I’ll admit this QotW is purely for selfish reasons, but we are trying to do a deep clean on my AE86 and the carpets have very old stains from an unknown substance. We’ve tried everything — a Bissell carpet cleaner, Dawn dish soap, baking soda, Folex, and various mixtures of those. The stains have gotten lighter, but they’re still there. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
How do you clean old stains from floormats and carpets?
The most entertaining comment by next week will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What is your favorite form of motorsports, and what car would you compete in it with?“.
There were some great answers this week fantasizing about which car you’d enter into a racing series of your choice. We had everything from the silly, like daniel‘s pick of Malaysia’s K-Car Global 24hr endurance race, to the deadly serious, like dankan leading a WEC campaign with a pair of Acura ARX-06 prototypes. There were dream entries for every level in between too, like Yewnos100 driving a GT3 FD RX-7, Lakdasa and Bryan Kitsune wheeling TA64 Celica and ST165 Celica GT-Four in rally stages, and TheJWT drifting in, what else, but an AE86.
The winner this week was StreetSpirit who would hit the local gymkhana course with the sublimely ridiculous choice of an Autech Stelvio:
I’d love to go for something illogical, outdated and most of all weird!
We’re going to take an autech Zagato Stelvio and make it into a Group 5/kaido racer inspired gymkhana car!
It’s one of those cars that in spite of rarity, good mechanicals and pedigree never got the love it deserved.
And that’s to good reason as it’s styled like someone booked a love hotel for an Easter Island statue and an autobot…But imagine those body fenders even boxier, a fat chin spoiler and longtail with very big wing that offers not much but shock value.
I think we’re on to something here, cherry taillights angled on the rear and a Nascar style boom tube down the side.
sure there’s loads of suspenion frame and other work to be done but i wont bore you with the details.I’ll paint it a dirty grey and call it ‘project beluga’
Omedetou, your comment has earned you a set of decals from the JNC Shop!
Hmmm … lessee. Very stubborn stain, eh? Is it in a very noticeable spot? Could it be human or other mammalian “leftovers”? Interesting, very interesting indeed. Your problem is possibly not with the removal, sop to speak but, with an actual covering up of the stain. Let us assume … right, we know that could make you an ass out of u and me but, let’s go that route any way. So, how to “cover up” the stain? Without seeing it, we can also “assume” it’s presence is but, a damning shadow of what it was originally. There are TWO methods that might be useful. First, is a auto interior carpet/vinyl spray. Trying this on a hidden area of the carpet … after taking it out of the car, that is … to see if you can match it up, one way of dealing with the stain and, if it works you can reminisce with distain on previous efforts. However, if it is one of “those” shades of carpet that are of a more colorful hue, you need to pull out your big guns … RIT fabric dye! I have used this on our living room carpet twice in the 30 years we have been in our home so, don’t knock it my friend! In fact it would be easier than the hand sponging of dye on the carpet (it was horribly faded along with the stains from both an overactive Chinese Shar Pei and, dachshund … of which the latter was more prolific than the former). With the carpet out of the car you CAN do this. It is even easier to match up the shade than fabric paint as RIT can be mixed if needed to match your carpet. Also, if the spot dries a tad darker … covering the stain, then depending if it is THAT noticeable or not … then one cand using a sponge (like I did … wearing old jeans and rubber gloves, hand work the color into the carpet. I was fortunate that out of the myriad colors offered, Forest Green matched our living room perfectly. Despite my aching back along with the mighty oaths and vile imprecations during the process, which WILL occur, my friend, have no doubt about it as this is an arduous task but, much less one than my living room … in shork, bubi, it works! So, Get ‘Er Done!
If the color is faded the suggestion previously entered would work, but for the most part floormats are the easiest to clean. They’re designed to be pressure washed at the do-it- yourself carwash bay. Hang them up on the wall clips, set the wand to soap and, this is important, wash in a steady right to left motion, or left to right if you’re lefthanded, FROM THE BOTTOM TO THE TOP. I found genuine carpeted floormats for my L.L.Bean Subaru that were soaked in mud and oil at a junkyard and I brought them back to brand new. Even chocolate and coffee stains come right out. The material for the floor carpet is the same as the floormat, so take the carpet out and pressure wash it. The plastic material is identical to the plastic used for all interior plastic and the carpet can’t be damaged.
Carpet stains cleaning. You don’t. You go to JC Whitney and buy replacement custom cut carpeting. My various S30s had these. AE86 kit is less than $200. But first, patch the rust holes in the floor to keep out the road stains. :=)
But if you want to keep trying to clean ’em because your carpets are OE adding to the collector value, I was removing window tint from my Shiro one day with my clothing steamer and noticed a stain on the driver floor. Got out some fabric cleaner (that pre-soak stuff), sprayed it on, let it sit 20 mins while I finished the tint removal and turned the steamer on carpet. Took out what I presumed was fast food condiment goo.
Good suggestions, everyone. Yes, it’s the OE carpet and I’d like to keep it. I’ll try the steamer.
you could use a mix of a little vinegar and water. my steamer has a soft bristle brush. after this you will want to wash the carpet to get rid of the vinegar smell, then just air dry
Some stains will have permanently discolored the carpet no matter how well you clean it. The only way to restore it back to new is to re-dye it. A re-dye would also bring the carpet back to its original pre sun faded glory.
While I would subscribe to the idea that the answer is new carpets and orignality bedamned, because I’d put in in that category like tires, rubber seals and shift boots where original is not best and need changing every so often (you don’t have the same carpets in your house 30 years unless its a student bedsit right?)
A pressure washer can work wonders to get out deeply ingrainded dirt, but you’re never going to get out some stains as said.
Dyeing is an option, but don’t forget the fibres themselves are breaking down and unravelling so even if you get it clean and the right color, the texture may still look rubbish with bobbling and fraying (or not, depends on the material and quality)
So the answer is… strip all those namby pamby carpets out and just go fully stripped out because racecar.
As a professional madman I’d recommend a complete carpectomy to be followed up by a cage for structural support, some brand new bucket seats would get rid of any pesky stains left for sure!
On a more serious note steam and extractors have been a good friend of mine for cleaning and hydrogen peroxide too but that might mess stain the fabric so i’d STRONGLY RECOMMEND doing a test bit under the seat area first!
You don’t. Keep em. Own your stains. “They tell stories” (read that like DJ Khaled).