Carpets

[azenthusiast]

What is the best way to clean the carpeting of a vehicle? What products would you all recommend? I`m 18 and get paid almost every other weekend to wash my neighbors stable of vehicles. However, whenever they need an interior cleaned (like a Yukon they are selling), I have to recommend that they get their pro detailer to come and do it, which I lose money for. Once I get the interiors down, I only have a few skills to improve and then I`ll be coming close.

[MMasz]

Well, an extractor is probably the "best" way to clean carpets, but cost a few hundred $$$ for a decent one. Some use the Bissell Little Green Machine" which is a small consumer extractor. Some use a wet/dry vac with a small attachment- probably the least expensive way to clean carpets. Others use a brush and carpet cleaner followed by vacuuming.



The wet/dry vac may be the way to go for now as it can do a decent job with extracting.



Also get to know which chemicals to use. I use Folex (available at HD, Lowe`s Target, WM) and a commercial traffic lane cleaner for the really dirty carpets.



If you do the washing at the neighbor`s house and the have a front loading washing machine. Use that on delicate cysle for the removable carpets with plain laundry detergent and Shout on the stains. Works great!

[imported_Grouse]

I would recomend a bissel lgcm for starting. Use folex as your detergent and shout as your prespotting agent.



Here are some of my write ups from the past. There will be more info on the process and technical side of fiber,fabric,carpet cleaning






Rinsing out the detergent is a key factor as abbeysdad says. Skip it and you`ll likely have very quick resoiling problems.



Rinse with clear water or a dedicated rinsing solution.



There is nothing wrong with using the shopvac method it works and works well. Woolite improperly mixed can foam up pretty bad, in your vacuum hose that foam custs down air movement reducing the amount of moisture you can remove. Leaving the carpet wetter.



There is also some debate as to woolite having Optical brightners. The woolite for blacks I have that was purchased a little over a year ago continues to have optical brightners. Woolite, says however it`s current run of products do not have OB`s.



these are out of context but the information is good.


Well the key is knowing what your doing. If your taking a stab in the dark, then you really don`t have a clue. IMHO you should seek some good training. Via IICRC classes. even the basic classes will set you on the right road to a sucessfull cleaning system.



You can effectivly clean a carpet in a car with



1/2 gallon garden sprayer,

the right chemicals

a shop vac

a small fan.



you can clean a carpet effectively with

a ho````er truckmount

and chemicals



you can clean it effectively with

a dense sponge,

bucket,

vacuum

towels



you can... well you get the picture. It is about knowing the process the chemicals, and what each situation entails. Some will take far longer than others, some will take less.






It is possible to use it as a agitator to work in the chemical product to reduce the time or heat needed for the product to work.



In that instance you could do just as well with a wool or terry bonnet, as it will not heat up the fibers as much as a brush. The fibers ina car are very heat sensitive.



Now if you wanted to aid your drying process after you cleaned the fiber, take a clean dry bonnet or wool padd an run it over the top of the fibers, switching bonnets when it becomes too wet.



This is commonly refered to as bonnet cleaning, In many cases i have used it in comercial buisness to keep the fiber from wicking caked in dirt up to the surface. Carpet and fiber dries top bottom up. It evaporates from the surface drawing the remaining moisture to the surface, in many cases bring the dirt and grime with it. It`s rare for it to bring dirt from the backing, or pad. It`s possible but you`d have to basically flood the car.



In reality even with the best combo of systems you can only clean about 70-80% of the fiber carpet surface, so you will have grime and soils left in the carpet. The key is to leave so little moisture that the carpet does not have time to migrate those soils to the surface.



To do this you should follow a very tight regimn of cleaning proceedures.



1) dry vac



2) dry vac again.



90-95% of the soils in the fiber are dry particulate dirt, best removed by dry vacuuming. if you add moisture to a poorly vacuumed fiber/carpet you have to work 10 times harder than needed with 10 times the amount of chemical and water than is needed. With 3-4 times the drying time. So dry vac very thoroughly. Use multiple attachments.



3)Pre condition stains and spots.



Why do this now? Because stain removers work best when applied to virgin stains, In many cases if not all that i can think of right now detergents will inhibit the stain removers if applied before the stain remover. So spot treat trouble areas first, Buy specific products for those areas. lightly rub them in and let them sit while you prepare you chemicals for the main area.



4) Pre treat the fiber/carpet with cleaner.



use a proper cleaning product. Read the dilution ratio`s More product is not better or, lower dilution. These products work in conjunction with water, improperly mixing them will provide very poor results. Normal carpet cleaning agents are 32 parts water to 1 part solution. Once applied Brush in with your brush or PC if you feel the need. Despite what you think agitation will not improve your dirt removal. In many cases you`ll keep the detergent from working by agitating too much. In some cases you will distort the fiber. (velvet it) The purpose of agitation is not to break dirt free, but to get your cleaning product to as much surface of the fiber as possible. So light agitation will suffice.



5) Extraction,

You can use a bonnet method i mentioned above, think Chem-dry the nationally owned chain.

