Soda Spill

B

blinkme323

New member
Hey guys, I normally never have any drinks in my car, but the other day I was coming home with a 32oz soda that I was carrying in my hand. A car in front of stopped abrubtly and I ended up dropping the soda due to the sudden stop. The soda fell squarely on my drivers side floor mat. The mat managed to retain most of the liquid, but about 25% ended seeping through. I got home a few mins later and immediately blotted the wet spots and cleaned it with aerospace fabric and upholstery cleaner. I then vacuumed the are with my shop vac.



My question is, are there any other steps I should take to clean the are now? The carpet looks fine, but I am a little worried about the padding underneath.



Thanks!
 
My experience with soda spills of any significant volume is that even when cleaned initially with an extractor, they tend to leach back up somewhere down the road. Until the spill is completely removed the fabric won't be soft or plush and will mat easily while collecting dirt. It's pretty tough for an extractor to remove stains that have completely saturated combined layers of fabric that are as thick as carpet and pad.



The good news is that most liquids with sugar in them can be removed even though a bit of work is involved. I've found that it usually requires both the carpet and pad be removed, cleaned and dried. Warm soapy water, carpet shampoo or the APC of your choice and thorough drying will usually do the trick. Better yet, now is the time to use the extractor. The color of the soda is another story entirely, cola's typically come out fairly easy. Clear soda's aren't a problem. If the soda is red or purple it might come out easily and it might not, it's a crap shoot. Once again the good news is that automotive carpets will typically release the color more easily than home fabrics (i.e. many are nylon based). I'll tell you up front that Mountain Dew Code Red is a real challenge. YMMV, I wish you success.
 
If you don't have a car extractor, you can try renting one of those "RugDoctors" with the hand tools. Should work OK, I think.
 
Well luckily it was diet soda and it only came in contact with the carpet for about 5 mins before a cleaned it up. The carpet itself look fine now, but I'm a little worried about underneath. I do have one of those "Scunci Steamers" would that suffice?
 
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