People should know how to clean car carpet because cars are used on a daily basis, and people spend a good amount of time of their daily life in them. So we came across the following questions. How often do you deep clean your car? How recently did you deep clean your car carpet?
Because cars are often used, they often get dirty, dusty, stained, sticky, and even stinky. Whether you are going to and from work, whether you are taking your kids to school, sports, their friend’s house, grocery shopping, or even day trips, a car is one thing many people can’t live without.
So to keep your car nice and fresh for your daily activities, we are going to provide some brief information with the hope of helping you in that aspect. More particularly, with this guide, we are going to touch upon the subject of how to clean car carpet.
For the reason that people often forget about the car carpet, thinking it doesn’t get that dirty because of the car mats, we are here to remind you and give you some instructions on how to clean car carpet.
Things You Will Need to Get Your Car Carpet Nice and Clean
First of all, you need to determine the state of your car carpet, meaning to look for any stains like vomiting, beverage spills, ink stains, grease stains, or any other tough stains. Whether your car carpet is just dusty, filled with crumbs and other kinds of dirt, or you are dealing with any kind of stains, here are the basic things you will need on how to clean a car carpet:
- Broom and dustpan or a vacuum
- Car carpet cleaner solution or car carpet shampoo
- Toothbrush or nylon brush
- A rag
- A spray bottle
- Paper towels
- A bucket to dissolve the shampoo or cleaner solution and any other things you may find helpful.
How to Clean Car Carpet: Step by Step Instructions
Organize
In order to get the job done faster and easier, we recommend first organizing the space. Because of the small place in the car, you can easily get distracted, annoyed, and overwhelmed if the space is cluttered with all kinds of toys, trash, coins, and any other small items we all fill our car compartments with. Make it easier on yourself, and first remove all the dirt, trash, and unnecessary items from your car.
Take out the car mats
Then what you want to do is remove the floor mats from the car. Usually, because of these, people delay deep cleaning the car carpet, thinking that shaking the dirt off of the car mats will do the job. In some ways, it is true, depending on how many times you just shake off the dirt and dust just from the floor mats. However, the car carpet also gets dusty, sticky, stinky, filled with crumbs and other dirt. So, in this case, you want to remove the car mats, get rid of the dirt from them, then wash them with water and car shampoo or cleaner, and leave them to air dry.
Vacuum or sweep the dirt
If you are choosing to clean your carpet without a machine, the broom and dustpan are the way to go. However, you can get the dirt from the car carpet much more easily, as well as thoroughly with a vacuum. Get the dirt off the floor as much as you can, and be sure to vacuum all the nooks and crannies.
Read More: How to Clean Car Seats
Get a car cleaner solution or shampoo
There are various kinds of car cleaners out there, just one of your likings; they will all get the job done. However, if you can’t find the time to get a cleaner solution from an auto shop, no worries; use what you can get your hands on. Whether it is laundry detergent, shampoo, or homemade cleaner solution, they will do just as well as a car cleaner from an auto shop.
Read more: How Much PSI to Wash Car
Clean the car carpet with the cleaner solution
In this step, you want to apply the product evenly throughout the whole car carpet, whether it is in a spray bottle or you have to dilute a concentrate first, apply evenly then as directed on the product, allow the solution to sit for a while.
Pay extra attention to any kinds of stains to properly get them out; here is where a toothbrush may come in handy. With a toothbrush, you can easily work your way into the stain, preferably with circular motions, deeply and roughly cover the area of the stain with the product and rub it with the toothbrush or nylon brush.
Rinse
As a next step comes the rinse time. With a damp rag, you should go over every area of the car carpet you previously put a cleaner solution on and try to get it out as much as you can. Also, in this, it is recommended to go with the rug in circular motions over the carpet. You may have to treat the carpet multiple times with a damp rug until all the shampoo or solution is rubbed away.
Air-dry the car
Because you will be rinsing the product off with a damp rag, it may still be excessively damp. So, the best way to avoid mold or mildew after cleaning out the car carpet is to allow the car to air-dry. It is important to check the carpet multiple times, feel and see if it is still damp if it turns out, it is to leave it to air-dry for a longer time, and even blot the carpet with paper towels or rags.
Clean the remaining surfaces and put back the car mats
Once the car carpet is nice and dry, you should go over the remaining surface areas and clean them as well. In this step, you may also need to vacuum once more because while cleaning the rest of the car, you may get the carpet dirty. And at last, reinstall the previously cleaned and washed car mats, and enjoy your fresh and deeply cleaned car.
Related: How to Clean a Car Carpet Without an Extractor
Conclusion
Cars around the world are the most common possession of every household. On average, every household has from one to three cars in its possession. They are probably the most daily used object from a global point of view.
Because they are a part of daily people’s lives, they should be deep cleaned more often. As you can see from our guide, cleaning the car carpet is so easy, non-time consuming, and not at all expensive. We highly recommend cleaning car carpets by yourself and in your own home. You simply cannot go wrong; just follow our instructions to give your car a fresh and clean look.