Noob Here - First Post - Future Wife involved :)

[paultg]

So, I live in NH, and my future wife left the back windows in her car open last night. We got about an inch or rain I think.



I search a little bit looking for some help, but I am at work (on lunch) and the server/filter here really slows things down.



Anyway,

She has a 2004 Nissan Sentra 1.8S. It has the tan interior. She has spilled a water bottle before, and it seems to stain the seats. I expect the seats to be really stained now.



I went to the car wash this morning and spent $4-$5 trying to suck as much water out of the seats/rear carpet as I could, but I had to start getting ready for work.



Any advice would be much appreciated. I`ve also noticed on my 2006 Scion tC a few "water spots" on the cloth seats from getting in/out of the car during a rain storm. So I am hoping the answers here will help me with both cars.



I have never had a car before were water seems to leave stains/spots on the interior fabric.



Thanks a bunch. I look forward to contributing to the site here.



Also, don`t be shy. If this has been covered, beat me up and/or show me links, so I can read quick while I am home tonight getting the wet/dry vac ready.



Paul G. :usa

[audicoupej]

That seems weird that the water spots are staining the cloth. Perhaps it looks stained until it fully dries?



I would use a shop vac, towels, and dehumidifier to try and dry it up. It will really start to stink if you don`t. You should try pulling the carpet up and taking the seats out. This will help you get more water out. You can also leave the seats in a small room with a dehumidifier. It will dry them up well.



Goodluck.

[imported_GregCavi]

Recently I accidently left a window down and had a nice amount of water in my car too. What you have to do is take out the seats if the area below them is wet, pull up the carpet, rent an air mover to dry out the carpet padding, then put back the carpet, shampoo it, and install the seats again.



It is quite the project but to really remove all of the water you need to pull up the carpets.



Greg

[mblgjr]

GregCavi it right.



It would be absolutely best to remove the rear seat cushion, unbolt the front seats and move the carpet back so you can get under it dry.



Also, you will need to vaccum/shampoo the seats. You may want to do one end of the car at a time. If under the front seats are dry (rear passenger footwells) then don`t worry with messing with the front of the car, just take the rear out.



Generally, most passenger car rear seat cushions just pull right out. Feel around and you should be able to figure out where the retention clips are. The seat backs will be bolted to a sheetmetal frame (generally) and can be taken out as well.



Some bath towels, a good hairdryer and a shop vac should take care of most of your needs.



Good luck.

[paultg]

Thanks guys.



She drove the car around today with the A/C on and to my surprise tonight the car was very dry. I think the vacuum this morning really helped, plus the windows were only cracked open. It was only some of the rear seat and lower carpet that got wet. The carpet wasn`t so bad. I had rubber floor mats in the back, and most of the water was contained on them.



You guys are correct though about getting things out of the car. The rear seat is a 60/40 fold down, so it will take a bit more effort to remove them, but I think I may plan to do this before the end of the week, leave them downstairs in my basement with a dehumidifer running for the long weekend.



The seats are discolored from the water. It isn`t as bad as I expected though. I`ll try to take some pictures to show you.



Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with the discoloration of the fabric?



Paul G.

[imported_Grouse]

another option for the carpet is renting a system called injecti dry from any restoration firm.



you basically have 1/4 tubes that inject air under the fiber and blow the moisture up. it`s used in water damages of homes, hard surface, wood floors. it`s an excelent tool.



i`d remove the rear seats, and the front seats and see what it coes first. if in 3 days your still wet, then you need air flow of the injecti dri nature.

[CroMag]

The seats are discolored from the water. It isn`t as bad as I expected though. I`ll try to take some pictures to show you.



Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with the discoloration of the fabric?



Is it discolored lighter or darker? If darker, you can try a fabric cleaner (I`ve had better luck with some than others), but you may need to have the seats shampooed or steam cleaned.

[GearHead_1]

I believe the most important advice that could be offered in a situation like this is simply, STOP. Save yourself years of heartache. If you haven`t already said I do, run for the hills. There are girls out there that have money, are good looking and love their cars. :chuckle:

[paultg]

Is it discolored lighter or darker? If darker, you can try a fabric cleaner (I`ve had better luck with some than others), but you may need to have the seats shampooed or steam cleaned.



The areas that are wet are "darker". I think I may try a fabric cleaner, and a wet sponge across the entire seat, then a wet vac to try to get things to even out.




I believe the most important advice that could be offered in a situation like this is simply, STOP. Save yourself years of heartache. If you haven`t already said I do, run for the hills. There are girls out there that have money, are good looking and love their cars. :chuckle:

We have been together for over 8 years now, and I finally proposed to her during the 30th birthday party she put on for me (had to surprise her someway).



I can`t image a day without her, so I`m not too worried about girls with money, etc. She is one of the nicest people you could ever meet. :getdown

[imported_flatstick]

The areas that are wet are "darker". I think I may try a fabric cleaner, and a wet sponge across the entire seat, then a wet vac to try to get things to even out.





We have been together for over 8 years now, and I finally proposed to her during the 30th birthday party she put on for me (had to surprise her someway).



I can`t image a day without her, so I`m not too worried about girls with money, etc. She is one of the nicest people you could ever meet. :getdown





Glad to see you have the correct woman for you. take it from me, when you find the right one, you will be a better person. congrats and make sure to take the time and enjoy that special day when it arrives.

