Interior Detailing Helper Thread

Still needed to dry some more before I took the pic, but was done with the job. DIY carpet cleaner used to take out this decal transfer from a soaked Under Armour hoodie that sat in the driver's seat for 6 weeks before the owner removed it.

 

If I may just revisit ozone machines. I used to use them in hotels. The salesman we got them through trained us that after using the ozone machine, you entered the room 'smoothly' & vacuumed. The theory is the ozone molecules attach to the 'odor' molecules, the ozone is heavy & everything drops down to the lowest surface. You need to vacuum up the attached ozone & odor molecules with a well filtered vacuum. Otherwise if you leave them behind, eventually the ozone lets go & the scents are stirred up into the air again & you have the odor back.
...and of of course let it all air out afterwards. But if you still smell strong ozone after vacuuming - you likely missed some surfaces. Don't forget the walls/headliner & wipe down the windows.

I don't know how to clean vehicle vents, but as a general rule I blow the shop vac into them each time I vacuum the interior. I always get dust coming out.

 

Hello. I recently bought this 2014 and I need some help tacking the cloth seats. This was a heavily used truck. I have tried just common fabric cleaner but stains reappear when it dries. Looks like salt rings? Any help would be appreciated.




Album
https://imgur.com/a/hxuLNmy

 

Cloth seats with dried rings like that need to be extracted. When you clean without extraction, you're just spreading the stuff around and when it dries, it will reappear. A dedicated fabric cleaner and a Bissell extractor is what I use for situations like this.

 

Thanks. I do have a little green bissell machine. What cleaner would you use on this? Would CG Fabric Clean be sufficient?

 

I've never had any experience with CG except for their foam soap only. For upholstery/carpet, I use my own mix (see the original post for the recipe) in either a weed sprayer or a spray bottle. If you prefer to buy something, Biokleen Bac-Out is an excellent product for automotive or home use. See the Amazon link below.

$25 Biokleen Bac-Out Stain and Odor Eliminator Foaming Action Spray - 32 oz - 2 pk

https://www.amazon.com/Biokleen-Bac...uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

 

I've used their Fabric Clean. I think it will be a good starting point. Mix it at 15:1...spray it onto the seats and agitate it with a soft drill brush. Then hit it with your extractor and assess your results. You may need to hit it again, or even increase the strength of the dilution.

 

Well 6 hours later it's a decent improvement. The bissell was working overtime for sure. 155K miles of construction junk on these seats.

Thanks to all for the help.

 

very nice results.....did you end up using the CG Fabric Clean? and what dilution? How many passes with the Bissell?

 

Nice job. Interior work there is no "magic one step fix" to bad upholstery and carpet. Takes multiple passes sometimes (unless you have a $1600 Mytee steam extractor lol).

 

Yes CG Fabric Clean. 15:1 in spray bottle. Bucket with 20:1. Used drill brush, hand brush. Soaked seats with spray and used bucket and brush to hand scrub. Then used drill brush. Went over each section of seat with bissel 3-4 times.

 

I would love to have something like that. The Bissell is good, but the spray pattern is annoying-way too wide-gets all over and the suction could be better.

A few more shots of passenger seat.

 

holy smokes that person doesn't need a detailer they need counseling! seriuosly!

 

Yeah I don't even own a Mytee unfortunately. The Bissell does just fine for what I need.

 

Great post, thanks for the info.

I have a 1974 and although I always put a blanket down before my dog comes along, Someone else let him jump in and I have a few minor scuffs on the leather now. I’m not overly concerned but is there a process you’ve been successful with to “buff” leather?

 

1794....

 

Pics please

 

Thanks......a leather conditioner may make them less noticeable, but other than that, I'm not sure how you go about fixing that short of dyeing it or replacing it. I would take that to an upholstery shop and have them take a look at it.

 

How long have you had your Bissell? Any issues with it?

 

If you have patience enough you can use a razor blade and super glue. Get a small amount of glue on the corner of the blade and apply it under the flap of leather that is lifted and then press it down. Do that to each scuff. If you can find leather dye to match then dab that over it. It should hide it pretty well.

 

About a year with more usage than your average person I would assume. The T valve inside cracked near where the suction hose connects to the base of the unit. $5 part and 20 minutes had it fixed.

 

Looks like the outer layer of the "leather" has microtears in it. Short of a replacement, there is no real fix for that that I'm aware of that wouldn't end up discoloring or damaging the good "leather" around it. [I quote leather because it is Toyota's SofTex synthetic (think leatherette here).]

 

So I got the seats decently clean and dried them out. There is a lingering slightly stale smell. Not horrible, not great. Can you recommend any air fresheners?

 

So either it wasn't fully extracted of moisture or saturating it reactivated old smells. Use Arm and Hammer pet odor eliminator powder on the carpets and seats. Sprinkle it everywhere and let it sit for 15-20min. Then vacuum it up. If that doesn't work all the way, take red solo cups filled with baking soda half full and place them in cupholders around the truck. Shake them every few days to refresh the top layer. If you don't mind initial overwhelming smells that will dissipate overtime, Meguiar's offers odor bombs you activate in your car with the vehicle running and AC cycling.

 

Thank you. This was a construction truck... I will give these a shot. I am sure the seats could use another round of extraction except the Bissel stopped squirting water out.

 

A customer has asked me to work on her daughter's car.....it belonged to a smoker before they got it....to try and eliminate the smoke smell in it. I've not attempted this before, so my first instinct is to shampoo the seats and the carpets, and thoroughly clean every surface in the car. I've heard of others using an ozone generator, but I don't own one. My concern is that the smell will come back, probably in short order.

Any tips/techniques you could offer?

 

Even with a ozone gen the smell comes back. I used to smoke and it has taking me 2 years to get rid of the smell in my fj one huge part of the process involved gutting the ac system and cleaning all the plastics. I had to change the ac core so I figured I would just clean it all on the way. Ozone will help but be very careful. I usually turn the vehicle on ac on high and walk away for 15-20min. If you don’t want to waste a lot of money on it I could ship you my generator. Just use it as needed and ship back. That way you could make a informed decision if you would like to purchase one.

 

@Ckatz53 has some other solutions for this problem as well. Basically the best approach is to throw everything you can at it. My fj actually smells damn good now. I just catch a whiff here and there.

 

Depending on how long it was smoked in, you may never be able to remove the smell without removing the headliner, carpets, etc. More work than what it is worth. A deep clean of all surfaces, upholstery and carpet extraction, and cabin filter swap will help alleviate it. Then do the odor eliminator carpet powder, revacuum, baking soda cups, then bomb the car with a Meguiar's odor eliminator canister. But the smoke just gets EVERYWHERE, places you can't feasibly reach without a tear down and full week. Ozone generator would help tremendously but I doubt it would work as a permanent long term solution without an insanely deep clean.