carpet advice, OP, and OC

W

W.S.

New member
I need advice on the following:

1. The carpets in my `97 BMW 528i and dull and flat. The car has 156,000 miles. I doubt the owners before me took graet care of the car cosmetically. I am wondering if there is a product(s) that would bring the carpet and mats back to life and take out a good portion of the stains? I do not own a steamer or extractor, so it would need to be able to be vacuumed out. What about carpet shampoo?



2. I have used Z-PC a little and am not overly impressed with it's results. I am thinking of getting some Optium Polish and Optium compound. I recall hearing that these are good products. Will either remove medium oxidation and decent amounts of swirls in BMW paint?



Thanks,

Wade
 
I found that just taking out my floormats and vacuuming them THOROUGHLY made a huge difference, but obviously you can't(easily) take out the entire carpeting. There are two main ways to go about carpet cleaning:



#1 Use a shop-vac to vacuum, then use whatever carpet cleaner you want(search is your friend here,) and agitate it well with stiff brushes then extract. This will leave your carpets still damp, but opening your doors and using fans shouldn't make it that big of a deal.



#2 Buy, or rent, a carpet cleaner. Some of my local grocery stores have Rug Doctors availible to rent with the attached wand, which would make for a better system IMO than the shop-vac method. If you've got a shop-vac though, you may as well try it before though right?



Chemical polishes work on oxidation. KAIO, Megs Scratch-X, etc. Again, a search for 'oxidization' will return much more information:) Such as this thread: http://autopia.org/forum/click-brag/54706-1990-red-miata-renewed.html?highlight=oxidized+red+miata

http://autopia.org/forum/click-brag/55842-97-heavily-oxidized-porsche-c4s.html?highlight=pink+porsche

In the second link you can see where Optimum made a big difference.



A couple things that will help you get more replies and better answers:

Do you have a dual action polisher?

What products do you own?

How new to polishing are you?

And of course pictures are worth 1000 words:)

Good luck with you BMW, and looking forward to your after pics:xyxthumbs
 
I'll try the shop vac first, yes the local grocery store has Rug Dr.



- I have a P/C 7336 Ro buffer

- Right now I have Zaino Z-Pc, Scratch X, and some turtle wax stuff I've never used.

- I haven't done much in terms of using the P/C or even hand polishing for that matter.



Thanks, I will post pics after I get it all done.



Also, I am looking at getting some pads (the edge ones) what ones are recommeded?



wade
 
It all depends on how clean you want your carpets to be. If you have tough spot stains Folex may work for you, I've seen it at my local OSH Hardware store. Are your carpets a light color or darker? This is a link that goes over the basics of interior cleaning including carpetshttp://autopia.org/forum/guide-detailing/80233-car-interior-detailing.html

I would try the Scratch-X on a test spot and see if that helps to cut through some of the oxidation. That and vacuuming should keep you busy for a little while at least:D

On the subject of pads everyone has their own opinion.

This thread hopefully can shed some light on your problem of choosing the right 'system' for youhttp://autopia.org/forum/car-detailing/88406-ordered-pc-7424-now-what.html?highlight=edge+system

You can also visit autogeek.com and look at their pricing on the Edge pads, I believe it's around $80 for a set + $18 for the adapter.

What pads do you have currently for your 7336?
 
The carpets in My BMW are sand beige, a colour that show all the dark stains. I can thank my brother (who drove the car to and from his job at a John deere dealership) for a majority of the dark stains. The dealer that I got it from did not clean the carpets or help the paint at all (they must have used a rotary to wax). I suspect one of the previous owners had small children, which would explain the mystery stain behind the passenger seat (it is under the mat so it is not visible in normal use). I own 2 applicatior pads, 1 medium cutting pad, one regular cutting pad, 3 of the pads are Tropicare. the one which I have used 3 times is junk, the looped backing has seperated from the foam. Lastly, the wood interior trim is plastic coated and has medium bad swirls, what polish should I try on it?



Wade



P.S. the Audi in my avatar is my uncle's, I waxed last summer with nice results.
 
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