Neighbor has a carpet cleaning company, anyone know if it’s safe for him to use his equipment in my car?

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readthebook

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I recently purchased a used car from a private party seller and need to get the seats, carpets, and preferably headliner, cleaned. I thought to ask my neighbor if he knew if he could use his equipment in my car since he runs a carpet cleaning business I’d rather give him the work and the money.


He says, “Yes, I have equipment that’s safe for typical upholstery. Is it a special material? What kind of stains?”
Does anyone have experience going this route, is there anything I should be extra worried about?


I know that I have heated seats and I understand that the heating elements should not get too wet, however it looks like someone has already spilled enough on the seat for that to have happened and they still work.


I have no idea what kind of liquid stains are there but they have been there a long time.


I have read of people saying that you can get mold and mildew in your car by using too much water in the process of cleaning, so I’m just wondering if this is some thing I should let him have a go out or not.

Car is a 2004 VW R32 with cloth seat inserts.

View attachment 74284


Thanks!
 
You should be good to go. Extractors are probably what he has along with chemicals used for stains, heavy traffic areas, etc. After he’s done, leave the windows cracked if possible and turn on your seat warmers.
 
Sharply Dressed said:
You should be good to go. Extractors are probably what he has along with chemicals used for stains, heavy traffic areas, etc. After he’s done, leave the windows cracked if possible and turn on your seat warmers.
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Thank you
 
Sharply Dressed said:
You should be good to go. Extractors are probably what he has along with chemicals used for stains, heavy traffic areas, etc. After he’s done, leave the windows cracked if possible and turn on your seat warmers.
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Agree with Sharply Dressed but if you can stick a fan in the car and circulate the air overnight if you have a garage.
 
Thomkirby said:
Agree with Sharply Dressed but if you can stick a fan in the car and circulate the air overnight if you have a garage.
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I do have a garage and also CA heat to help dry too. my neighbor said he’d put a couple big fans inside it.

you guys think he can hit the headliner safely too?
 
readthebook said:
I do have a garage and also CA heat to help dry too. my neighbor said he’d put a couple big fans inside it.

you guys think he can hit the headliner safely too?
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Car is a 2004 VW R32 with cloth seat inserts.

This is a 17-year old car so it is going to be a risk. Headliners can often fail but are not terribly expensive to replace. The safest method would be using a light MF towel dampened with a interior cleaner, thinking of 303-Multi-cleaner. If the liner is tight and only lightly soiled I would go the least aggressive method first. You could always have him try it on any bad spots but I would not be using the extractor, too much water and possible issues that follow being overhead and wet!
 
readthebook said:
I recently purchased a used car from a private party seller and need to get the seats, carpets, and preferably headliner, cleaned. I thought to ask my neighbor if he knew if he could use his equipment in my car since he runs a carpet cleaning business I’d rather give him the work and the money.

He says, “Yes, I have equipment that’s safe for typical upholstery. Is it a special material? What kind of stains?”
Does anyone have experience going this route, is there anything I should be extra worried about?

I know that I have heated seats and I understand that the heating elements should not get too wet, however it looks like someone has already spilled enough on the seat for that to have happened and they still work.
Click to expand...

Actually, the equipment he has is likely better than most extractors out there sold and targeting auto detailers. It's also likely designed to be used with the proper cleaning agents too. His equipment for carpets is likely upwards of 500-700+ PSI as it's capable of driving 5-8 jets on a carpet extension but the PSI will regulate down for his upholstery tool.

You will be fine.

I actually run a Sandia wipe box clone through the local Cleaning Co. Distributor that I trained at prior to buying the machine. This is the largest and one of the more powerful single pump/single vac units out there. The ones larger require two 30 amp breakers/power cords thus why I didn't want one of those.

original.jpg
 
readthebook said:
I do have a garage and also CA heat to help dry too. my neighbor said he’d put a couple big fans inside it.

you guys think he can hit the headliner safely too?
Click to expand...

If you uses them correctly, there won't be much moisture left inside. I do put a larger fan in the vehicle though to speed drying it. He will be fine with the headliner. Unless you're using a steamer and holding it in one spot too long as to melt the glue and soften the foam, it's going to work just fine. The extractor likely only puts out 200* water too.
 
TTQ B4U said:
If you uses them correctly, there won't be much moisture left inside. I do put a larger fan in the vehicle though to speed drying it. He will be fine with the headliner. Unless you're using a steamer and holding it in one spot too long as to melt the glue and soften the foam, it's going to work just fine. The extractor likely only puts out 200* water too.
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The headliner is really my only concern as it is in good shape and is not sagging or beginning to separate in any areas, which I think is great for a 17 year old car that has seen plenty of CA heat.

I don’t doubt that the equipment will do a great job on the seats and carpets at this point, but that headliner scares me because it’s not an easy job to get it in and out and getting a replacement is tricky, I’d have to reupholster it. The glue and foam layers in the headliner are definitely soft when you push on it.

I’m thinking I might vacuum it well tonight and hit it with a microfiber w/ APC and call it a day.
 
The guy that showed up to clean some carpets here had a gas powered extractor that would fill a minivan & sounded like a Detroit 8V92. It probably cleaned the slab under the house too.
 
Lol. Looks like the previous owner was a big coffee drinker.

Though, whatever was in their would probably have come out dark brown.

With that much crap in your seats, did you have any problem when they dried with wicking?
 
ducksfan said:
Lol. Looks like the previous owner was a big coffee drinker.

Though, whatever was in their would probably have come out dark brown.

With that much crap in your seats, did you have any problem when they dried with wicking?
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Yeah there were areas that showed more staining as they dried. He’d just go hit those areas again until we didn’t see anymore of that happening. I think it was two full area extractions on the driver seat bottom and 2 on the passenger plus two spot treatments on the passenger.
 
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