You can extract with shop vac and 1/2 gallon pump sprayer of clean water or water 1ith 1/2 oz of vinager mixed itn

You can extract with LGCM or similar tool.

You can extract by buffing with a towel.

You can use a HW extractor.



The key is to get the fiber clean, then get it dry as possible, then get it set up for the shortest drying time as possible.



6) Drying.

There is little air movement in a car, So turn the fans on crack the windows, set up small portable blowers. The faster you get this dry the less soil wicking you will have. Adding significant air movement and ventalation will cut drying time in half if not by 3/4. Adding the bonnet buffing i mentioned befor can make even a HW extracted carpet dry with in 45-1 hour of finishing.










I disagree autopresise. but as they say Put ten carpet cleaners in a room and you`ll have 10 ways to clean carpet.



Rag the key is to dry the fiber in about 4-6 hours. any more than that and you could have wicking of soil to the surface.



tufted fiber dries top bottom up. That means it evaporates from the surface drawing the remaining moisture up. If the drying time is excessive it will also bring up any remaining soils.



so, how do you get it to dry in 4-6 hours.



first you dry vack with ho````er extractor about 3 times for every time you pull the trigger on the hand tool. that is the basic standard 3:1, if carpet is exceptionally soiled 4:1.



finally you add air movement. Lots of it. get that air moving accross that fiber to dry it off. what is small and would fit in a car,truck? drop two of these in the rear or in each seating section blowing dry air across the fiber. drying time should be cut by as much as 4 hours for really wet fiber.



HydroForce | AIR KING BLOWER/AIR MOVER | InterlinkSupply (http://www.interlinksupply.com/index.html?item_num=AC081+++++++++++++++)



the first one is new to me. but I used these in the carpet industry for tight spaces and steps because of their size.



I purchased one for my dad for christmas for his boat. I prefer these over the first one because you can set this one up side down to blow air under seats. I`ve used it once or twice in my mom`s car to very good effect.



7631245541








Depending on the PH of the product you use you`ll want to bring that ph back to Neuatral before you apply any protectants.



Neutral detergents make for (in general) poor cleaners, They make better specific spot removers.



alkaline cleaners make for great dirt and grime cleaners. but do very poorly on tanins, urines, and protien based soils.



Acidic detergents make for poor dirt removals, but do very well on urines, tanin, some protien based stains, and some food based dyes.



Enzymes are usually reserved for organics like foodstuffs, grass, and others.



Solvents, make for very poor detergents as they have almost no cleaning ability. However wehn combined with an alkaline detergent you will finde a combo that will defeat many oily soils found in cars. Apply the solvent to fiber first, work in with brush, then apply AK detergent.



The kicker is nearly every car is going to have a combo of this mess. So you need to be knowledgeable to address each with the propper product so you will have the best chance of sucess.








mix it up in a garden sprayer with as much hot water as you can. (be careful the hot water and chem will create pressure in container.)



Spray liberally in to fiber area.



Brush into fiber, Not so much for agitation but to be sure the product is completely coating the fiber.



Let sit or dwell for 20 min or so. give or take.



Here you might be able to apply the steam to improve the cleaning potential. it`s worth a try.



With a second garden spray spray with clean clear hot water. spray one section at a time.



extract with shop vac.



spray rinse water again in same area. I believe you`ll need to rinse it at least 3 times to get as much of the slurry or TLC out of the fiber.



Dry with vac between each rinse.



Set up fans or blowers to move the air with in the vehicle to speed drying process.







A discussion on woolite it`s self


I’m not here to ding on any one person. In particular scottwax, He is far more knowledgeable about detailing than a handful of us put together. That being said this is my area. So let me move on and try and address these points in fashion and with reasoned factual comments.




I`ve been using Woolite/water on cars for 11 years now. If there was a problem, I`d know about it. I used to use Magnum Upholstry Shampoo on carpeting and fabric and it suds a lot more than Woolite, plus it flat didn`t clean as well. Say what you want but I stand behind using it and I don`t hestitate to recommend it to others.



BTW, are you aware in a Lexus owner`s manual, the recommended leather cleaner is a 5% wool safe detergent solution (20:1)? I highly doubt Lexus would recommend that if they felt it would damage the leather and cause warranty issues down the road. Cadillac specifically recommended using Woolite on a leather tag attached to the headrest on a Caddy I did years ago, now they just say to use a mild detergent and water. What could be more mild than Woolite?



I can see why you’d be that way. And when you get down to it I am doing the same thing. Our experience is leading us into this conversation. It is my experience that this is a far more expensive and inferior product with detrimental side effects. Specifically the ones I listed above in my other posts.



On to the lexsus and Cadillac owners manual. As some one said already are these the same owners manuls that tell us we do not need wax on our modern clear coats. The owners manul is for end product consumer. It is to give instructions on how to deal with something in terms that the end user would recognize. In the case of cleaning they must also give the end user a product to use, In this case the product is woolite. However it is also likely if it also says something like “if the product fails to be removed, consult a professional� In this case you are the professional.



