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As I was sitting in my car the other day I surprisingly caught a slight whiff of smoke odor (I must have a canine's sense of smell!) I climbed through the car sniffing every piece that I could, looking like a fool I'm quite sure! I found 3 spots that still smelled. Ughhh. The first spot was the rubber/vinyl trim around the sunroof. That's obviously where they blew the smoke out of. The 2nd spot was in the rear hatch area, where all of the smoke that failed to make it out of the sunroof flew to. I removed all of the trim pieces from the hatch itself and scrubbed them first with Pinnacle vinyl/leather cleaner. After they dried I could still detect smoke. I then pulled out a large carpet scrub brush and scrubbed the pieces down again with Tuff Stuff foaming cleaner. This worked really well and got rid of the odor. The 3rd spot that I found was the carpeted privacy piece that hides the contents of the hatch. I took that piece out and am trying to decide how to clean it. Once that piece is clean I think I'll be fine.
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I recently bought an Acura Integra but didn't realize when I test drove it that it had a cigarette smoke odor in it. I guess the windows were open when I test drove it and thus didn't realize the odor. As the first few days of ownership passed, I noticed more and more the lingering smoke odor. I didn't even want to drive the car. I'm a freak and despise cigarette smoke! I barely go out to clubs anymore because of the secondhand smoke.
I tried cleaning the carpet with Prestone cleaner. Didn't work. I then scrubbed the ENTIRE interior with a small scrub brush using Pinnacle leather and vinyl cleaner. I conditioned the leather with Pinnacle conditioner. This really seemed to remove a lot of the odor, but I could still notice the odor. I have quite a nose I guess! I sent the car to a detailer. He shampooed the carpet and ran an ozone treatment in the car for ~5 hours.
When I got the car back I was elated! There was no more odor. None. There is a very strong odor left over from the ozone but that will eventually subside. It's a Euchalyptus smell. I don't care, as long as it's not cigarette smoke. The detailer guarantees the treatment. I was told to bring the car back for additional ozone treatment if I noticed any more smoke odor.
I'd definitely recommend this treatment for any car with an odor problem.
The cost for the shampoo was $20.
The cost of the ozone treatment was $55.
Not bad for a fresh smelling car.
Later,
Brian
As I was sitting in my car the other day I surprisingly caught a slight whiff of smoke odor (I must have a canine's sense of smell!) I climbed through the car sniffing every piece that I could, looking like a fool I'm quite sure! I found 3 spots that still smelled. Ughhh. The first spot was the rubber/vinyl trim around the sunroof. That's obviously where they blew the smoke out of. The 2nd spot was in the rear hatch area, where all of the smoke that failed to make it out of the sunroof flew to. I removed all of the trim pieces from the hatch itself and scrubbed them first with Pinnacle vinyl/leather cleaner. After they dried I could still detect smoke. I then pulled out a large carpet scrub brush and scrubbed the pieces down again with Tuff Stuff foaming cleaner. This worked really well and got rid of the odor. The 3rd spot that I found was the carpeted privacy piece that hides the contents of the hatch. I took that piece out and am trying to decide how to clean it. Once that piece is clean I think I'll be fine.
END EDIT
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I recently bought an Acura Integra but didn't realize when I test drove it that it had a cigarette smoke odor in it. I guess the windows were open when I test drove it and thus didn't realize the odor. As the first few days of ownership passed, I noticed more and more the lingering smoke odor. I didn't even want to drive the car. I'm a freak and despise cigarette smoke! I barely go out to clubs anymore because of the secondhand smoke.
I tried cleaning the carpet with Prestone cleaner. Didn't work. I then scrubbed the ENTIRE interior with a small scrub brush using Pinnacle leather and vinyl cleaner. I conditioned the leather with Pinnacle conditioner. This really seemed to remove a lot of the odor, but I could still notice the odor. I have quite a nose I guess! I sent the car to a detailer. He shampooed the carpet and ran an ozone treatment in the car for ~5 hours.
When I got the car back I was elated! There was no more odor. None. There is a very strong odor left over from the ozone but that will eventually subside. It's a Euchalyptus smell. I don't care, as long as it's not cigarette smoke. The detailer guarantees the treatment. I was told to bring the car back for additional ozone treatment if I noticed any more smoke odor.
I'd definitely recommend this treatment for any car with an odor problem.
The cost for the shampoo was $20.
The cost of the ozone treatment was $55.
Not bad for a fresh smelling car.
Later,
Brian