Road Salt Stains in Carpet

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dmayer

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Now that spring is approaching, I need to remove caked in/on road salt stains under my gas pedal, where for some reason, my car manufacturer's car mats don't cover.

I have never had much luck getting these stains out. I've been able to reduce the stain, but it still doesn't look good. I've always used carmats and the rest of the carpet is in excellent shape except for this area under the gas pedal. I've tried vinegar, carpet/upholstery spray, laundry stain removers, with cloths, brushes..

Doe anyone have a good method of removing old caked on road salt stains?

Thanks.
 
I have good luck with warm, soapy water and a carpet brush. Trust me, I deal with salt all the time. (I live in Salt Lake City, so as the name implies, we have an abundance of salt) For the spring cleanup details I always plan on using warm water if TuffStuff doesn't do the trick. Just brush in circles like the way the dentist tells you to brush your teeth and it works pretty well.
 
Lots of hot water, scrubbing and a wet-dry vac or cheap-o Bissell excactor.
 
We get a ton here due to long winters with lots of snow. The main thing is how long has it been there. I usually start with Folex and DA brush, then move to steam if need be. Sometimes it takes more than one round of scrubbing and vacuuming. I just got some Whips Road Salt Remover in December and its apparently amazing for carpet salt stains. We shall see how it does soon enough.
 
Ah, the joys of spring cleaning!

Over the years of trying different products and techniques; I've found the sooner you get the salt up, the better.

I approach the salt with either a diluted APC, or Folex at full strength. If it's a personal vehicle, I'll start spraying the hardened salt/chloride spots with Folex the morning that I know I'm going to be scrubbing. That way the product can have time to start to break down the crusty stuff.

Then I grab a firm bristled carpet brush and get to scrubbing, vacuum up what I can, spray a bit more and scrub some more. I then do a final wipe/scrub with an APC on the surrounding area.

Without a hot water/steam extractor I've never had luck in getting rid of it all in one go. Usually the next day or two a couple of spots will show up again and I will use the same approach until it dries to a nice clean finish.
 
Something hot to dissolve it. Steam, good extractor, or hot water + cleaner, etc.

I'm partial to the steamer myself.
 
Water, being a nice polar solvent, has the best affinity to dissolve sodium chloride/ and or magnesium chloride.

Temperature does not really have much of an effect when dissolving salt. It's only a few grams difference from 0 °C to 100 °C.

Sugar, on the other hand is very temperature dependent. Much more dissolves at higher temps.

What has worked best for me is the Bissell Little Green. Add water and extract until it's gone!
 
Scrape off and vacuum as much of it as possible (if not already wet), and then follow one or more of the procedures outlined above.
 
I would suggest getting some rubber mats that help contain the salt mix as much as possible. If it is in the carpet I am sure it would eventually make it to your floor boards and we all know what that stuff does to sheet metal. Just my opinion.

Dave
 
Last car I did I used the Ecotouch citrus based carpet cleaner on minor salt stains and it kicked butt!!!!!
 
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