Here is the pivot point. I’m noticing as an industry many detailers will search out info, guidance for the perfect exterior. Yet they leave the interior to “what ever� works syndrome. I’m here to tell you you need not do that. Solid training, for fabric, upholstery, Leather and tufted fibers is available. Training that with the right tools and chemicals will vastly increase your interior car cleaning work flow.



I’ll start by making my case for training. http://www.iicrc.org/home.html This is the basic governing body that provides training and standards for quality carpet, upholstery, restoration, odor, and leather techs. They have regional units, and do trainings throughout most of their regions. Here in the PNW it is CCINW. The trainings bring in certified instructors who teach the classes, go over each of your own business and how the procedures, processes, chemicals, and equipment can best be applied to your style of work. Some of the basic classes I would suggest are. Basic carpet tech, Basic upholstery tech. and then If they have it by now Basic leather tech. If not then use one of the leather manufactures Tech courses provided. (ie, leather master.) These classes will teach you fiber identification, soil identification, stain identification, spotting techniques and the proper procedures of how to remove soils quickly and cost effectively.



Now on to woolite. Besides the posts I have made above:


First, Woolite is not a good product on manufactured fibers, let alone tufted fibers.



2nd It`s not made for carpets or seating fabrics or leather.



3rd It contains way to much detergent even at a 60:1 ratio for seating fabric and tufted fiber. Unless you are using a 18-25k truck mounted hot water extractor there is no way for you to remove all that detergent. That same detergent will continue to attract dirt after the car leaves your car. Do you want the carpet in that car re-attracting dirt? Is that honestly part of your business practice? You may not have know it will do that, but you do now. Consider the products you use wisely. You should use carpet products on carpet, fabric product on fabric, leather on leather.



4th water based product dry leather out, requiring you to put much more conditioner on the leather than if you had cleaned it properly. Also if not properly cleaned out you will have the same resoiling as in fabric, and in some cases it will even prevent the leather from absorbing the proper conditioning agents.



5th Woolite contains optical brighteners. They falsely brighten fabrics and tufted fibers. Any potential proper cleaning you gain is highly influenced by the optical brighteners. What do optical brighteners also do? When exposed to large amounts of UV light, say through a car window. They fade, degrade, and destroy fibers. yes, By using such a product you are actually in the long run causing harm to your customers car. I ask again is this something you want to do? Even solution dyed fibers are susceptible to fiber damage and dye loss.



Beyond this I mentioned cost and time. Using scottwax’s 8:1 recommendation you’d use 1 woolite 50z container per 5 gallon bucket, making 5 gallons of product for use at 5.89 dollars for a 50 oz bottle of woolite. Woolite’s cost per gallon not including man hours =1.178 cents per gallon



By comparison a traffic lane cleaner spiecifically made for high traffic tufted fibers cost 25 dollars for a 128 oz (1 gallon can) Here is the kicker for High traffic areas the dilution is 32:1 for lower traffic areas the dilution is 64:1. Using the 32:1 formula as cars boats rv’s are usually very high traffic areas you will produce 4096 gallons of product to use. Yeah. Traffic lane cleaner cost per gallon not including man hours = 0.006 cents per gallon.



Now lets talk time , Since I have no idea how much time people invest into woolite cleaning I’ll only be able to provide the time that a traffic lane cleaner can provide.

Here is the process and relevant times of each:

Pre-vacuum carpets and seating areas. 15min 95% of all soils are particulate dirt, this is best removed by dry vacuuming. Remove it here at this stage, and your chemical use is less and you are less likely to need to make multiple passes.



Prespot or Precondition fiber surfaces with traffic lane cleaner, or appropriate spotting chemical. 3 min.



Lightly brush in chemical to besure it has reached all of the fiber surface. 5 min.



Wait 20 min while you clean leather and dash surfaces.



Extraction process using a small protable machine. 20 min.



Total time not including waiting time. 43 min.

If that number seems high to you, then I would guess you focus mostly on the exterior portion of detail. This process time will come down with exp and refining of your work flow. It will re attract far less dirt, it is far less labor intensive than scrubbing with woolite and removing with shop vac.

[azenthusiast]

Thanks so much for the input. I`m having to read, and then re-read Grouse`s post, just becuase there is so much information. As for the laundry machine, I do have access to my own, as they allow me to drive the vehicles down to my house and detail them in my own driveway and garage. It allows easier access to all my stuff, plus I`m using my own water. It`s also nice driving their Escalade that thousand or so feet. :)

[joshtpa]

I use a bissel spot bot. It works great for my interiors.

[mikesmobile]

aerosol carpet shampoo from a detail shop works well,not the kind that have the crappy brush attached to them.if not take some of your all pupose cleaner in a spray bottle spray the carpet brush in and vaccuum up,the floor mats i do the same thing but preasure wash when done scrubbing. then dry them

[jeremymcnelson]

I usually hire a service, but when i`m lost somewhere, i do this:



note: this is stupid and my wife called me one too but this works for me, so please, be kind :woohoo:



mix vinegar with lysol disinfectant. watch the quantity to not bleach your carpet. then i let it sit all-night long.



i wake up in the morning and smell my lemon-scented carpet. it wraps around my car`s interior and that`s heaven :werd::wow:



that`s it.