Heavy smoker..

Russ@Exclusive

Russ@Exclusive

New member
My friends brother just bough a Dodge Durango from a guy who had a terrible smoking habit. Everything in the car smells like smoke and I need to get rid of it.

Would doing a full interior shampoo with APC or some other cleaner work well enough? What would be your personal approach? (excluding an ozone thingy because that is not within my price range).
 
Clean all hard surfaces with an APC or vinyl/leather specific cleaner.

You will need to find a way to clean upholstered/carpeted surfaces. You can follow up with a Fabreeze or Odor Ban type product.

Place a zeolite based product under the seats for ongoing treatment.
 
Yeah I figured I would attack the interior with the following steps;

1. Remove all floor mats and open all doors.
2. Vacuum the car from head to toe.
3. With a 10:1 mixture, spray Megs APC on carpeting
4. Scrub carpeting with brush and warm water
5. Go over the carpeting with a wet vac
6. Spray various parts of interior with Fabreeze or similiar
7. Let car air out and dry for 2 hours
 
Russ...two things that I would like to add...if you don't have a good extractor...look at renting one...I can get one for one day here for 25 bucks..its designed for house use but has a hose attachment that is really long for stairs...it works like a charm for the car..getting a good deep clean on the carpets and matrials areas is key..I have a job coming that I plan to do this...then for oder control...look into getting an oder bomb...I believe that Troy has them on his site...its like a fogger...you set off in the rig and it will neutralize the smoke smell...you do this after you've cleaned and before you go back in to protect....when you vac the rig down....dig deep..real deep...seats, under the dash...pull things up as much as possible....windows...use a good APC on them to cut the smoke film...they will look bad from the APC but the window cleaner will take that off

Headliner will have taken a beating...use a good APC...and soft clean MF towel...fold in four...spray the APC on the towel and wipe the HL...you will be way surprised how much comes off that...no heat of getting the HL to wet its glued on and can come loose
 
Beemerboy said:
Russ...two things that I would like to add...if you don't have a good extractor...look at renting one...I can get one for one day here for 25 bucks..its designed for house use but has a hose attachment that is really long for stairs...it works like a charm for the car..getting a good deep clean on the carpets and matrials areas is key..I have a job coming that I plan to do this...then for oder control...look into getting an oder bomb...I believe that Troy has them on his site...its like a fogger...you set off in the rig and it will neutralize the smoke smell...you do this after you've cleaned and before you go back in to protect....when you vac the rig down....dig deep..real deep...seats, under the dash...pull things up as much as possible....windows...use a good APC on them to cut the smoke film...they will look bad from the APC but the window cleaner will take that off

Headliner will have taken a beating...use a good APC...and soft clean MF towel...fold in four...spray the APC on the towel and wipe the HL...you will be way surprised how much comes off that...no heat of getting the HL to wet its glued on and can come loose
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I figured getting an extractor would be recommended. Right now I am in no position in buying one but I believe my local Walbaums actually rents them out. Thanks for the advice. I feel like I am in for a long project, but good experience.
 
Do not forget, smoke goes up. You will need to clean the headliner as well. Also, the vents are a common missed step in odor removal. You will need something to get in the vents and A/C ducts. There is a product on Autogeek for that purpose, but have never used it before, so I cannot comment on it.
 
TexasTB said:
Do not forget, smoke goes up. You will need to clean the headliner as well. Also, the vents are a common missed step in odor removal. You will need something to get in the vents and A/C ducts. There is a product on Autogeek for that purpose, but have never used it before, so I cannot comment on it.
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Link to it by any chance? Thank you.
 
I don't know if it is the one TexasTB is thinking of, but Clean Air is one such product. It has been mentioned here several times that you can spray PB's NL in vents. It contains a biocide.
 
autogeek_2038_2111876

1Z Einszett Klima-Cleaner Air Conditioner Treatment
 
You know another thing on the AC vents is change the cabin air filters...those are like magnetics for smoke smell....good call on the AC vents...I use Lysol on my jobs and it works very good if you don't want to do the Klima
 
I don't think anyone mentioned this, but when you use you deoderizer make sure you are also spraying it into the exterior intake near the base of your windshield(with the heat on HIGH). That will help cycle the product through the entire duct system.
 
Russ@Exclusive said:
Thanks for all the good input guys. This is definitely one of the best forums.
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I'll second that...tons of good hands on experience here..its nice to know that when you try something that you've read here...someone as perfected the process...gives you good peace of mind
 
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