David Ray

The suit I have (Sparco) says dry clean only. Their website says you can hand wash it or wash in a machine with Woolite and let drip dry out of the sunlight.

Is there any preference out there between dry cleaning or machine washing? Is one better than the other?

Juan Lopez

I do dark color woolite on gentle cycle and hang dry but not in the sun.

Dry cleaners are so different (unregulated) that I would not send my suit to one. I for one are not thrilled about using a fire retardant suit that smells of gas plus, remember the judge's lost lucky pants...

GUMBALL

I agree with that - know of several bad experiences...including one cleaner that lost a drivers suit for three weeks.....

I wash mine in lukewarm water (gentle cycle), touch of mild soap. Prefer to hang and let air dry, but have used a dryer (gentle, NO HEAT..!) when necessary.

Nordschleife

When I lived in New York, my dry cleaner was absolutely fantastic, they also operated a marvellous laundry service. Very high quality work, automatic button replacement, beautiful ironing. I used to FedEx my laundry and dry cleaning back to them. They also maintained a clothing storage facility. Dry cleaners are one of the things about the US that impresses me - the contrast with Germany could not be greater where I get abused for bringing in 10 shirts at a time, charged four or five times as much, no butrton service, shoddy ironing and an interminable wait. But if you cared about customer service, you wouldn't live in Germany.

R+C

M758

I have been washing my black & white sparco suit for years in woolite for dark colors. I wash it in cold/cold. The I hang dry inside the house. I do the same for my socks and balaclava.

srf506

Agreed, I've always washed my Simpson nomex in cold/cold gentle cycle with a mild detergent, then hung-dried in the house. Except for the red fading, it still looks pretty good.

rsrdan

+1 ....then hang it under a ceiling fan.....fast dry!

rdstemler

Zip the zippers and turn inside out!!!

jrok

What about this stuff?
Good stuff or gimmick?
No affiliation, blah, blah.
Molecule Link

skl

Just got the Molecule system and washed my Sparco X-light for the first time. Followed that with their protectant. Seemed to work fine. I was always worried about sending them to the dry cleaner as well. I'd give it a try. Not cheap but it will wash it several times and dry cleaning a suit isn't that cheap in my experience either.

smankow

I've used the molecule products and they work well. Track gear comes out clean and fresh.

Steve

Juan Lopez

I did forgot to mention that I turn it inside out, close all zippers and velcro.

Now, no-one caught my joke or was it so bad.....

#11 WCGT GT3RSR

You should not dry clean your nomex suit as the chemicals that are used in the process are flamable and will diminish the flame retardant capabilities of your suit!

Mike O

So when SPARCO put DRY CLEAN on the tag in my Pro Cup 6 they are knowingly reducing the protection of the suit? I don't think I can sign on to that. Dry cleaning chemicals are flammable but there is no liquid or vapor residue or chemical reaction with the suit materials to chage the behavior of the material.

Maybe this is an urban legend???

jrok

Sort of along those lines but slightly different -- I was told by one the the bigger sales outlets that suits were only good for a certain number of dry cleaning cycles before they would cease to uphold thier fire rating. I obviously don't know the specific reason but I found it interesting. For some reason I think the number was 50. Perhaps the chemicals degrade the fibers or the stitching that hold them together?