Age + veriety of products used such as 303, Meguiars, Lexol. at 73k miles and almost 5yr old car she no longer smells "new". After treatment and details its a nice smell of products used unless its lexol. But that smell as we all know will last a week tops? Maybe 2. Then the car has it's own getting OLD smell. At times I get in and it isn't exactly a pleasent smell. "Some what STINGS THE NOSTRILS" lol

AC/Heating vents don't smell funny so those are fine. I need help getting my car to smell..........neutral I guess is the best way to put it. I don't wanna continue to just cover it up with more and more products. She needs a bath... NOT A COLON. Edit: well since it's a SHE then perfume.

Best way to give you an idea guys, ever get in to a used car that your friend just bought and it has it's own scent? Okay yeah, that GOTTA GO.

Thx for the help S2kerz.

 

because they're not exposed to any light and are super hard to clean, i think you really have to start with the air vents. even if the air blown out isn't fowl in nature, i think if you can get those clean you're out to a great start. other than that, from my very limited experience, i understand what you mean about how certain cars smell a little.... odd. part of that is everything that embeds into the car. the seats, floor mats, under the floor mats, dash, ceiling, headrests, consul, arms rests, etc etc etc all have to be cleaned really well to eliminate the problem from the root. only by cleaning every inch will you truly get rid of any bacteria/fungi/old stains that are causing the smell. without doing so, all the little micro's will have a fresh clean surface to start breeding and smelling all over again.

g/l - a true full out interior is a big big big job, and even worse is all the odd angles you have to try to clean from. at least on the exterior you have a place to stand or a stool to sit on. the inside is whats a real pain as you have to twist your body like a pretzel to get to everything

 

Well with rotator cuff injury I wont be twisting and acting as if I am a pretzel that's for sure lol. Dang it. Well let's start with vents... how is that done? Take the Micron filter out and spray some product in to it while the blower is working at its full speed or some?

 

i'm sure some senior more knowledgeable members will comment, and while i wait on them, i think i've heard good things by this 1z product:

http://www.detailersdomain.com/index.asp?P...WPROD&ProdID=41

i think this is the same one FMINUS had pictures using. good enough for him=good enough for the rest of us noobs. from what i understand this stuff foams up to kill bacteria and such that is inside the vents. thats the key. kill the source, don't just cover it up.

g/l!

 

cleaning the vents is important... and dont forget to change the fresh air filter- pia, but imo its a necessity

then you want to work the interior outside in the sun top down if possible.

pull the seats, all carpets and everything outta the car.

complete cleaning- an apc on hard surfaces and carpet shampoo on the rugs. if you cant shampoo, there are carpet cleaning products that spray on. be sure to protect the vinyl after washing- a good protectant (303 or vinylex) is a must after the washing. clean the leather with a good leather cleaner and then protect them with a quality leather protectant.

most of your bad smells come from fabrics and vents, unless you have spilled something - and then the seats can get involved. so you really wanna focus on the seats and vents (again, the filter is important imo)

while the parts are out of the car, they should be in full sun. when you clean them, i would get them in shade- and then back in sun after cleaning.

finally, smell your headliner- it can be a culprit (usually when it is down a lot)- it likes the apc on the inside. be sure to dry it completely.

getting rid of odors can be trial and error, but if you just hit it all, the errors go away!!

a lot more info on how to pull the seats, and how to do the interior, etc is in our "how to" thread at the top of our board...

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once you have "no smell" you have to decide whether you want to try a product to bring back the leather smell... chemical guys makes a leather smell product, as an example.

 

Remove your seats, shampoo your carpets, replace your a/c filter (VERY easy to do and makes a big difference IMO), clean the inside of the softtop, and try switching to a different interior protectant. I recommend 1Z's cockpit premium... it smells great and doesn't get "stale' after a couple weeks like I've noticed with Vinylex.

 

Can you use a carpet shampoo'er on the convertible top? I always keep my top down, so the first fold is ALWAYS extremely dirty, and dusty looking, and even with some Raggtop, 303, or any other Vinyl product, it still looks a little dirty... Would using the same products we use on the carpet (They're Vinyl too, IIRC, I remember reading that some where when we were talking about the cars getting rained in, and the carpet being Vinyl for that reason) cause any harm to the roof?

Just throwing this idea out there... I know it would be somewhat difficult to do upside down, but I think it should work..