Vehicle Interior Cleaning

[Yorkie]

I picked up a G3 4Runner this weekend and the cloth interior and carpets are pretty grubby. Any thoughts on what is the best way to clean the carpet and fabric? I was thinking about renting one of those carpet/upholstery cleaners from the local grocery store. Thoughts?

[Scott Douglas]

That would work.
Do you have a wet/dry vac?
If so, just get the upholstery cleaner and go at the seats/carpet, then vac them out really well.
Pick one of our nice dry days and it should dry out fairly quickly.

[drkshdw]

[Scott Douglas]

^^^^Is she for real???

[Tobra]

Mom used to have a carpet cleaning machine, similar to the one you could rent at the grocery store. My buddy and I did the carpet and seats of his wife's car, the one she had the first 5-6 years of their boy growing up. It was a miraculous transformation.

[speeder]

I use a Bissel “Green Machine” w their cleaning solution and it works great. It’s a small extractor/shampoo machine. There is a whole thread on this forum somewhere from when I was researching this.

[fastfredracing]

Originally Posted by Scott Douglas

That would work.
Do you have a wet/dry vac?
If so, just get the upholstery cleaner and go at the seats/carpet, then vac them out really well.
Pick one of our nice dry days and it should dry out fairly quickly.

This is how I do it. Carpet/upholstery cleaner in hot bucket of water . Wet all the fabric with a sponge wet with the cleaning solution, scrub with a scrub brush, then suck it near dry with shop vac. Use general purpose cleaner for any heavy stains . Works amazing.
I just bought a $1000.00 x3 with tan interior that was really abused . Previous owners could not believe how clean I got it . They thought I replaced the interior .
It is basically, manually doing exactly what the carpet shampoo machine does .

[Shaun @ Tru6]

I pressure washed my Tundra interior on a hot sunny day, sucked it dry with a vac and left the doors open. Worked great. Cover under the dash with foil or plastic to avoid getting electricals wet.

[javadog]

If the interior is really nasty, I tend to prefer pulling the seats and carpet out to clean them. Not as much work as you think, you can clean up things that may otherwise be inaccessible and the carpet can be cleaned with more aggressive means out of the car. You'll also probably find a decent amount of spare change.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

Originally Posted by javadog

If the interior is really nasty, I tend to prefer pulling the seats and carpet out to clean them. Not as much work as you think, you can clean up things that may otherwise be inaccessible and the carpet can be cleaned with more aggressive means out of the car. You'll also probably find a decent amount of spare change.

This is how I like to do it. Then you really can go at the carpets sets like the lady in the video and let it dry out while keeping the car dry. You will be amazed at how much crap comes out. Just watch out for airbag hookups in the seats when removing/ installing- making sure you disconnect/ reconnect battery in proper way not to set off anything or mess up stereo.

[sc_rufctr]

Originally Posted by speeder

I use a Bissel “Green Machine” w their cleaning solution and it works great. It’s a small extractor/shampoo machine. There is a whole thread on this forum somewhere from when I was researching this.

I love mine but it's not cheap.

[vash]

i'm a cheap SOB. bucket full of warm water with a tiny bit of laundry detergent.

i put some of it in a spray bottle and go to town..spraying, brushing and blotting. the bad and big spots get the bucket. washcloth scrub, brush, blot..i go thru a lot of towels blotting. preplanning, i wash all of the dog towels and have a huge stack ready.

having said that, the house next door is for sale, i hope the new owner are cool and own a bissel.

[hcoles]

Originally Posted by javadog

If the interior is really nasty, I tend to prefer pulling the seats and carpet out to clean them. Not as much work as you think, you can clean up things that may otherwise be inaccessible and the carpet can be cleaned with more aggressive means out of the car. You'll also probably find a decent amount of spare change.

Do this.

[Hugh R]

I pulled the front seats out of the Targa when I first got it to clean inside. Also cleaned the gunk out of the floor and seat sliders and applied a little lithium grease or something to the sliders worked like new.