[Shotimes] smoke, cleaning headliner?

[Donald Mallinson]

Joseph,

I wrote a rather comprehensive article on my car care site 
about this:

http://www.dccarcare.com/tipowk/tipowk5.html

The thing to remember is that smells are usually on the 
surface of stuff, especially smoke.  So the worst thing you 
can do is soak the interior in soapy water, because that 
drives all the smells deep into the material, foam etc.

Try using a good general purpose cleaner.  I sell a good one 
by Wurth.  Spray this on cloth, carpets, headliner with a 
light mist.  If your skin is not too sensative, just work in 
in with your hand/fingertips.  Trying to just get the 
surface nice and damp.  Then lightly buff with a clean bath 
towel.  ON the headliner, I would not buff, just work in 
with your fingertips and maybe blot dry.

With this method, you get the smells on the surface, and it 
will be clean looking.  For spills that are deeper, soak the 
area more with the cleaner.

I do NOT like using soap and water...it causes rust and 
mold/mildew.

Use a vinyl cleaner/preservative on vinyl and a good leather 
product on leather.  I like and sell Lexol products for that.

Glass cleaner for the glass and clear plastic.

Finally, make up a spray of about 1 or 2% bleach solution. 
Maybe put a drop or two of Ivory dishwashing liquid (or 
other liquid soap) in it.  The soap is to help the liquid 
soak in rather than bead up.  The bleach is to kill smells 
without bleaching colors or making the car smell like a laundry.

Spray this mixture in your air intake at the base of the 
windshield.  With the fan going full blast, run the HVAC 
through all its modes (taking air from outside, not 
recirculate).  Spray a LOT in and this will help kill 
mold/mildew in the HVAC system and get rid of odors there.

Then spray this mixture under the seats, on the package 
tray, under the dash, in the trunk.  Remember, that smoke 
gets EVERYWHERE so you must treat everywhere to get it out.

I have seen some really bad cars come back to be decent with 
this method.

I have a few gallons of an odor product we used to sell 
called Odor Wand.  If you try the above and it still smells 
like smoke, give me a call, I can get you some of this for 
my price plus shipping.

Don Mallinson

van Oss wrote:
> I am prepping a wagon for a relative with allergies.  The car's previous
> owner smoked.
> 
> I plan to do what I reasonably can to minimize the odor.  Mostly going after
> the soft surfaces.  We have a brand-new carpet to install, and we have front
> leather seats from a non-smoking car.  The cloth rear seats, and the
> cargo-area carpet, we can shampoo.
> 
> What advice about cleaning the headliner?  Do I have to worry about the
> cloth being attached to the fiberglass backing with a water-soluble
> adheasive (that's been said on the list in the past)?  What can I safely
> use, preferably leaving the headliner in place?
> 
> I know some smoke might have got into the vents, but I'm not pulling the
> dash.  We will, of course, scrub all the interior plastic trims.
> 
> Any other stuff we should do?  Thanks.
> 
> VO
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