My love/hate relationship with minivans. 6+ pictures.

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AppliedColors

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This is above average filth for a minivan, but certainly not the worst we've seen.



The latex paint spill required a carpet dye:

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Pull all seats and find this:

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Rear before:

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Rear after:

rear_after.JPG




Built in child seat befores:

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seat_before.JPG




After:

seat_after.JPG




Our shop floor after air purging:

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Charges:

Detail: $260 (8 man hours)

Carpet dye: $60 (30 minutes)

Bumper scuff: $195 (1.5 hours)

Scratched rear cargo area repair: $60 (30 minutes)

Total ticket: $575



Took 2 men 5 hours to finish this one.



Minivans, per hour, are our least profitable details because of the attention needed on their interiors. But they often have so much interior damage that we can upsell interior repair work. And they are often so dirty that do-it-yourselfers hand them over to the pros. About 1/4th of our work is like this: heavily soiled interiors on minivans and large SUVs. It really fills the schedule.



Note to those considering going pro: we see about 4 trashed interiors like these for every 1 luxury/exotic needing paint correction.
 
Looks great!



Just a question, what do you use for carpet dye? We have never really dyed carpets at my shop but I have been talking with the owner and we were talking about trying it out.



Usually we get great results with our steam cleaner but when doing dealership work they want it perfect.
 
I remember doing a good bit of dying when I steamed cleaned carpets. If you're doing the whole carpet it's fairly easy as long as you don't over-spray any. If you've got a small area you're dying it becomes tricky. Then you're matching an existing area and it has to look perfect. Applying is not the hard part...it's mixing the dyes properly to get that perfect match.



Dying carpets becomes a great source of income for a business when it's done right. Screwing up means you will lose business and lose money if you're not careful.



OP, I do find it odd that you dyed the carpet though. Aren't just about all carpets in cars(I don't know about Bentleys and the like) just vinyl(sythetics and such...not natural fibers)? Vinyl can't be dyed, it doesn't have any color packets to be filled....
 
Atleast they used floor mats in the traffic areas! I'd love to know a detailed breakdown of product and processes. Can you post them?
 
excellent job looks better than new;I love to see how autopians can turn what you started with into what you finished with.
 
Jean-Claude said:
I remember doing a good bit of dying when I steamed cleaned carpets. If you're doing the whole carpet it's fairly easy as long as you don't over-spray any. If you've got a small area you're dying it becomes tricky. Then you're matching an existing area and it has to look perfect. Applying is not the hard part...it's mixing the dyes properly to get that perfect match.



Dying carpets becomes a great source of income for a business when it's done right. Screwing up means you will lose business and lose money if you're not careful.



OP, I do find it odd that you dyed the carpet though. Aren't just about all carpets in cars(I don't know about Bentleys and the like) just vinyl(sythetics and such...not natural fibers)? Vinyl can't be dyed, it doesn't have any color packets to be filled....
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We just spot dyed it using SEM Sure Coat--which is also a vinyl/leather dye:



1. Match the color

2. Mix

3. Spray w/ HVLP gun

4. Dry

5. Comb up

6. Repeat

7. Comb down

8. Repeat

9. Comb left

10. Repeat

11. Comb right

12. Repeat

13. Vacuum out debris



It's not perfect by any means: slightly rough texture and not a spot-on color match.



But...it's not a white latex paint spill.
 
David Fermani said:
Atleast they used floor mats in the traffic areas! I'd love to know a detailed breakdown of product and processes. Can you post them?
Click to expand...



Sure.



Our process to detail the interior of a minivan:



1. Remove seats.

2. Clean headliner w/ Meguiars All Purpose Cleaner (APC) applied to microfiber, then rubbed into head liner.

3. Air purge entire vehicle: vents, dash, console, seat rails (lots of food in there), cup holders, map pockets, etc.

4. "Dry brush" all carpets, floor mats, and soiled seats with a stiff carpet brush or pneumatic rotary shampooer or Cyclo w/ carpet attachments. It's critical to break up the dry soil instead of wetting it with chemicals and spreading it around with a brush.

5. Vacuum out all debris.

6. Clean dash, console, cup holders, map pockets (what we call upper vinyl/plastic) with APC, painters brushes, and compressed air.

7. Spray APC w/ 10% Car Brite's Brite Spot onto all floor mats and carpet. Be generous, and get mats and carpet damp. Let dwell for 10 minutes.

8. Scrub carpets and mats into a foam. We use the Cyclo in open spaces and stiff carpet brushes in tight spots.

9. Extract with hot water.

10. Start car and turn on heater to high, pointed at the carpets. Turn on rear heat to high, pointed at carpets. Run for about an hour.

11. Place mats in owner's Toyota truck and turn heater on high, pointed to carpets.

12. Once mats and carpet are dry, remove any browning with Clear Kote's "Heavy Duty" anti-browning agent. Concentrated grease and rubber can be removed with a solvent rated for interior use.

13. Reassemble interior.



Important notes on minivan cleaning:



1. Dismantle interior as much as possible for full access to all dirty areas.

2. Get as much dry debris out of the carpet/upholstery/mats as possible before shampooing.

3. Always run heaters for at least 1 hour to dry out carpets, mats, and upholstery.
 
By the way, the carpets turned out great in this car, but the mats only improved 60% and were not picture-worthy.



I explained this to the customer up front and he understood that mats are replaceable...carpets and upholstery not (at least not cheaply). We've had some customers expecting new looking mats in the past who were disappointed. I always tell customers up front that mats w/ 50,000+ miles just won't come out like new.
 
ahh i remember being knee deep in those jobs, but because this type of detailing is so labor intensive i have tried extremely hard to refuse this type of restorative work mainly because the return is not there, and sometimes you don't get a repeat soon enough to capitalize on the initial restore. . . so inevitably the wife can't understand why she has to have her van detailed somwhere else but i willingly do her husbands entire car collection. . usually the husband catches on . . . great work by the way. . .
 
Denzil said:
Do you normally run the car's heater to dry interiors? I'm curious as to how much gas you use doing that.
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In cold, damp weather we do.



Most cars we spot clean the carpets, so not much heating is necessary. But on large, soiled carpets like these, we have to run the heater.



Cars use surprisingly little gas when they idle.
 
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