interior Smoke Smell

**99SactownGT** · 07-27-2009

Hey Everyone,

I am not sure if this is where I post this but I have been having trouble getting a smoke smell out of the inside of my car.

I bought this car from the original owner and he smokes like a chimney! He has been smoking inside the car for all 113,xxx miles of it. Now, I have tried pretty much everything i can think of from reading online on how to get rid of this and I am about to just take it to a detail shop and have the guarantee a smoke free car. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can try? I have tried scrubbing everything inside my car with upholstery cleaner every 2 weeks or so and still the smell remains. I have tried spraying disinfectant chemicals to my air ducts above my hood and running the air inside my car to circulate it all for hours and still no luck. I have leather seats and it is a 2 door car. Luckily no cigarette burns what so ever (hard to believe

).

Thanks for your time and I hope someone has a solution from past experiences that would save me $$$ instead of taking it to a detailer.

**SuperSport** · 07-27-2009

Scrub the headliner gently with upholsterty cleaner. Pay particular attention to the drivers rear passenger area, and right above the drivers head area. Helped get most all of my smoke smell out. Eventually in the month that Ive had my car, the car doesnt smell like smoke or upholstery cleaner at all.

**99SactownGT** · 07-27-2009

Originally Posted by SuperSport

Scrub the headliner gently with upholsterty cleaner. Pay particular attention to the drivers rear passenger area, and right above the drivers head area. Helped get most all of my smoke smell out. Eventually in the month that Ive had my car, the car doesnt smell like smoke or upholstery cleaner at all.

Thanks for the quick reply. I have tried going over and over with upholstery cleaner on the headliner especially. There were brown tar marks on the roof of the headliner that came off. To give you an idea of how bad the smoke was, when I test drove the car before I bought it, i felt like I was breathing in second hand smoke and after about 15 minutes of driving, my clothes smelled like I was smoking.

The smell HAS gone away a little bit but seems to come back after my car sits in the heat for a little while. It wouldn't be that big of a deal to me but I just hate getting out of my car smelling like an ashtray.

Any other suggestions? I hear odor bombs work but have never used it. I am pretty hesitant to use something that has the word bomb in it close to my car =/.

**Iron Indian** · 07-27-2009

best way i've heard from others to get rid of smoke smell.... remove all the seats, let the air out for a few days then clean them. Remove the carpet, clean it on both sides with shampoo (including the insolation), remove and clean the package shelf, remove the headliner and visors and have them redo at a shop for $50-$75. Don't forget to spray deep under the dash too. It takes alot of work to rid a car of smoke....

**skidoojames151** · 07-28-2009

yea i completely gutted my car until i could see the sheetmetal on the floor and then scrubbed the carpet w/ laundry detergent/windex (ammonia) and scrubbed with a big plastic brush till i had blisters on my hand

**99SactownGT** · 07-28-2009

Awesome! I haven't actually tried removing the carpet and the seats completely so perhaps one of these weekends coming up ill get off my lazy A** and do it haha. Thanks for the input I really appreciate it. I will let you know how it turns out.

**skidoojames151** · 07-29-2009

yea cuz i got my car from my mom(1st car im 17) and she gave it to me with everything wrong with it and a brown interior...hey now its the right color again...on the headliner i was suggested by a veteran car detailist to use windex/ammonia based product and basically just get it soaked and then use a towel to suck up the cleaner/tar...

because if you scrub on the headliner it cleans it but makes it look all fuzzy