2002 Audi AllRoad Mold Removal/Restoration...Signature Detailed

[Greg Gellas]

First I want to thank DJ Mayo, David Fermani, and Barry Theal for their ideas and thoughts on this detail.
I got an email from the owner and said his Audi had some mold. I have done some light mold work before and wasn't too worried about it :cool1: I decided to go check out the car to put together a more exact estimate. This Audi had a leak coming from the firewall, causing the drivers side floor to be soaked. It was put away in a garage for about 4 months or so for the winter.
So what does 4 months of wet car interior look like...:sick1:

After some discussion, and research, I decided to use an Enzyme Mold Cleaner called sporicidin. I knew this would be a two day project. I suited up, using a mask, gloves, long sleeve shirt tucked into the glove, and some old pants. I was going to throw away everything I was wearing so I looked like pretty silly
I diluted it in a bucket, and in a spray bottle. Not wanting the mold to get airborne I sprayed everything down with the sporicidin mixture and let it sit for a few minutes. Even after just spraying I saw a huge improvement. I was concerned about pitting on the leather but fortunately the mold wasn't on there long enough to pit the leather. I then continued to go over the entire interior with towels from the buckets rinsing after about every square foot or so, I wanted to remove it not spread it around.

Even though I was using the sporicidin I decided to break out the steamer to assist in the mold killing. I have a Polti 2085 steamer that is absolutely amazing at producing steam, I don't know what I would have done without it. I steamed the carpets and lightly hit the seams of the leather. The air ducts were steamed also.

 

[Greg Gellas]

After Day 1 I went back to finish up. After setting up a mini dehumidifier all night I got about a quart of water. I included the cost of this in the detail and left it with the owner to ensure that the entire car got dry. He will be using it daily until no more water appears.

All of the leather was then cleaned and conditioned using Lexol. I decided to use the Lexol instead of Leathurique due to time. Any plastic was dressed using Optimum Protectant Plus.

Thanks for looking as always Greg

 

[jslym777]

thats disgusting i would have had a biohazard suit and respirator on!!!

 

[dougaross]

OMG what a mess!! You did a fantastic job on a wonderful car.

 

[01xtreme]

You are a brave soul. Amazing turn-around.

 

[Greg Gellas]

Just adding this.....To clarify why I did the job the way I did.

If I could have removed interior pieces I would have, the customer declined.

If you get paid for a 1 step paint correction and can't get all the scratches out do you wetsand and do a complete two step? NO!! You do what you get paid to do.

I did assure him without complete removal of the interior I cannot guarentee full remediation. He understood that and still agreed. I did what I was contracted to do and that was clean the surface mold and anywhere I could get.

 

[Porsche Pilot]

Sweet baby Jesus! What an unbelivable mess. I have never seen anything like that. Serious props my man. Incredible turnaround! :urtheman:

 

[Quattro3.2]

Holy......I swear I have never seen anything like that. An amazing car with an even more amazing turn around. That is absoultely top notch. Way to go!! I hope you were wearing more than a surgical mask and more along the lines of a respirator! Great work!

 

[LuxuryMobile]

Wow, incredible work.

 

[mdb917]

I can not believe the before condition. It almost made me ill to look at it.

Then along comes HighRev and gets it looking as good as new. Major props for taking this job on in the first place and then to accomplish as much as you did. :dblthumb2:
:urtheman::urtheman::urtheman:

 

[taholman]

:wow: i would not have touched that with a 10ft pole oke:

 

[gary748s]

Awesome job and great turn around! Completely disgusting... I can't believe someone would let their cars interior get that bad. Once again!!! :dblthumb2:

 

[longdx]

Audi and VW for some reason had a double firewall that had a small drain hole in the center. Under ideal circumstances, water would be routed between the firewalls and escape via a drain hole. However, as all of us know nothing is ideal, and these drains tended to get clogged with debris. Water would fill up and then dump its contents into the passenger compartment. Worse, on some VW's the electronics were protected on 5 sides and not the top. Well enough water would short out much of the interior electronics. I have a friend who worked at an VW dealership who dealt with this on a too frequent basis.

 

[jkk7479]

Now that I am done blowing chow......amazing save on that Audi!

:urtheman:

 

[jlb85]

OMG the worst interior ever!

Amazing people will just "put it away for a few months" with a big issue like a water leak - on a not very cheap car.

Microban makes a great mold killer/disinfectant that can be sprayed onto carpet and fabric like the headliner to further kill any spores. But I think you took good care of it with the steamer and the Sporicidin A brave soul you are!!

 

[DantheMan]

Not trying to take away from an amazing job, but what do you do about the mold under the dash, seats, console, carpets, ducts, etc, etc, etc?

 

[RoPaJa]

WOW what a job. I don't think that I would have been brave enough to even THINK about doing a car that bad.

 

[Jacko7416]

Thank you for sharing this, since I am about to tackle a similar situation. Though I have not seen the car I am doing yet, at least I know what product to use and that it can be done.

 

[chost10]

Does the owner park the car in the bathtub ? I've never ever seen something like that. My respect for you. The interieur looks great again.

 

[VP Mark]

Truly fantastic work. Well done.

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