[imported_Grouse]

The areas that are wet are "darker". I think I may try a fabric cleaner, and a wet sponge across the entire seat, then a wet vac to try to get things to even out.









Okay the darker areas are commonly refered to as water marking, which is not to be confudes with browning out.



Watermarking is when the water carries the soil to the edge of the wet area leaving a dark line along the edge. It can aslo darken the whole wet area in this manner depending on the soiling level.





Browning out is when a natrual fiber has been cleaned with too much water, heat, or too high a ph. In this instance brown blotchy areas will show up as the fabric browns out. It`s rare for a synthetic fiber to brown out. but not impossible. In a odd way some a syntetic fiber that gets wet in the similar manor can wick up backing material (ie browning from cotton batting) up to the surface and then brown out a syntetic fiber.





How to deal with water marking. You have the right line of thought.



Mix up a fabric cleaner. (please do not use woolite) I linked in two threads some fabric shampoo, if you don`t have any choice I would go with folex.



Evenly distribute the cleaner on the seats. You want to make the seats as evenly wet as possible to eliminate water marking. my general rule is when i wipe the back of my hand on the fabric. it should just start to glisten with moisture, That is wetting it enough.



Lightly brush it with a horse hair brush. Or single direction wipe it with a clean damp terry towel. ( for some reason i prefer the towel, 1000`s of seats couches, drapes, it seemed the best and easiest to use)



Extract with and extractor with clean rinse water, no cleaning chemicals. If you have any chemicals it should be a rinsing agent like "all fiber rinse" For every wet stroke you do with the extractor you need to dry 5 strokes on a fabric. It`s 3 for carpet but 5 for fabric.



Apply fabric protectant the same way you did the cleaner with the same standard.



set up air movers, the key to fabric cleaning is getting it dry in as little time as possible. this keeps remaining soils from wicking, which stops both browning and water marking. with proper airmovers it should be 100% dry in 4 hours



*********

How to deal with brown out. Browning is significantly different. TO reverse the effect you only need spray it with a brown out remover. what sucks is a brown out remover is a specialty product that has no other use, so you have to buy it if the previous method did not work.



you mix it, spray it on lightly, wipe down with a clean terry and set up air movement.



link to brown out/yellow rx

http://www.interlinksupply.com/index.html?item_num=CR47GL++++++++++++++

[paultg]

Wow, thank you so much for the information. I am a bit confused about the parts I quoted below.




Extract with and extractor with clean rinse water, no cleaning chemicals. If you have any chemicals it should be a rinsing agent like "all fiber rinse" For every wet stroke you do with the extractor you need to dry 5 strokes on a fabric. It`s 3 for carpet but 5 for fabric.

When you say "extract" do you mean use a wet vacuum or do you mean just re-wet / rinse the seat off again. Sort of confused about some of the terminology. What do you mean for "every wet stoke, I need 5 dry strokes on the fabric?






Apply fabric protectant the same way you did the cleaner with the same standard.

Do you recommend any fabric protectants. Can I just use some "stain gaurd" or "stain safe" stuff you can buy at a grocery store?






set up air movers, the key to fabric cleaning is getting it dry in as little time as possible. this keeps remaining soils from wicking, which stops both browning and water marking. with proper airmovers it should be 100% dry in 4 hours



Do I need to have "air movement" as in fan forced movement, or can I just do this on a warmer day outside and leave the seats in the sun (or in a heated garage/house), and wet vacuum them to help remove the moisture?



I`ll try to get some pictures up of the seats as soon as I get some time. She gets home late from work unfortunatly.



Paul G.

[imported_Grouse]

i will do my best to answer later, i am in a time crunch..

[paultg]

Thanks. I`ll try to get some photo tomorrow sometime. Work has been crazy, and I haven`t been able to get home before dark to take good photos.



Paul G

[imported_Grouse]

Wow, thank you so much for the information. I am a bit confused about the parts I quoted below.



When you say "extract" do you mean use a wet vacuum or do you mean just re-wet / rinse the seat off again. Sort of confused about some of the terminology. What do you mean for "every wet stoke, I need 5 dry strokes on the fabric?





actually you can do both. Extraction can entail spraying a rinsing agent on right before removal of the moisture. in the case you have i would try just a vacuum with no extra water. If you still have the issue repeat the process with a good spritzing of water right before you extract the area.




Do you recommend any fabric protectants. Can I just use some "stain gaurd" or "stain safe" stuff you can buy at a grocery store?

okay for carpets you want a water baset protectant. these are great products available in different dilution ratios, check the details.

[http://www.interlinksupply.com/inde...L++++++++++++++

http://www.interlinksupply.com/inde...L++++++++++++++



For seating and headliners that are fabrics you need a faster drying solvent based flourochemical.

http://www.interlinksupply.com/inde...L++++++++++++++

http://www.interlinksupply.com/inde...L++++++++++++++



a 1:2 dilution on a water based product will do about 2400sqf of carpet,

a RTU solvent based will do about 10= sectionals. or 20 3 seat couches.



there specific application techniques and processes. all protectant should be applied only to freshly cleaned and drying (not dry) fiber.






Do I need to have "air movement" as in fan forced movement, or can I just do this on a warmer day outside and leave the seats in the sun (or in a heated garage/house), and wet vacuum them to help remove the moisture?

Yes as in forced fan movement. i prefer these types of fans one in each seat well in the back.

http://www.interlinksupply.com/index.html?item_num=AC081+++++++++++++++