Interior Detailing - Carpet Cleaning 101

[GWBourne]

when i come visit my friends in cleveland... you are gonna have my truck and some cash in your driveway when you wake up... lol

 

[JHardwick]

Ha Ha Ha, hehe. I'm not sure that she really puts the gloves in her ears, but they are all over I can assure you, and the way she listens to me, thats a real possibility! The dogs do ride in the trucks from time to time, but most generally the horses ride in the trailer ... ... ... ..... horse hair STILL gets inside the truck

 

[abdiver]

Mark, I'm always experimenting with new products, but right now I'm really liking the Pinnacle leather cleaner/conditioner combo. Slighty better results can be had by using their separate products, but I really like a 1 step leather process considering how long it takes to do everything else on these big trucks.

Lightman, How long have you been using the Pinnacle leather cleaner/conditioner combo on these seats? What other products have you used on the seats prior to Pinnacle. They sure look good



Bill

 

[LightmanE300]

Sounds good GW :-laf



Abdiver, I've used the pinnacle on the last 4 vehicles I've detailed and really like the results. I only started using it on my own vehicle about 8 months ago, I typically guinea pig a product for a while on my own vehicles before I'll do it to someone else's. . I've honestly only had those seat covers off twice now in the 80k I've had the truck, before I put them on I used some meg's gold class leather conditioner, and after taking them off once I used lexol. The meguiars smell nice, but leave the seat slippery and sometimes the shine isn't uniform. The lexol works well but is a two step process that takes a while so I'd been searching for a good one step that left a quality finish and lasted. I've been pleased so far with the Pinnacle, but of course the main reason they look so good was that I had the seat covers on since day1. .

 

[RLighthall]

Ha Ha Ha, hehe. I'm not sure that she really puts the gloves in her ears, but they are all over I can assure you, and the way she listens to me, thats a real possibility! ... ... ... .

Yep. My wife's a nurse too, so I know all about the gloves that seem to reproduce on their own. Sure come in handy though.....

 

[LightmanE300]

Lightman,

After reading your post I stopped by Target and picked up the Bissel Little Green Powerheat machine.....

Adam

So did you get to use your new machine? How did it come out?

 

[Thyme1953]

Wohoo.. This is a great great post for cleaning carpet.. I loved it..!!

 

[Thyme1953]

Hey guys, I have been spending all day detailing the inside of my truck and thought I'd share my process and results with the forum as I haven't seen much in the way of carpet/mat cleaning threads. I am a detailing enthusiast with tons of detail products and equipment, but this is something most people can do on a reasonable budget. I regret not taking any before pictures, but the truck was pretty dirty after 3 years of use-80k miles, most of which included having a 120lb rottweiler in the back seat, and plenty of dirt from general use and ATV riding/camping. I also treated my wet okole seat covers to a similar cleaning process.



Here is a short breakdown of my process, and then I'll explain more about the steps:

-remove all items

-remove seat covers

-vacuum extremely thoroughly with shopvac

-clean/condition leather

-pretreat carpet with enzymatic spot cleaner

-shampoo/brush carpet with solution

-steam/extract carpet with machine

-air dry



1. I'm assuming removing all items and vacuuming really well does not need to be covered or explained any further, but I can't stress enough to vacuum with a strong shopvac or the likes to get all sediment out. Be sure to move the seats all the way forward and back Clean/Condition the leather with whatever products you prefer, however avoid those containing petroleum distillates, they can cause the color to bleed out of seat covers and eventually stain your seats.



2. Many carpet specific spot/stain cleaners are available, the best out there is Folex. Since I had a dog in the truck so long though and had a little bit of wet dog/mildewy type smell from the dog and wet life jackets/wetsuits (jetskiing) in the cab, I opted to use Bissel's enzymatic spot cleaner/pretreat solution that is specifically for pets or odors. I sprayed it over the entire surface of the carpet, not fully saturating the carpet but getting complete coverage. Using my hands I wiped the surface of the carpet back and forth a bit to make sure the pretreater was uniformly spread. I let this sit 3-5 minutes to clean any spots/stains and for the enzymes to do their work.



3. While the pretreat was soaking in the carpet, I made up my bucket of carpet cleaning solution. You can use whatever you like, however I found this works really well. In a standard car wash bucket mix all purpose cleaner or a citrus cleaner 10:1, along with one scoop of oxy-clean, with hot water. Using my hands to cup a bit of the solution, I would slowly wet (not soak/saturate!) sections of carpet, and then work them gently back and forth with a medium-firm plastic bristled brush. I made sure the solution was worked into the carpet, and agitated well. Do this for all the carpet, be sure to move the seats all the way forward and back to get that carpet too.



4. Here's where the fun starts Go to target or your local big box store, or purchase online a Bissel Little Green Powerheat machine. Be careful because I think wal-mart sells the non heated version which is not as good, it's called the little green cleaning machine or something similar. I got mine at target for $89. While the rest of my detailing arsenal is professional level tool and product wise, for my small amount of use, and the few other cars I detail, I can get by just fine with this unit compared to spending $1500 on a professional level extractor. The suction is decent, but you can easily go over the carpet again with a wet/dry shop vac to get it dryer. The bissel works really well for the price and is great for a home enthusiast. Basically this device has two tanks, a clean and dirty water tank, along with a vacuum. You fill the clean side with hot water, and turn on the machine/vacuum. Flip the heater switch on as well, and it will light up when it's hot enough. When the heater lites up, pull the trigger and spray some water on the ground unti it's really hot/steaming (around 200F). Now go to the carpet and spray maybe two lines worth of steaming water and then vacuum over those two lines 2-3 times each sucking up all the water you just sprayed. Repeat for the whole carpet. You will need to spray the thing for a few seconds to get hot water out of the end before you hit the carpet with it each time, because the water that sits in the tube while you're vacuuming cools off. The steaming hot water loosens any remaining dirt, solution, or pretreater and the vacuum sucks it up. There is a clear tip at the end so you can see the dirty water/solution being sucked up. Try not to saturate the carpet too much, but be sure to give it a decent spray or two till you get clean water coming up. I'll include a few pics of the device and the carpet results.



Little Green Proheat

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Check out how dirty the water was it extracted!

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Here is the carpet after these steps

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I hope this helps you guys out, for those that were wondering the best way to tackle cleaning your carpets/mats and getting rid of any smells you might have. The whole deal will cost you $100 or so, and then you'll have the machine to do any other vehicles or the truck again down the road. I'm really happy with the results.

I could not see the picture you have shared with us. Can you re post them for me?

 

[Ozymandias]

Lightman has left the Forum 7 years ago.
Don't think he'll repost the Pics.

 

[OffroaderMe]

i've read all the comments and found this thread helpful. I take note of this in case I push through enhancing the interior of my ride. thanks for the info.