96 Tahoe.......1st interior detailing

masintenn

masintenn

New member
First post........

Over the past week I've been working on an extreme interior detailing. Compared to what some of you guys are doing, it's pretty tame, but this is the furthest I've ever gone to clean it! So far I've used a Hoover carpet cleaner with upholstery attachment, Bissel carpet solution, Tuff Stuff and Armor All with oxy clean. The seats have only seen the Tuff Stuff, brush and a clean rag.

Below are a couple before and after pics. IT STILL LOOKS LIKE CRAP.......WHAT SHOULD I DO NEXT????

Before cleaning the carpet...........
IMG_0253.JPG


After cleaning the carpet..............
IMG_0255.JPG"


I've read about some guys using Oxy Clean powder and hot water to get out stubborn stains so I'm going to give that a try. Any other recomendations? If I can't buy it locally, it's not an option. I want to get the truck back together this week! I've already put a lot of effort into results that I'm not happy with :mad:
 
........and here is a picture of the seats. So far, only Tuff Stuff, a brush and a clean rag. I'm going to try the upholstery cleaner on them but what are your recommendations?

IMG_0293.JPG"
 
:cool: Try WOOLITE in wash bucket w/ hot water & wash mit & scrub brush.Spray WOOLITE on heavy stains let soak 5 minutes (Don't go crazy w/sprayer,that'll only leave ut soapy) and getta scrubing. Then get cotton towels and getta rubbing than shop-vac leave door open to dry.Some of those stains will not come out. Nice work so far. :cool: :dcrules P.S. Folex or Oxyclean (Wal-mart,Loews,) probally would work better. I was just tryin to think of something you may already have around tha house.
 
Spot Shot is available a lot of places and it does a good job of removing stains without leaving residue behind. I like using a mesh bug sponge to act as a "poor man's extractor". The mesh does a good job of loosening dirt and the sponge center will absorb well.

Sometimes there are permanent stains. If you rub a towel over the surface and no dirt or stain comes up into the towel after using a spot remover, you most likely have a permanent stain.
 
I have used Lifter 1 stain remover before with great success, I had some red kool-aide stains my Suburban when I bought it, brought it right out. I do have to warn you though, its some strong stuff so use it sparingly. You can get it at Ace Hardware.
 
Wow I thought I was the only one to use a mesh sponge on the inside.

+1 on folex and resolve isn't to bad either
 
Thanks for all the responses. I worked on the carpet stains a little more last night and I think I'm going to have to accept that the remaining ones are permanent. I guess I'll just have to do some new carpet in the future.

I'm going to start working on the seats some more and probably hit them with the upholstery cleaner.
 
Could u spray them with carpet dye? I did that im my gmc jimmy cargo area that stains were set in with good results.
 
Yes, carpet dye, why didn't I think of that. It's really easy to do, just make sure you tape and cover any thing with-in 5', nothing stands out more than paint overspray on the interior. I think yoou can get fabric dye at any automotive store.
 
southerndetail said:
Yes, carpet dye, why didn't I think of that. It's really easy to do, just make sure you tape and cover any thing with-in 5', nothing stands out more than paint overspray on the interior. I think yoou can get fabric dye at any automotive store.
Click to expand...

I actually have a Rubbermaid casserole type thing I stole out the kitchen and cut the bottom out.I put it over the stain and spray,keeps from getting overspray.

Dunno why I didn't think of the dye either:hmmm:
 
Here are some pics of the seats after the upholstery cleaner. They were still damp in these photos, but look very good now that they are dry.

IMG_0313.jpg


I got a ton of crud out of the seatbelt just with Tuff Stuff, Armor All carpet w/ Oxy, a brush and clean rag.
IMG_0315.jpg


Now it's time for cleaning the remaining interior trim! I've already done a lot of it with Tuff Stuff, Fantastic and a sponge.
 
I know that you said tou are looking for OTC cleaning products but I thought I would share this with you. I recently purchased Poorboys World APC and a few chemical resistant sprayers for 32 oz. bottles, I put about 1 1/2 oz. of APC in and filled the rest with water. I sprayed the carpet stains heavy and just sprayed the rest of the carpets uniformly with this solution and used a 4" brush on my dual action polisher to scrub the carpets in my car and this did a terrific job at getting out some pretty bad stains. These brushes are available at detailcity.com or AG and as for the shipping charge, the amount of tuff stuff I would have had to use to achieve these results would have cost more than the shipping charge and I actually used about one dollar worth of the APC. Just something to consider in the future... TD
 
since its a tahoe the carpets are very large but on my 96 x-cab truck i had tons of mud stains and i removed the carpet and pressure washed it at a diy car wash and then used my steam cleaner to remove the water. i then hung the carpet on my fence to dry for a day. my carpet looked brand new. The only down fall is that the carpet gets really heavy unless you can remove the padding.
 
It's very tempting to remove the carpet. There's is just so much trim and the screws are in bad shape and are a PITA to remove. I couldn't even get the front seatbelts to unbolt from the floor! I may still give it a try since the seats aren't reinstalled yet. I need to wait for some warmer weather.
 
We use sem's paint on stains that are permanent. sp. As far as the seat belts go...if you have a pressure washer. Pull the seat belt all the way out and lay it flat on the floor. Use the pressure washer on the belts front and back. 8 out of 10 they will look like new.
 
:bigups
Now your talking, our shop did a 2006 Rx-330 today for one of our wholesale accounts that had red stains at the base(rear end) of the center console. After numerous attempts at the stains, we mixed up the correct color(we use a company that isn't a sponsor here so I won't mention it) and pretty much watched the stains magically disappear! Delivery went off smooth and Dealer was amazed that we were able to completely take those stains out! I smirked and said it only took 4 hours! All parties went home happy!:rockon
 
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