Thread: *cleaned* Cleaning my carpet out of the car

My project car carpet has a hole in it. I know I can buy a new one, but one thing I wanted to do with this car is experiment. So I bought one at local pull a part. I know it looks bad, but this is the only one I found in weeks that was complete.
This does bring me to a question. Are the Coupe and Sedans the same? What years interchange? When ordering a new one they list 97 past 04 and both 2 and 4 doors. But new you do some trimming so I thought maybe some holes are in slightly different places.

I had some good interior stuff I bought a local detail supply store. They I power washed. I seen this cleaner do miracles on other carpets. Coffee or coke no problems, but I guess asking it to bring back oil stained, flooded, faded carpet is a little much.

Here are my before:
Before Photos by penright | Photobucket

Here is my after:
After Photos by penright | Photobucket

It may be hard to see but the carpet is clean, just stained/faded. My question is has anyone tried to rub some dye into one? If so what was the experience?

One thing to remember when doing this....if the insulation has gotten wet or gets wet when cleaning - replace it. It is called jute if you are calling auto interior shops to buy replacement. You will need a bunch or razor blades to cut it because it will dull them quick. This insulation holds smells even if it didn't get wet. If you are going to this much work, it is worth just replacing it.

Originally Posted by LeadfootCJ7

One thing to remember when doing this....if the insulation has gotten wet or gets wet when cleaning - replace it. It is called jute if you are calling auto interior shops to buy replacement. You will need a bunch or razor blades to cut it because it will dull them quick. This insulation holds smells even if it didn't get wet. If you are going to this much work, it is worth just replacing it.

this is not true. if it gets wet and "YOU DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT" you can get the stink out. trick is, to beat the stink to the punch.

my car was flooded, i gutted the interior asap. shop vac'ed out what i could from the foam, laid towels over and walked on it. all this and it was still wet.

this happened in winter, and it was still wet after all that, i hung it from a garage door track for a week to drip dry, bought a 3 lb box of baking soda rubbed it everywhere foam side, and rug side. and did this every other day till it was air dry.

then shop vac'ed it all up, dont use your house vac, the baking soda will kill the vacuum. when it was dry, i used a home shampooer to clean the carpet side up all nice.

zero stink. like new carpet once again.

Ha, whatever you say. I repaired hundreds of flooded cars when I worked at the dealer. No matter what we did, the jute insulation would eventually have some of the smell come back. On a hot summer day, you could smell it even if it wasn't strong. If you keep air fresheners in your car all the time it might cover it up, but its still there. Considering how cheap a roll of Jute is, its easier to replace it than go to all the effort of cleaning up an old piece of it.

2 years later now, no stink, acting fast is of most importance. i use no little tree's either.

then again baking soda has killed bad mildew stink for me in other cars in the past. well after the fact, when its died on its own in the car and then stinks like crap.

even saved my ass when my fish tank let loose and flooded the carpet in my living room with 55 gallons of tank water, it got rid of the pond smell.

Does anyone know the answer to these questions?

This does bring me to a question. Are the Coupe and Sedans the same? What years interchange? When ordering a new one they list 97 past 04 and both 2 and 4 doors. But new you do some trimming so I thought maybe some holes are in slightly different places.

Originally Posted by lodus

What did you do/use to clean it? Also how do you put the carpet back in, do you have to do any gluing or just put it back in then put everything else back over top of it?

I removed the carpet, hosed it down, spot treated with Folex, hosed it down some more. Used a shop vac to soak up everything I could. Continued to spot treat, and do lots of scrubbing using Folex. Once I was content with how clean it was, I used a shop vac again to soak up everything I could. I then let it sit in the sun for 4-5 hours to completely dry, and reinstalled.

When you're just putting the stock carpet back in, there is no glue required. Just put it back in, put all the seats/center console/molding back in, and it'll look like it never came back.

Originally Posted by penright

Does anyone know the answer to these questions?

This does bring me to a question. Are the Coupe and Sedans the same? What years interchange? When ordering a new one they list 97 past 04 and both 2 and 4 doors. But new you do some trimming so I thought maybe some holes are in slightly different places.

Carpet for coupes and sedans are the same. At least every year 97-03 is the same, I don't know what might be different in 04+.

As far as cutting/trimming: Lay out the new carpet next to, or on top of the old carpet if you need a guide on where to cut.