Need Advice: Heavy Duty Carpet Cleaning

manticore33 · 03-26-04, 09:44

I have a 1996 Eagle Talon TSi with grey interior. When I purchased the car, it had a leaky clutch master cylinder. Well, since it was the piston seal that went bad, the brake fluid leak into the driver's side compartment. A $30 Mitsubishi rebuild kit fixed it, but here is the damage to the carpet:

*This pictures are after cleaning

Now, mind you that carpet is suppose to be grey. I currently have the carpet pulled, so cleaning right now is pretty easy. I have so far tried to clean the carpet by:

1. Brake Cleaner
2. Simple Green
3. Generic Carpet Cleaner
4. 1:6 Woolite Mix
5. Did all of the above, and pressure washed at a coin-op.

Any ideas? I would love to keep the carpet, as aside from this the condition is wonderful.

Thanks,

-Brett

rlspringer · 03-26-04, 10:00

None of those will work. The brake fluid will stain/dy the carpet - I have run into this before and I also tried everything under the sun with no luck. I would recommend either dying the carpet (SEM Products or contact Superior restoration) or buying a new set from JCWhitneys - $100. Good Luck!

manticore33 · 03-27-04, 12:39

Thanks.. I was just hoping there would be something besides replacement or dye. I thought about getting a carpet peice out of a catalog, but I have heard fitment is so/so. I might try going to a salavge yard and try to pull a carpet piece (Any Eclipse or Talon from 95-99 would fit). Then, doing the coin-op pressure washdown to clean it up.

rlspringer · 03-27-04, 03:19

The carpet die is just a spray can that you spray on the carpet. The cost is about $6 a can so you might try to die the carpet.

HellrotCi · 03-27-04, 04:10

If that carpet was mine, I use some Rit dye on them. They've got a color called Pearl Grey(#39) that would work. I use to work for a car wholesale shop and we'd dye any carpets that were faded out or discolored. It worked pretty good and was very easy to do. I used a short handled brush, like a wheel/tire brush, to work the dye into the carpet.

manticore33 · 03-27-04, 05:59

Thanks for the idea. How was the long-term life of the dye, and how good did it cover the stains?

Thanks,

-Brett