Best way of cleaning a tennis bag?

[Torres]

Any idea of the best way of cleaning a tennis bag?

Bought a used one recently as this particular brand/model is no longer made, but its a bit manky inside and out and because its mostly white, the dirt shows up really easily!

Tempted to fold it up and throw it into the washing machine but concerned that its just going to destroy the bag, damage the interior foam padding too much etc.

Anyone tried dry cleaning a tennis bag?

Or is this going to be a case of alot of elbow grease and detergents? If so, any particular types of detergents recommended?

[The Meat]

I washed my old K-Factor bag a few months ago(awful condition, browning on the white parts and the bottom was black). First thing I did was remove all debris from inside(sticks to inside of bag when you add water), got a towel and soaked it in warm laundry detergent and wiped off the insides. Then I got vinyl cleaner and used that to wash the outsides, rinsed it off with warm water with a towel. Let it hang dry, good as new! Except for a few scratches from court abuse.

[Andyroo10567]

You can go outside and just hose it down. Then hand apply the detergent or whatnot and just hose it down again. Let it air dry?

[Torres]

Originally Posted by The Meat

I washed my old K-Factor bag a few months ago(awful condition, browning on the white parts and the bottom was black). First thing I did was remove all debris from inside(sticks to inside of bag when you add water), got a towel and soaked it in warm laundry detergent and wiped off the insides. Then I got vinyl cleaner and used that to wash the outsides, rinsed it off with warm water with a towel. Let it hang dry, good as new! Except for a few scratches from court abuse.

I started having a go at this last night with warm water and washing detergent. Some of it comes off but its difficult to shift the ingrained dirt particularly from awkward areas such as the padded straps, corners, material around the zips etc.

I think those areas really need a long soak with detergent and then another attempt.

This really needs a stronger cleaning agent.

[The Meat]

Originally Posted by Torres

I started having a go at this last night with warm water and washing detergent. Some of it comes off but its difficult to shift the ingrained dirt particularly from awkward areas such as the padded straps, corners, material around the zips etc.

I think those areas really need a long soak with detergent and then another attempt.

This really needs a stronger cleaning agent.

Are those parts white? As long as it is poly/fabric you could use bleach.

If it's another color I believe there are fabric stain removers that would work well on poly/fabric colors.

[Torres]

I ending up throwing the whole bag into the washing machine and doing two 50c washes, with the bag reversed for the 2nd wash. It's come out pretty nice and saves alot of azz ache.