My new to me 4runner is awesome, and dirty. Its got 400,000 miles of dust ant dirt in the seats and carpet. Is there a way to clean them without renting a steam cleaner?
Every narrow crevasse has accumulated a thick dust. Any simple things around the house I can use to get this crud out.
I'm sure things like alcohol, Q-tips, and dish soap are among the stuff I'll eventually be using.
Step 1: Pull out the carpet
Step 2: Pressure the carpet in your driveway
Step 3: Squooosh out the water, then let dry in the sun for a day or three (depending on weather / state)
Step 4: Reinstall carpet
Works on seats as well.
^ I did what Javelin said on carpet and seats in my Protegé. It made the dip spit and dirt-covered interior at least presentable.
berkeleying moron previous owner.
No access to a pressure washer. Will the jet from a hose be enough? (That being said, its better than nothing.)
Use the pressure washer at a car wash and then take the stuff home to dry?
MG Bryan wrote: Use the pressure washer at a car wash and then take the stuff home to dry?
That's what I did. I threw them in the back of my Toyota Pickup. Got some funny looks at the car wash, but it worked well.
Appleseed wrote: No access to a pressure washer. Will the jet from a hose be enough? (That being said, its better than nothing.)
Get a proper sprayer nozzle at the very least.
MG Bryan wrote: Use the pressure washer at a car wash and then take the stuff home to dry?
Duh! That's an excellent idea.
What soap works best?
No soap needed, but original Dawn is the answer if you really need it. +1 to the "go to the carwash" route. Also, get a stiff bristle brush if you can before hand to scrub, like this:
You can get them at horsey places for cheap.
Do you have a shop vac?
Mix strong soap and hot water. Dump on carpet/seat, scrub till clean, suck water up with shop vac. Run heater on full with windows up.
If you clean it, it will die.
Another option is taking the carpet out and having a carpet cleaning company come clean it. I used to work for ChemDry and I would leave the carpet in the car and do a wet clean every few months, works awesome. When I worked there it was a $75 minimum, so I would budget somewhere around that much.
spitfirebill wrote: If you clean it, it will die.
I'll try and be careful. I remember the pressure washer destroying GRM's rally Subaru's carpet.
I've used the rental carpet cleaner w/ upholstery attachment w/ success before. For the $25-30 24 hr rental I cleaned two carpets in the house. Using the upholstery attachment I cleaned the truck seats/ carpets and the car seats/ carpet w/o removing them. The rental shop brand upholstery cleaner worked fine. Don't use something like Simple Green tho. Rental prices have prolly risen since the last time I've used them... been a while there.
Also used the garden hose, pressure washer and car wash before for seats and carpets removed... works fine also. Let sun/ air dry on warm days.
Appleseed wrote:spitfirebill wrote: If you clean it, it will die.I'll try and be careful. I remember the pressure washer destroying GRM's rally Subaru's carpet.
To be fair, a light mist will destroy stock Subaru carpet. That stuff sucks.
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