Smelly Carpets? Do This…

Smelly Carpets? Do This…

Vehicle carpets are more than just something to wipe your feet on. The carpets in your vehicle insulate the cabin from noise and heat/cold, enhance comfort, and protect your vehicle’s floor. Just like other areas of your car, carpets need proper maintenance in order to be kept clean. One of the main enemies of your carpets is water, as the fibres of carpets will hold on to water and eventually develop mildew.

Every time we step into our vehicles, especially if it’s been wet, we are introducing water to the carpets. Don’t worry if you’ve noticed a mildewy smell in your vehicle. Thankfully this is a relatively straight forward fix.

Pre-Emptive Cleaning

Before we break down how to best combat mildewy carpets, it’s important to point out the benefits of pre-emptive action. If you just finished a killer lake trip where everyone was hopping into the car to get back to the camp site or cabin, or recently dealt with a summer downpour, the time to act is now. Preventing mildew and musty odours is easier than reversing them, so acting ahead of time is definitely in your best interest.

Musty carpets are not the type of issue that will go away on their own, so you need to deal with a musty smell as soon as it is noticed. Ignoring the smell will only make it worse and harder to get rid of.

Removing the Musty Smell

Happy carpets are simple; all you need to do is make sure they are clean and dry. If both these criteria are met, that smell will disappear. Musty carpets are not the type of issue that will go away on their own, so you need to deal with a musty smell as soon as it is noticed. Ignoring the smell will only make it worse and harder to get rid of.

Here is a step-by-step guide for how to deal with this annoying issue:

Step 1: On a nice dry day, park your car outside and open up all the doors and windows. Having fresh air circulate through your vehicle will help the carpets dry out.
Step 2: After the car has sat in the sun for a while, use a vacuum cleaner to get rid of large particulate matter, like dirt and sticks.
Step 3: Create a cleaning solution by mixing a 1:1 ratio of water and household white vinegar. Dab a little bit of the mixture somewhere hidden away, like under a seat, to see if it changes the colour of the carpets; it shouldn’t, but it doesn’t hurt to check. Scrub the musty carpets with this solution using a sponge.
Step 4: Once the carpets have air dried, use a carpet-cleaning foam product to clean them again, and let dry.
Step 5: Once dry, vacuum up the foam. If everything has gone according to plan, your carpets should be odour free.

Most Importantly: Prevention

Once you have that musty smell out of your vehicle, it is time to take a preventative measure to keep your carpets and seats looking and smelling newer, longer. The way to do that is a quick treatment with Feynlab’s Textile & Leather Ceramic Coating. Feynlab® Textile & Leather is a silica/fluro based coating engineered for extreme durability and hydrophobicity. Textile & Leather is versatile and designed for interior cloth seats, carpets, and convertible fabric tops. Once treated, surfaces are simple to clean and are safeguarded against accidental spills and stains of all kinds including common oils. Read more about it right here.

If this sounds like a time investment that you aren’t able to commit to, or you’ve tried this process and the smell still lingers, maybe it’s time for a professional’s touch. Bring it to us and we can get you back that “new car smell.”