Strongest Carpet Cleaning Product?

Accumulator

Well-known member
Some of you folks have removed some pretty nasty stains; I need your advice.



The problem is badly stained light gray carpet that's been that way for a long time. Even with the Ninja extractor, the Cyclo carpet brushes, and the Daimer steamer, the carpeted dead pedal area of the MPV refuses to come clean. Coulda/woulda/shoulda with regard to protecting it before it got this bad, but here I am :( This is really frustrating, I bet the area in question isn't more than 3" x 10" or so, you'd think that a few hours of work would've done it, but no dice.



SO, what's the best thing to try on this? The Oxyclean/TOL carpet cleaner mixes (and also Woolite, Griot's Interior Cleaner, even P21S TAW and some 3M Carpet Cleaning stuff from a flooring vendor) that I've tried so far just don't do it. Even if something might bleach the carpet out a bit I'll risk it...if I can't get this clean I might have to replace the carpet come spring, it bugs me that much...and man would I like to avoid doing that!
 
Sounds like that stain is in there! Have you tried some various APC's? I used to shampoo my mats by lightly misting them with water, spray APC (Castrol Deep Purple I think) then spread a lil liquid laundry detergeant on them. Another light mist and scrub away. It will foam alot so you will need to heavily rinse the area. I would try the laundry detergeant first just on teh spot and let it soak in for 10 min or so.
 
I just picked up Folex at Target after reading about it, and it did pretty well at removing some old stains in the light carpet of our SUV.
 
It sounds like youve tried some good stuff already. I would suggest Meguiars APC+ with a 1:4 dilution. I havent came across anything that hasnt been removed using APC+ 1:4 scrubbed by hand and then extracted.
 
Accumulator...here is a product I used...was told to use it from another detailer....I did my house rugs with it....he does car rugs with it....I have to say..it does clean....



I had a rug I use to wipe my feet from the garage to house...it was grimy...it was a throw rug..just to wipe feet..had grease..mud...oil..all ground in..well I said it would make a nice test for this stuff...it cleaned it spotless...just a little stain would not come out..roofing tar....



my house rugs are 20 years old..this stuff made them look new...I used a rug extractor....



I bought all 3 products for home use..but you may want to try the Grand Slam....stuff is real good....sometimes you need to get a dedicated product to get results....



http://www.jondon.com/carpet-cleaning-products.htm



Al
 
What people sometimes do not realize is carpet is surface area. When you have dirty shoes and twist and turn in one spot you grind dirt in. You litterally abrade the surface of the fiber away. Scratiching it. embeding minute particles into the fiber. wearing it down.



Gues what. Short of a re-dye job there is no way to fix that. Even then a dye job will wear away much faster than an original install.



I thought i offered some of my products to you for sampling accumulator. I know i sent a few pms out. and only heard back from scottwax via email. Here is the list i was hoping to get you to try along with Scottwax, g-35, and Picus.



Need to make good with some samples for you.

8 oz, of ultrapac LVC preconditioner.

8 oz of citrasolv, degreaser spotter for ground in grease,wax,oils.

8 oz of powdered dry slurry as an extraction detergent.

8 oz of bac-out as a protien/food/urine spotter

8 oz of bi-o-cleans traffic lan cleaner for carpets/seats that are covered in protien based soils.

8 oz of 1:1 fourgaurd waterbased flourochemical scotch gaurd for carpets and auto seats.

8 oz of fine fabric shampoo for headliners, and seating.



It took me a bit to find your email, hopefully this is not an inposition on you.



~Aaron
 
AL-53 said:
Accumulator...here is a product I used...was told to use it from another detailer....I did my house rugs with it....he does car rugs with it....I have to say..it does clean....



I had a rug I use to wipe my feet from the garage to house...it was grimy...it was a throw rug..just to wipe feet..had grease..mud...oil..all ground in..well I said it would make a nice test for this stuff...it cleaned it spotless...just a little stain would not come out..roofing tar....



my house rugs are 20 years old..this stuff made them look new...I used a rug extractor....



