carpet cleaning

[steve8462]

has anybody tossed their factory carpets in a washing machine? the set that was in my car seems to be in fairly good shape but just have 30 years of dirt and grime on them. my plan was to wash them in a commercial washer, hang them to dry, use a commercial steamer to flatten and reshape them and re-dye them if needed. any thoughts on this process? has anybody had any luck resurrecting their carpets?

[Exit98]

Hi Steve,

I guess I'd worry about shrinking and maybe even separation considering the age. It's a cool idea though so if you try it let us know how it turned out.

If you want to try something a little less agressive first I love "Tuff Stuff"

http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&auth ... =0&ndsp=18

It's cheap, sold everywhere, I've used it for years and it works remarkably well. I work it in with a scrub brush and take it off with a rinsed cloth. You've got to keep changing the rinse water so much dirt comes out. Removes stains like coffee and so forth too.

I've never dyed carpet but I've had excellent results dying vinyl. That should work good too.

Good luck.

[4uall]

I went in another direction as mine were beyond help

http://forum.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtop ... lit=carpet

[toyfiats]

has anybody tossed their factory carpets in a washing machine? the set that was in my car seems to be in fairly good shape but just have 30 years of dirt and grime on them. my plan was to wash them in a commercial washer, hang them to dry, use a commercial steamer to flatten and reshape them and re-dye them if needed. any thoughts on this process? has anybody had any luck resurrecting their carpets?

If they are just dirty, and not threadbare, you should be able to resurrect them. I helped a friend in Australia refurbish a Spider a few years ago with new paint, leather, top, etc. He wanted to keep the car as original as possible, but I was urging him to get new carpets, as the factory tan ones were just gross (worse than some of the pictures referenced in replies above). My wife took one look at them and said they would be fine. We filled the garage sink with hot water, and gave them multiple soakings and scrubs with fresh water over several days. Then we used our home carpet steam cleaner for a final scrub and wash, and they turned out amazing. I would have never believed it looking at what we started with. Definitely worth a try.

[GeorgeT]

I used a handheld steamer/vac on mine with good results.

[Frie1984]

You can also put auto floor tangles in your clothes washer, utilizing your normal cleaner.

Apply shower recolor recover first.

[MikeHynes]

I've had good luck cleaning up grungy carpet using a pressure washer. If you don't have one a commercial car wash is a good alternative.

[DieselSpider]

Generally you will break up the glue in the jute backing making the carpets limp and prone to creasing, rolling and ripping if you tumble or agitate them in a washing machine. If you have the deluxe carpets with the sound deadening and extra plush padding bonded to them this will also many times start to come apart if you put them in a washing machine. Unbound edges will also tend to unravel in a washing machine.

Regular vacuuming and maintenance cleaning before they get extremely bad is the best recourse. If they were allowed to go too long between cleanings then you can take them out, vacuum them upside down to get the most loose dirt out and then hang them on a fence hosing them down followed by using a carpet extractor.

You really do not want to use a real pressure washer since the thousands of PSI will just start fraying and cutting the fibers however a medium pressure car wash wand will usually be acceptable.

If you do use a real pressure washer use the lowest pressure soaping nozzle. If the stream is too strong to spray on your clothing while your wearing them then its will usually damage the carpeting.

After your done be sure to treat them with a good Scotch Guard treatment ensuring that they are completely bone dry before you apply it and then are allowed to dry completely before putting them back in service.