Soaking carpets to clean them? And other carpet cleaning techniques...

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5Toes

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Anybody do this, it doesn't seem like a good idea as far as product effiency goes... but has anybody gotten good results by doing this?

What other ways do you use to clean capets, and to what degree of success?
 
In extreme circumstances I have soaked carpets before scrubbing them to get them cleaned up. I would advise against it though unless the car can he aired out well for the next few days in hot weather conditions.

I soaked the carpets in my own car once, I mean really soaked them until there were puddles of cleaner on the floor then scrubbed them with my Cyclo polisher with the brush attachments installed on it followed by a thorough vacuum to extract all the liquid that I could get out. That day it started raining very hard and I had to close the car's windows, it poured down rain for the next 2 weeks and by the time I could open the car up to air it out mold and mildew had begun to grow in the carpet backing. It was such a pungent odor that I had to have a mold remediation company place a hepa/UV/ozone air scrubber in the car and it took 5 days of running that scrubber in the car to remedy the the mold and it's smell. Had this been a customer's car I would have gotten some real bad word of mouth and would likely have lost the customer.

It took roughly $5 worth of product to soak the carpets and it cost me $500 and 5 days without my car to make the problem go away.

When I clean really dirty carpets I first pre treat the real bad stains with Folex and let that dwell for 20 minutes or so then I lightly mist the rest of the carpets with Folex and scrub the carpets with my Cyclo polisher with the carpet brush attachments installed on it. Immediately after scrubbing the carpets I extract any moisture with a very strong vacuum then using a micro fiber towel I rub the carpets to wick up any remaining moisture. I then lightly mist water on the carpets, extract again and use dry microfiber towels to wick up the remaining moisture as much as possible. The water rinses the cleaner from the carpet fibers allowing them to stay cleaner for longer. This process essentially makes the carpets look brand new again.
 
Thank you Dave.

I have some good carpet cleaner, but it is not sold here by autogeek. Stuff is excellent, but I think I am going to follow your methods... I usually do not mist the carpet with water after cleaning it.

I tried pressure washing the other day, but it was very dark out and my buddy and I were trying really quick to finish a job.
 
when you say pressure washer, I hope you mean on the carpets that can easily be removed from the vehicle. Those you can soak down since you can move them around and put them in the sun to dry after sucking up as much as you can with a vaccuum. Still will take a few days to dry completely though.

Please don't take the pressure washer to the interior carpeting of your car though. I know that guy on youtube did it to a mercedes but I think he was high or something...
 
I've done it before. It works but as stated by Dave it has to really be aired out or it'll be a bear to deal with mold and mildew down the road. Obviously using the least amount of water/cleaner when soaking it down is also a key to getting results without the aftermath.
 
I have pressure washed plenty of entire carpet sets - but there are a few requirements for me to do this.

#1 - The carpet has to come out of the car. I am not going to pressure wash a carpet inside a car, period.

#2 - The carpet has to have whatever time it takes in full sun to dry. This varies per carpet type, so I just assume it's going to take 2 days in full sun (have had some take 3).

#3 - The carpet must warrant the need to be pulled from the car (be excessively dirty).

#4 - The customer must be willing to pay by the hour. It takes some time to pull all the interior panels and carpet out of a car and put it back in, that's aside from the actual cleaning.

Obviously there is a limited number of carpets that fall into the above category, but there are those that do. The customer must have a second vehicle to drive for a few days at least. Also they must be done when the days are full sun and warm. I have not yet done one in the winter and don't plan too really.

Honestly, for really dirty interiors, I would just assume pull everything out. It makes cleaning it much easier, and you can really get it back to new.

DLB
 
DLB said:
I have pressure washed plenty of entire carpet sets - but there are a few requirements for me to do this.

#1 - The carpet has to come out of the car. I am not going to pressure wash a carpet inside a car, period.

#2 - The carpet has to have whatever time it takes in full sun to dry. This varies per carpet type, so I just assume it's going to take 2 days in full sun (have had some take 3).

#3 - The carpet must warrant the need to be pulled from the car (be excessively dirty).

#4 - The customer must be willing to pay by the hour. It takes some time to pull all the interior panels and carpet out of a car and put it back in, that's aside from the actual cleaning.

Obviously there is a limited number of carpets that fall into the above category, but there are those that do. The customer must have a second vehicle to drive for a few days at least. Also they must be done when the days are full sun and warm. I have not yet done one in the winter and don't plan too really.

Honestly, for really dirty interiors, I would just assume pull everything out. It makes cleaning it much easier, and you can really get it back to new.

DLB
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:iagree:with this 100% I have had to this many times because the carpets were a mess....If I do this in the winter I leave the heat on in the shop and keep a fan blowing on the hanging carpet...can dry one up in a day,day and a half.
 
Every set of mats that I have pressure washed I vacuumed them as much as I could, wiped them with a towel, and let them dry in front of a fan. With that process they dry in less then a day.
 
dad07 said:
:iagree:with this 100% I have had to this many times because the carpets were a mess....If I do this in the winter I leave the heat on in the shop and keep a fan blowing on the hanging carpet...can dry one up in a day,day and a half.
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I agree 100% also!!!

I would like to add.....there is another reason not to soak carpets inside of vehicles (or place soaked carpets in vehicles), - electronics....many wires, relays and capacitors where increased humidity or weepage (even traveling up a carpet) can cause damage...
 
Yes I meant pressure washing mats.

This whole discussion is actually about mats... cant really soak a car's normal carpet.

Man I am in the mood to do some carpet cleaning!
 
I do this on most dirty carpets. My degreaser comes in a 5 gal. concentrated jug...so I'm not too worried about using it. I think it really gets MUCH better results.

I typically spray the carpets down, scrub, and hot water extract. Doesn't get much better than that. Some stubborn stains I'll loosen up with the steam cleaner after spraying it with degreaser.
 
Well I am looking to get more details this weekend, so I will try my carpet cleaner with a stronger dilution.

I will let it sit longer too and make sure the dirty spots get an extra good portion. Then scrub and vacuum. Then wet with "mist" setting of hose" scrub and re vacuum.

Woohoo!
 
If you have the ability to carry around a 30 gallon bucket fill it with water some APC and let them soak for an hour while you do the interior and you will see how much of the deep hardened dirt come out .. You should only do this with the rubber backed mats as they dry faster and the MB and BMW mats are a no no
 
5Toes said:
Yes I meant pressure washing mats.

This whole discussion is actually about mats... cant really soak a car's normal carpet.

Man I am in the mood to do some carpet cleaning!
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Haha - Mats are just about ALWAYS pressure washed with me. Even if they are just slightly dirty. You can have them washed and dry in about 4 hours, which is the minimum I work on a car usually. Obviously if I am doing a quick wash or something I don't do it.

Reasoning is, I have the PW out anyhow, and the time it takes to extract them is longer than what it takes to wash them and hang them up. Plus, when you wash them and rinse clean, you would have a good bit more time in extracting if you extracted until your water came clear. Really I have no reason NOT to pressure wash the mats (if time permits).

And yes, you can really soak a car's normal carpet - that's what my first post was talking about - as in the entire rug from inside the car. :)

DLB
 
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