I bought all 3 products for home use..but you may want to try the Grand Slam....stuff is real good....sometimes you need to get a dedicated product to get results....



http://www.jondon.com/carpet-cleaning-products.htm



Al



Jon don is a professional carpet cleaning product line. Quality stuff, I have used their products many times. While not my favorite they are far better than any OTC or home made concoction.
 
Danase said:
Are you sure it hasn't just discolored the carpet Accumulator?



The discoloration is a result of the carpet being abraded. Think of paint but with far more surface area. you can rub sand on paint for a while and still be able to recover from it. At some point however you will simply pass that threshold where nothing you can do will help it.
 
Grouse said:
Jon don is a professional carpet cleaning product line. Quality stuff, I have used their products many times. While not my favorite they are far better than any OTC or home made concoction.





Grouse....I was using the store bought stuff..and home made stuff...and when I switched to some professional stuff..it was night and day...my rugs are nice and fluffy..these may not be the best..lol..but way better than using APC..woolite...and store bought stuff....



best part is they rinsed clean..no soapy feeling..



Grouse...what are your favorites....I love clean rugs...



Al
 
AL-53 said:
Grouse....I was using the store bought stuff..and home made stuff...and when I switched to some professional stuff..it was night and day...my rugs are nice and fluffy..these may not be the best..lol..but way better than using APC..woolite...and store bought stuff....



best part is they rinsed clean..no soapy feeling..



Grouse...what are your favorites....I love clean rugs...



Al

8 oz, of ultrapac LVC preconditioner.

8 oz of citrasolv, degreaser spotter for ground in grease,wax,oils.

8 oz of powdered dry slurry as an extraction detergent.

8 oz of bac-out as a protien/food/urine spotter

8 oz of bi-o-cleans traffic lan cleaner for carpets/seats that are covered in protien based soils.

8 oz of 1:1 fourgaurd waterbased flourochemical scotch gaurd for carpets and auto seats.

8 oz of fine fabric shampoo for headliners, and seating.



those are my goto products, specialty spotting can get tricky. Keep in mind that OTC products are designed to be used under 140 degrees F. when you use them in a HWE with water above 140 degrees F you end up with some funky issues. many times they will clean better when not using water hotter than 140 degree's f.



Jon don is a quality product line. The key thing is not how it does on one car, but how it does on a 1000. Getting to know the limitations of a product line for carpet cleaning is as important as every other tool and training aspect of it. The reason why i did not choose jon don was they were not distributed regularly when i was in the carpet industry. Our suppliers carried, Prochem, bridgepoint, Hydromaster, pro's choice, bi-o-clean and a few smaller brands.
 
the matrix grand slam AL53 mentioned is extremely similiar to ultrapack that grouse mentioned. i think i am the one AL was refering to that recommended the matrix product grand slam its a traffic lane cleaner. my boss, a member here and i use it ALL the time on carpet here is a link to a truck we cleaned using the matrix

http://autopia.org/forum/showthread.php?t=68245

we had been trying to improve our results on carpet and thought we should try some chemicals that the pro carpet cleaners use, and i have to say we are getting much better results in much less time
 
Grouse said:
8 oz, of ultrapac LVC preconditioner.

8 oz of citrasolv, degreaser spotter for ground in grease,wax,oils.

8 oz of powdered dry slurry as an extraction detergent.

8 oz of bac-out as a protien/food/urine spotter

8 oz of bi-o-cleans traffic lan cleaner for carpets/seats that are covered in protien based soils.

8 oz of 1:1 fourgaurd waterbased flourochemical scotch gaurd for carpets and auto seats.

8 oz of fine fabric shampoo for headliners, and seating.



those are my goto products, specialty spotting can get tricky. Keep in mind that OTC products are designed to be used under 140 degrees F. when you use them in a HWE with water above 140 degrees F you end up with some funky issues. many times they will clean better when not using water hotter than 140 degree's f.



