Car smell like 5th period gym socks

E

ezragipson

New member
My wifes car's carpet was drowned last saurday and now we are smelling the results. I attempted to suck up as much of the water as possible at the local do-it yourself wash using their vacs, but that didn't get it. Anyway I contacted a mobile detailer in town and they recommended a carpet shampoo. Does that seem like the best procedure?

Please help
 
First off,:welcome to Dc! I am no expert in carpet cleaning, but my understanding is that the smell is coming from bacteria that is growing underneath the carpet. If it was me and I could not cover it up or remove it properly I would remove the carpet, which will be a real PITA, then set the carpet on a couple of sawhorses and spray with high pressure. While the carpet is out use an antibacterial cleaner/disinfectant on the areas underneath the carpet. Seems that shampooing may help temporarily help, but will not be a permanent fix. Good luck.
 
What you are smelling is the bacteria that is growing under the carpet. Take the carpet out and let the pad under dry out also disinfect that as well. Lysol come to mind for that use. Then I would shampoo the carpet and let dry before putting back in. Check under the seats as well, because if the car got soaked there might be some mold growing under there as well. Its a PITA but that what I did for a customer on his car. I'd also look under the dash for moisture you have to wipe about every thing.
 
I would do the same strip the carpets and wash them throughly. Although the last time I did my car I cleaned all the carpets they where really wet I extracted they where almost dry but it was like 100 every day and the car was in the garage with the windows rolled up and it smelled in there until I took it out to air dry.

This is off topic but I was at a dealer and they took out a used car and parked it out fron I stuck my head in to see everything was extracted to perfection and the inside smelled like a strong orange smell.
 
Have you ever tried Meguiar's odor eliminator? That stuff works awesome. It removed over 30 years of funky smelling mullets from the interior of a seriously bitchin 69 Camaro SS for me a couple weeks ago. I would highly recommend it. It would take care of the smell I'm pretty sure. If you have some kind of fungus growing then the smell will come back.

Leave your windows down for a couple days and see if it will speed up the drying process. Then spray the carpets with Lysol to kill the fungus and then use that Meguiar's stuff to kill the Lysol smell. That would be my suggestion.
 
I dunno. It was in an orange bottle and was for pet odors or something like that. It worked really well is all I know.
 
Okay here is what happened yesterday. I called the mobile detailer I mentioned at the top of the story and they shampooed the carpet for $50. However they left a bunch of water in the rear right passenger floor area. So I called them and they are willing to come back out and try to suck up the remaining water. So if this doesn't work I'll start stripping the carpet out and using the anti-fungal spray that The Fuzz recommended.

I'll keep you all posted, and thanks for the input.
 
I ended up opening all the windows and the sun roof and positioned the car in a very sunny area and the carpet dried completely. The smell is gone and I spent the weekend detailing the entire car. I did spray an enzyme odor eater over the entire carpet, seats, and trunk. Thanks for everyone's great suggestions.
 
Glad to hear that you got it fixed. BUT! one thing that I hate is a detailer that leaves the car with wet carpets or seats. I have done plenty of cars that the customer has said that about there last detail. I make it a point to make sure that the car is dry by timing myself until I have to give the car back. In the winter I run the car heater for 15 or do minutes to get the cart hot and that has worked for me.
 
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