steam cleaning carpet?
- Thread starter blueflamedlx
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gearheadboy
15 Year Member
OK, I clean up and sell cars once in a while for extra cash. I get the rattiest looking interiors, clean um up and people say "oh it's so clean inside". Here is the trick for BAD CARPET: take it out, take a spray bottle of (household) carpet cleaner, spray the thing down good. Put it in the back of a truck and head to the local car wash. I throw them on the ground, spray them, rinse, and there ya go. I have the luck of having a heated inside garage to let them dry in. It won't hurt a thing. PS they weigh a ton wet.blueflamedlx said:has anyone done this ,i have a bad coffee stain i wanna get out ,can i do it and just leave the door/windows open all day?,any help would be appriciated,thanks
I steam clean my Mustangs' carpets all the time!
In fact, when I rent the shampoo'er from the grocery store I do all my families cars, my own, and then the carpets in the house.
Works great, I seriously recommend you do it.
Go to the local grocery store and make sure you rent the smaller EASY-OFF shampooing machine with the "upholstery attachment". Make sure the one you get, which ever it may be, has the upholstery attachment or you're screwed. The rental cost is something like $24 for 24 hours.
I don't buy their easy-off store stuff which they sell with the rental. I instead buy the BISSELL rug shampoo with scotch guard from a hardware store or WAL-MART. Work's better, smells like lemons, and with the scotch guard, leaves a protectant on your carpets so the next time you spill something you can use the automotive interior foam soap to clean up real easy!
I wouldn't do this during the winter unless you have a heated garage. On a hot day in the summer I did mine and within 2 hours the interior was 100% dry. I did my floor mats, carpet, seats (front & rear), hatch carpet, everything. Then once it's all dry, pull out your vacuum cleaner and vacuum the whole car. This gets rid of the soap scum, and any dirt the shampoo'er loosened up but didn't fully extract. I have a titanium grey interior (The hardest to keep clean out of all those offered by FORD) and the car looks like new inside.
All you need is $35, a beer
, and a couple of hours of your time. To get this done at a car detailer will cost you $80 and it will be a crappy job!
In fact, when I rent the shampoo'er from the grocery store I do all my families cars, my own, and then the carpets in the house.
Works great, I seriously recommend you do it.
Go to the local grocery store and make sure you rent the smaller EASY-OFF shampooing machine with the "upholstery attachment". Make sure the one you get, which ever it may be, has the upholstery attachment or you're screwed. The rental cost is something like $24 for 24 hours.
I don't buy their easy-off store stuff which they sell with the rental. I instead buy the BISSELL rug shampoo with scotch guard from a hardware store or WAL-MART. Work's better, smells like lemons, and with the scotch guard, leaves a protectant on your carpets so the next time you spill something you can use the automotive interior foam soap to clean up real easy!
I wouldn't do this during the winter unless you have a heated garage. On a hot day in the summer I did mine and within 2 hours the interior was 100% dry. I did my floor mats, carpet, seats (front & rear), hatch carpet, everything. Then once it's all dry, pull out your vacuum cleaner and vacuum the whole car. This gets rid of the soap scum, and any dirt the shampoo'er loosened up but didn't fully extract. I have a titanium grey interior (The hardest to keep clean out of all those offered by FORD) and the car looks like new inside.
All you need is $35, a beer
, and a couple of hours of your time. To get this done at a car detailer will cost you $80 and it will be a crappy job!
88LX
Founding Member
Castrol has this cleaner thats cool. i think its called Super Clean. my friend spilled a mocha chiller, i think thats some coffee thing, and with a little scrub it took it right out. cant even tell it was there. i diluted it though because i guess its pretty strong stuff.
OK, What you want to do if you rent one is get a carpet extractor with heat. The heat really helps disolve dirt and gives the carpet a fluff while the detergant helps loosen dirt and scent the interior. I have a steam cleaner and if your local to me your more than welcome to come down and use it. It really makes a hudge difference especially when you empty it; you can see how dirty the carpet really was. I use it when I go to car auctions and resell cars.
sorry to bring up an old post but my windows where down in a storm and i had 1-2 inches of standing water in my car that i vaccumed out with a shop vac. The carpet smells like mildew now. Can I shampoo it and it will get the smell out/look better or should I buy new carpet? I also have a few old stains that i'd like to get out and will shampoo if that will work but can buy new carpet if i have to. What do you guys suggest? Shampoo or New Carpet?
I'd try the shampoo'er first before you spend all that time and money swapping out the rug.
I've done many of my families cars with a grocery store rented easy-off shampoo machine. I get the smaller one with the attachment for upholstery and do both the seats and the carpets.
As the carpet is polyester fibre, I'd say the shampoo'er should get out 90% of the stain. The only stains you may have some difficulty with are greasy stains. Although you may not be able to get these out 100%, you should be able to reduce it greatly. Stains such as Coke-Cola, coffee, dirt, mud, etc should come out 100%.
If your carpet is discoloured, it won't help that. The instructions on the back of the bottle of the soap solution will state that the soap may lift/discolour your carpet some but this all depends on how strong/concentrated you make your mix. My advise, use the concentration they advise on the bottle and make sure the water is hot. Not too hot though. DON'T USING BOILING WATER.
24 hour rentals cost about $25. Go to CT and buy your soap there. They've got a way better selection and I don't like the Easy Off line much. Get a Bissell soap. I used one with a lemony smell and it worked great and didn't discolour my interior (Mine titanium by the way circa 1990).
Don't soak the rug! Use in moderation and everytime you sweep the carpet clean, then decide if it needs some more. Upon sucking up the water and suds, press firmly down on the attachment. This will maximize water reduction left in the carpet and minimize drying time.
