodile clip on it, soak it in a bucket of warm water for a while and lightly scrub.

Will check on the spring part and report back tomorrow I guess!

Currently have no interior in the car anyway, no seats, door cards or centre console, all been cleaned and wet vaced so will be like new inside when I'm done!

Used Mr Sheen on mine. Worked a treat.

I think I tried that a few years ago on an older car.

It's probably the same theory as cleaning them I suppose...

Had a quick look and doesn't seem like you can wind the spring tighter or anything, I'm sites it's possible but I'm not willing to take the security sticker off and pull the belt to pieces.

Will just clean it all up and hopefully it will help them go back nice and fast with a smooth action also.

I've read people have cleaned the very bottom bit that's tucked away under the plastic trim and that's helped.

Had a quick look and doesn't seem like you can wind the spring tighter or anything, I'm sites it's possible but I'm not willing to take the security sticker off and pull the belt to pieces.

 

 

Ooh no you can't do that. There are explosive pre-tensioner things in them as well.

I've often found that when you fully extend the belt, that some of it feels slightly damp, so I was in the habit of maybe when it becomes slow to retract, fully extend the belts and leave like that - the idea being that some of the moisture will have evaporated, that seems to work and I follow that with using the "Mr Sheen" on a cloth - running the folded cloth along the belt a few times. The way I look at it is, if it is a bit of moisture, then drying it out will help as will rubbing some silicone polish on to the surface.

Well I thought they were quite clean and retracted well....

Forgot how bright the red seat belts are and how quickly they go back when new!

Went through four buckets of water in total.

First two buckets just warm soapy water and left the seat belts to soak for a little while occasionally agitating them bending them etc.

Second bucket did similar but used a soft cloth to wipe them down and soak again.

Third bucket so rinse off and soak again, I expected that to be the last but the water was dirty.

Forth bucket was the extra rinse, water stayed clear so that was it, left them to dry for an hour and refitted.

Didn't really take any pictures other than 1 with the belt removed.

This was before the clean so as you can see still look quite nice.

I think the worst bit of all was pouring the water out after the first wash! It was almost like I had been washing the outside of the car and your left with the dirty grit at the bottom of the bucket.