Jon don is a quality product line. The key thing is not how it does on one car, but how it does on a 1000. Getting to know the limitations of a product line for carpet cleaning is as important as every other tool and training aspect of it. The reason why i did not choose jon don was they were not distributed regularly when i was in the carpet industry. Our suppliers carried, Prochem, bridgepoint, Hydromaster, pro's choice, bi-o-clean and a few smaller brands.

Two questions that are a bit off topic, and for that I apologize.

First, you have all these cleaners listed for different types if stains/soils, how do I tell one stain from another? My uneducated eyes see dirty and clean, are there signs as how I would know when to use a specific product? Or do you just start with one and keep trying 'till something works?



Second, are these pro products going to be less effective for those of us that don't have a HWE that heats the water to 140+ degrees? I mean, I love my LGCM (Hey, this is just a hobby for me :p ) but I doubt if its getting the water that warm. Would you change your product suggestions based on the fact that many of us don't have access to a good extractor. Thanks for the information, I always enjoy reading your posts.



Slightly more on topic Accumulator, I have a similiar problem in my sisters car and hope you can get it figured out so I can copy your moves!



- Andrew
 
So the basics to start here is my process as I follow it. Keep in mind I use a HWE. So if your using a LGCM or something similar your going to have to work a bit more.







1) 1)dry vac



2) dry vac again.



90-95% of the soils in the fiber are dry particulate dirt, best removed by dry vacuuming. if you add moisture to a poorly vacuumed fiber/carpet you have to work 10 times harder than needed with 10 times the amount of chemical and water than is needed. With 3-4 times the drying time. So dry vac very thoroughly. Use multiple attachments.



3)Pre treat stains and spots.



Why do this now? Because stain removers work best when applied to virgin stains, In many cases if not all that i can think of right now detergents will inhibit the stain removers if applied before the stain remover. So spot treat trouble areas first, Buy specific products for those areas. lightly rub them in and let them sit while you prepare you chemicals for the main area.







This is where you evaluate your stains:



If it is an oily, greasy, grimy but not food based stain dab it with citra-solv and gently agitate it thoroughly through the fiber.



If it is a food, or protein based stain then add the bac out stain remover. Agitate carefully into the fiber. Let sit 5 to 10 min .



4) Pre-condition the fiber/carpet with cleaner.



use a proper cleaning product. Read the dilution ratio's More product is not better or, lower dilution. These products work in conjunction with water, improperly mixing them will provide very poor results. Normal carpet cleaning agents are 32 parts water to 1 part solution. Once applied Brush in with your brush or PC if you feel the need. Despite what you think agitation will not improve your dirt removal. In many cases you'll keep the detergent from working by agitating too much. In some cases you will distort the fiber. (velvet it) The purpose of agitation is not to break dirt free, but to get your cleaning product to as much surface of the fiber as possible. So light agitation will suffice.







This is the area where you decide which of the two pre-conditioner/traffic lane cleaners to use.



If it is a oily soil, grease, shop gunk, mud, or plain dirt use ultra pac with lvc.



If it is more of a kids dumped all their frys, shakes, soda, pizza hamburgers, fish crackers car then use bi-o-kleens traffic lane cleaner.



If it is the head liner or seats then use fine fabric shampoo. (I will type up an addendum of how to approach these properly)



5) Extraction,

You can use a bonnet method i mentioned above, think Chem-dry the nationally owned chain.

You can extract with shop vac and 1/2 gallon pump sprayer of clean water or water 1ith 1/2 oz of vinager mixed itn

You can extract with LGCM or similar tool.

You can extract by buffing with a towel.

You can use a HW extractor.



The key is to get the fiber clean, then get it dry as possible, then get it set up for the shortest drying time as possible.







In this case the is where you put in your dry slurry mixed rinse agent and extract. This will remove any final pre-conditioners, spotters and any remaining soils leaving the fiber prepped for protectant.



6) Applying the protectant. Here is where you apply the protectant to seats, headliner, and carpets. I was unable to give you a huge amount but it should be sufficient to do one sedan. Mist it on the carpet, seats, and headliner. Then with a clean white terry, dry stroke it to work it into the fibers. 1 16oz bottle should do a sedan so try and space it out accordingly.





