Pressure wash the carpet?

[NorcalZ71]

Hey guys, been gone awhile but I`m back. Had a question regarding cleaning the carpet in my GFs tahoe. We want to get new black carpet, but probably not this summer. It is a 98 2 door tahoe, tan interior that has seen better days, and her roommates at college dont treat it the way it should be, thats for certain. I was thinking of pulling the carpet out this summer when we are home from school since we need to rewire some audio anyway. I was then going to take the pressure washer too it on a medium setting (its a small electric on, not super powerful) to try and blast out a lot of the grit and what not. Then shampoo it just in the driveway on a tarp so i can really get a good angle on it all and clean it out. Is it safe/effective to use the pressure washer in this manner though?

[salty]

Sure, just don`t apply too much water pressure. Maybe wet it and spray some carpet cleaner and scrub it, then pressure wash it out. I`ve heard of a few detail shops that do this to most of the carpets they see.

[meGrimlock]

I`ve used that method with excellent results on floormats before, I dont` see why it wouldn`t work with the whole carpet. Make sure that you separate the sound insulation from the carpet - that stuff will hold a ton of water, and if you don`t get all of it out, your girlfriend`s Tahoe will not smell so great after a few days.



Also, it might be a good idea to use a shop vac to remove as much of the water from the carpet as you can before reinstallation.

[jnmttu]

I agree, I have brought floor mats back from the dead more than once using that method. It is amazing just how much dirt will come out using the pressure washer method. I would use some sort of stiff-bristled brush to loosen some of the stubborn stuff.

[togwt]

I would agree that pressure washing rubber backed car mats would clean them but for carpets I would recommend pre-soaking with a carpet cleaner (using hot water) and then either scrubbing by hand and removing excess water/cleaner with a wet-vac or using a carpet extractor

JonM

[imported_Shaun Carollo]

pressure wash, then dump boiling hot water and aggitate with a medium-stiff bristle brush. You would be amazed at how much more dirt comes out using the hot water.

[NorcalZ71]

awesome, if we dont get new black carpet for the tahoe then we will definitel go about cleaning the carpet. I figured i would pull it, shake it out and vacuum as much as i could, made do a quick over with the pressure washer to get it wet and loosen stuff up. Then get down there with some shampoo and hot water with a stiff brush and get to scrubbing, followed by pressure washing again to blast away the suds and grit, then vacuum up as much as possible and let it air dry in the garage for a day or so