like the title says, i'm wanting to fix up my girl and the carpet and seats are in desperate need of a good cleaning... my passenger seat and floor has what i'm assuming is a stain from a spilled coke... and a mcflurry kates dumb dog knocked over... not sure if the rear carpet is salvageable, it has a nice big stain from when an engine leaked disgusting, rancid old engine oil through both cardboard and a tarp onto my precious blue carpet, and all the idiots at the junk yard like to leave greasy parts on the carpets in aeros... so replacing it has become a challenge.

ANY ways what do you guys use to clean your carpets and seats? only stuff i've used is like penetrating foam cleaner, which requires hours of scrubbing...

thanks guys and gals!!!!

 

get a tub of Oxyclean powder from Lowes or Home Depot.
mix with water, cleans the crud and actually does what it claims, removes stains.
never had it damage anything.

works great on dog pee and poop, don't ask me how i know. damn ex friend's dog.

careful with some of the carpet and upholstery cleaners, they have harsh chemicals and hydrocarbons that damage materials and affect the color

 

Seats and carpets: I find a big shop vac is invaluable. For seats, I just mix a bucket of hot water and a small amount of laundry detergent. Use a big sponge and soak a small area of seat cushion then quickly suck it up with the shop vac. You'll be surprised how dirty the water gets coming out of those seats. Edges are particularly dirty. Repeat process using only hot water for a rinse.

Carpet: same basic process except you can let the solution soak a little longer. Most coffee and foods come out well with this method. Oil/grease, I use WD-40 to lift the bulk of the stain. Works good on small spots, not sure what it would take to get a large patch out as you describe.

 

well if it works on small spots, i could probably just clean small sections. will do both and post results as soon as van gets back from seattle (dad's using it for work)

 

I'd just like to add a couple things:

It's almost impossible to do a good cleaning job without a lot of heavy scrubbing by hand, no matter what cleaner you use. It took lots of effort for butts and feet to grind all that dirt into the fabric, and they're not going to just lift out from any solvents.

The biggest kept-secret of a lot of cleaners or cleaning services is that they dissolve the dirt and let it settle into the fabric, so you can't see it from the surface. Shortly after it appeared to be cleaned up, your butt rubbing against it will cause the dirt to magically re-surface. So when I need to do a thorough deep cleaning I usually take my car to one of those self-car wash places that has a vacuum cleaner. I do the wet scrubbing in the parking lot, and then use the vacuum cleaner immediately afterward to suck up the dirty liquid. Then repeat with a rinsing pass.

 

My .02, and easy way to clean (so to speak) the grease and oil out of the back is to get some GoJo or any mechanic type hand cleaners (the cream type) and scrub that into the carpet, then either suck it up or use a rag to pull the oil out. It works for your hands too.

 

we just did ours. they were kinda grungy. we rented the "rug Doctor" from the super market. that with a stiff brush and the seats and carpets came out almost like new

 

I replaced my carpet in the back with Bedrug. Doesn't help with cleaning your old stuff, just thought i would share my experience with this great carpet replacement. It is virtually indestructible and it is waterproof. The only thing I found that damaged it was setting something really hot on it. Had a catalytic converter that was still hot inside from a shop that had just replaced it. It was still hot enough that it fused the fibers on the liner. That aside, i have spilled lots of stuff on it, and it just comes right off.

 

anyone found anything that will remove ski wax.

my aero is a one season leaseback from a Utah ski resort.
13 years later and still has gobs of melted ski wax in back carpet where they waxed their ski while going up the mountain.
have tried everything including naphtha (Coleman fuel), kerosene and acetone and some of the commercial retail cleaners including exterior tar cleaner.

does nothing or damages carpet

 

i know it seems silly and some what dangerous, but have you tried heating up the wax with a heat gun then sucking it up with your shop vac?