I don't usually advise doing this in the winter or spring as it's cold and wet. Summer is the best as on a nice hot day it'll dry within an hour. If you have to, do it in a garage and leave your windows open over night to air out.
Once dry, dry vacuum out the carpets to remove any residue soap and scum.
Have fun
I've done many of my families cars with a grocery store rented easy-off shampoo machine. I get the smaller one with the attachment for upholstery and do both the seats and the carpets.
As the carpet is polyester fibre, I'd say the shampoo'er should get out 90% of the stain. The only stains you may have some difficulty with are greasy stains. Although you may not be able to get these out 100%, you should be able to reduce it greatly. Stains such as Coke-Cola, coffee, dirt, mud, etc should come out 100%.
If your carpet is discoloured, it won't help that. The instructions on the back of the bottle of the soap solution will state that the soap may lift/discolour your carpet some but this all depends on how strong/concentrated you make your mix. My advise, use the concentration they advise on the bottle and make sure the water is hot. Not too hot though. DON'T USING BOILING WATER.
24 hour rentals cost about $25. Go to CT and buy your soap there. They've got a way better selection and I don't like the Easy Off line much. Get a Bissell soap. I used one with a lemony smell and it worked great and didn't discolour my interior (Mine titanium by the way circa 1990).
Don't soak the rug! Use in moderation and everytime you sweep the carpet clean, then decide if it needs some more. Upon sucking up the water and suds, press firmly down on the attachment. This will maximize water reduction left in the carpet and minimize drying time.
I don't usually advise doing this in the winter or spring as it's cold and wet. Summer is the best as on a nice hot day it'll dry within an hour. If you have to, do it in a garage and leave your windows open over night to air out.
Once dry, dry vacuum out the carpets to remove any residue soap and scum.
Have fun
PonyBoy90 said:I'd try the shampoo'er first before you spend all that time and money swapping out the rug.
I've done many of my families cars with a grocery store rented easy-off shampoo machine. I get the smaller one with the attachment for upholstery and do both the seats and the carpets.
As the carpet is polyester fibre, I'd say the shampoo'er should get out 90% of the stain. The only stains you may have some difficulty with are greasy stains. Although you may not be able to get these out 100%, you should be able to reduce it greatly. Stains such as Coke-Cola, coffee, dirt, mud, etc should come out 100%.
If your carpet is discoloured, it won't help that. The instructions on the back of the bottle of the soap solution will state that the soap may lift/discolour your carpet some but this all depends on how strong/concentrated you make your mix. My advise, use the concentration they advise on the bottle and make sure the water is hot. Not too hot though. DON'T USING BOILING WATER.
24 hour rentals cost about $25. Go to CT and buy your soap there. They've got a way better selection and I don't like the Easy Off line much. Get a Bissell soap. I used one with a lemony smell and it worked great and didn't discolour my interior (Mine titanium by the way circa 1990).
Don't soak the rug! Use in moderation and everytime you sweep the carpet clean, then decide if it needs some more. Upon sucking up the water and suds, press firmly down on the attachment. This will maximize water reduction left in the carpet and minimize drying time.
I don't usually advise doing this in the winter or spring as it's cold and wet. Summer is the best as on a nice hot day it'll dry within an hour. If you have to, do it in a garage and leave your windows open over night to air out.
Once dry, dry vacuum out the carpets to remove any residue soap and scum.
Have fun
I was thinking of trying the shampoo but since it's $25 to rent and $10 for the cleaner that's 1/3 of new carpets and wasn't sure if carpet would look as good as new or not. The carpet is kind of discolored so maybe i will spring for the new stuff instead. Thx for the reply.
I've done it a few times with a walmart/target type steam cleaner. it looks like a vacuum cleaner. it has a part for the cleaner and another were you put hot water,and another were the dirty water is extracted to. I've also done seats, but you need a cleaner that is special for upolostery or it may fade the color of the seats.
trbkrb
Founding Member
Another cheaper alternative. I got some flood water in my car many years ago (around 1990!) and I pulled it out and pulled the padding off it. Then I used one of the giant commercial washers at the washateria to wash the carpet. I didn't use a lot of soap, but did use some. It came out looking and smelling great.
The padding was a different story. I bet your padding is soaked and it is what smells bad. Mine was. I took the padding out and dried it in the sun for several days. It still smelled a bit, so I put them in the dryer with several dryer sheets. It completely dried them and they did not smell as bad anymore. I still have the padding in my car even after replacing the carpet last year when I changed my interior to black.
I think I only spent maybe $5 on the washer. I don't recall if I used the dryer there, but I don't think I did. It dried out nicely. I ended up washing it again about 5 years later to clean up some spills.
Good luck!
The padding was a different story. I bet your padding is soaked and it is what smells bad. Mine was. I took the padding out and dried it in the sun for several days. It still smelled a bit, so I put them in the dryer with several dryer sheets. It completely dried them and they did not smell as bad anymore. I still have the padding in my car even after replacing the carpet last year when I changed my interior to black.
I think I only spent maybe $5 on the washer. I don't recall if I used the dryer there, but I don't think I did. It dried out nicely. I ended up washing it again about 5 years later to clean up some spills.
Good luck!
larrendeuce
Member
I'm a detailer, and the cleaning ability of castrol super clean is about the same as the interior cleaners I use at work. Dilute the super clean to 3:1 and put it in a spray bottle. Spray a light mist onto the stain and rub it with a damp towel. If it still doesn't come up, spray some more and scrub it a bit with a brush. If it still doesn't come out you probably won't be able to remove it, only lighten it. If you wet the carpet too much you might end up spreading it. Try to keep things on the dry side. Afterwards vacuum the area to help dry it.
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