Cleaning interior carpeting, am I nuts?

Z

ZoomBoy

New member
I recently tried cleaning the interior carpets in my car (not the mats) with some Folex and my LGM which isn't ideal but I'll use what I have before I purchase a true extractor.



I found no matter how much I sprayed Folex onto my carpets, it just wasn't making it wet enough to extract. I actually ended up spraying a bit of water onto the carpets with the garden hose to actually have some substance for the LGM to pick up.



Is there a better way of deep cleaning my carpets without removing them?
 
No matter what carpet cleaner I use (Folex, ZEP, whatever) I always apply with a "foaming" sprayer trying not to wet the carpet too much. I picked up a tip from a detailer who only scrubbed carpets with the foam from soap; scrubbing and then extracting. I must say, this process works very well. Needless to say that the less soap you use, the less you have to extract out and the less water you use the less chances of mold and mildew growing and again, less water to extract which also results in quicker drying time.
 
If you're able to work in a controlled environment with the right tools/process, blasting the carpets with a powerwasher can do wonders. Think of it as an extraction on steroids.
 
Also never underestimate the power of a washmit ;) there's TON's of info purposely NOT shared on here specifically because it would freak the crap out of novice readers and weekend warriors.
 
Jakerooni said:
Also ..there's TON's of info purposely NOT shared on here specifically because it would freak the crap out of novice readers and weekend warriors.
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Some of those "don't try this at home, kids!" approaches can work very well, but they can also bite you and then it's a "gee, I tried that and messed up my car.." thing where the person making the suggestion gets blamed despite any "YMMV" disclaimers.
 
David Fermani said:
If you're able to work in a controlled environment with the right tools/process, blasting the carpets with a powerwasher can do wonders. Think of it as an extraction on steroids.
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My Cavalier King Charles Spaniel left a "deposit" on one of the scatter rugs outside of the kitchen/garage entryway. I took both of the scatter rugs from the kitchen area (my kitchen has hardwood flootring) and brought both of them into the driveway and used my pressure washer on them .. you wouldn't belive the dirt that came out from both of them...and they get vaccumed regularly!



I extracted what I could using our Hoover steam vac and then put them out to dry and air out.



I can see someone trying to pressure wash the carpets.. while they are still inside the car! :werd:



I use my LGM abnd a bottle of carpet shampoo spray solution. I spray the carper first, then take a brush I use for carpets, dip it in water and go over it. Then I extract, using water spray from the LGM a a rinse agent. That process works for me.
 
Street5927 said:
No matter what carpet cleaner I use (Folex, ZEP, whatever) I always apply with a "foaming" sprayer trying not to wet the carpet too much. I picked up a tip from a detailer who only scrubbed carpets with the foam from soap; scrubbing and then extracting. I must say, this process works very well. Needless to say that the less soap you use, the less you have to extract out and the less water you use the less chances of mold and mildew growing and again, less water to extract which also results in quicker drying time.
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After reading the above posts, I also agree with the "foaming" methos mentioned by the above poster. No need to "drench" the fabric. Been doing it for many years now and works great.
 
I use Turtle Wax's Oxy foaming carpet cleaner. It works great for the carpets, seats, roll bar padding, and the soft top.
 
ZoomBoy said:
So you guys that are using extractor or LGM's, are you spraying the liquid in the tank while extracting?
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I'm not quite sure what you mean here, but I never use anything other than water in my Mytee Extractor Tank. I manually apply the "foaming" soap or pre treater, blot or scrub (whichever is applicable) and then extract with only water in the tank by using minimal amounts of water...just enough to get all of the soap out of the carpets.



Here is a before and after photo of using the "foaming" method with minimal amounts of water extraction.



DSCN2875.jpg




DSCN2886.jpg
 
The LGM like your Mytee has the solution tank and waste tank, I mean when they're extracting the soap are they spraying hot water onto it to aid with the extraction, it sounds like you did do that which is what my question was :p
 
Is this method best for getting out salt from carpet as well? I live in Canada and by spring the entire sides of my driver's foot well (where not covered by my deep rubber mat) looks like a salt-lick. It's one solid lump of salt.



So far this year I've bought a LGM and a metro vac n' blo. I've vacuumed, and used probably 3L of warm (as hot as the tap would start it, then it cooled off as I was working) water to try and dissolve the salt and suck it up. It's thoroughly crystallized around the carpet fibres so there's no chance of just agitating it up and vacuuming it out.



Any suggestions? BTW I found the LGM to be pretty bad...the carpets were pretty wet after the LGM had extracted all the water it could. I'm wondering if I need to invest in an actual extractor next year. If you'd redcomend I do that, then do you know anyone that will ship to Canada? I see that autogeek won't ship the extractors out of the US...
 
I'm sure there are tons of places that ship to Canada, I'm looking into getting a proper one in the new year possibly as well as the LGM can't really cut it - it doesn't have enough lift.



In terms of the salt issue, same problem here after our Northern winter. I find just bringing a bunch of rags into the car and a big bowl of hot water and soaking the salt, rubbing, and continually wetting it until it disappears is the best way as there's really no way to scrape it off - you'll have to dissolve it.
 
Street5927 said:
I'm not quite sure what you mean here, but I never use anything other than water in my Mytee Extractor Tank. I manually apply the "foaming" soap or pre treater, blot or scrub (whichever is applicable) and then extract with only water in the tank by using minimal amounts of water...just enough to get all of the soap out of the carpets.
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No offense, but that carpet would look 95% better(if you didn't use the extractor method) if you dry scrubbed it with a stiff bristled brush, vac'd it and blew it out with compressed air. Then, if you wiped it down with a damp towel it would be clean, darkened up and much drier. Black carpeting (especially one that is mostly covered with floor mats) are the easiest to make look good. What I hate is when people don't use floor mats and ground the dirt into the carpet. None the less, your truck interior looks great!
 
I used to own a carpet cleaning business. Car interiors are a pain in the you know what, so when people ask, I politely say Im not a carpet cleaner, Im a car detailer. No desire to clean carpet in a car.
 
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