7) Drying.

There is little air movement in a car, So turn the fans on crack the windows, set up small portable blowers. The faster you get this dry the less soil wicking you will have. Adding significant air movement and ventalation will cut drying time in half if not by 3/4. Adding the bonnet buffing i mentioned befor can make even a HW extracted carpet dry with in 45-1 hour of finishing.







Using the fine fabric shampoo.



This is actually a shampoo. It is designed to make vast amounts of suds. It is made for fine fabrics. IE silk, hatian cotton, ect ect. You can spray it through a spritzer and brush it in with a horse hair brush on the seats with out worry. Then simply extract them like you would the carpet.



However it is different for the headliner. Here I recommend using a super dense grout sponge. Dip it in your mixed solution. Wring it 80% of the way dry. Then massage it back and for the like an accordion. This will generate a dense lather. Gently brush the lather onto the headliner with the sponge. Then wipe dry with a clean MF or Terry towel. Repeat this through the whole headliner. It may look blotch but will dry with out water marking. That is to say. If you only clean with foam resist the temptation to clean with the wetness of the sponge. If that happens dampen a terry wring it out and wipe the whole headliner down then gently vacuum and set up air movers to dry.



Things like Fine fabric shampoo, bac-out and biocleans traffic lane cleaner will work very well under 140F.



As for a carpet extractor check out danase's little aztec the price is very competitive and for a hobbyist you will see a remarkable improvement. You will see a little less effectiveness with out a quality HWE, but not much. the difference is not so much in looks but how long the carpet will take to resoil. The difference in the carpet being say 60% clean and 90% clean may be minor looks wise, but it may be 3-4 months resoiling wise.



Oh and those items i listed are for cleaning the fiber, not spot removal. That is a whole nother ball game.



what do i suggest to get a handle on this? Take several IICRC courses you can find them here.



http://www.iicrc.org/courses.shtml
 
Nobody need worry about taking this off-topic as long as they're asking about cleaning carpets. This is simply ground-in dirt but other stains naturally fit into the discussion.



I've tried some of the products/methods suggested (I've worked on this countless times) but I do appreciate every response.



Grouse- I was hoping you'd chime in as I remember you were in the industry. You've set me straight on some misconceptions in the past and I kept some of your earlier posts in mind the last time I worked on this.



Yeah, I suspect that the stains in question are simply not gonna come out. With the abrasion of the carpet's nap and all, I'm realistic about my chances. Yellowish-brown stains on light gray :rolleyes: It just grosses me out..the areas where the dogs ride always clean up like new; it's pretty bad that *I* am responsible for the worst problem with the dog car :o



I don't recall your having offered me samples in the past, and to be honest I generally decline such offers for various reasons, including that I worry I'll accept somebody's offer and then not get to it in a timely manner, which might lead to hard feelings (I haven't tried a lot of stuff I've had for months :o ). As I only do detailing as it really *needs* to be done, I'm not the best choice for a tester.



It sounds like something along the lines of Ultrapac or ther Matrix Grand Slam will be my next option. When I get around to ordering something and trying it, I'll post back in case my results might be helpful to others.



So where do I find Ultrapac LVC?



AL-53- Thanks for the link to JonDon, I'll check that out too. I think I'll check them both out (probably next time I'm all ticked off about the stains ;) ) and see what I go with.



Sheesh, this is a real lesson in not letting things get nasty in the first place. But at least I'm gonna learn more about carpet cleaning.
 
Hit me up via email I'll send you a kit. Give it a go. ultra pack LVC is diluted at the least 32 to 1. so.. 3 ounces will last a detailer a long long time.





Google interlink supply.



or prochem. then navigate to their distributers. more than likely there is one in your state.
 
IMO:

What it sound like you have is a combination of wicken[brown color] and or dye's from shoe with soil.



SOLUTION:

Use an air compressor to blow out ALL the dirt and sand vacuum real good extract with a rinse agent wait and see if it start wicking again rinse x3 let dry GOOD LUCK.
 
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