Volvo 480 Club Europe

Hello folks,

I'm preparing Nilani for some paintwork and pampering due to an unfortunate incident involving a neighbour's dog and next door's daughter colliding with the car on her scooter. Nothing serious, other than a deep gouge on the front wing (previously replaced and painted under DC Walker's excellent care).

Before she goes off for paint, I was looking through the various threads involving cleaning up the interior, and realised my own approach was somewhat lacking in the deep cleaning of carpets and upholstery department. Bearing in mind that Nilanis a Celebration with full leather seating, but also that she'd been owned previously by a smoker, I was wondering what others use to extract decades worth of dust, smoke odour and general grime from the insides of your pride and joy?

If anyone could recommend some good and not prohibitively expensive kit, I'd probably head out and pick some up.

Hoping to hear your thoughts

Martin

PS the relocation of some good friends to the City of Sheffield recently has provided an excellent excuse to bob over from Lancashire for a visit via the Snake Pass and Derwent, which is a lovely twisting and scenic route and a joy to drive the car. We've had great nods of approval from a wide range of folks, and nobody has (yet) sought to race me & the old lady.. (the car, not the missus!)

Hi Martin

Upholstery wise, I recently bought a Bissel Spot Clean from Currys as there was an offer on. Of course, that may be too expensive if you’re not going to use it a lot.

You can hire the Rug Doctor machines with small attachments from Tesco for about £22+ shampoo for the day.

I have used the Meguiars odour bomb too (new car) which are good but not sure about long term.

As for leather: Jeff/Sylvia?

Morning Martin must be a spate of scooter attacks, a chap on Facebook had his door damaged last week by a child’s scooter. I use Supernatural cleaner and sealant off flea bay. But always wipe the seats down with my shammy when I clean the wedge. I have an old wallpaper steamer that has adaptions for upholstery and that works ok. Cheers Norman

I use an upright bissell (project revolution 2x) because I’ve got a dog so it’s actually good for the carpet in the house. Also means you can buy one “for the house” earning bonus points! They do a stair cleaning attachment which is great for getting into corners of carpets.

I’d also recommend drill brushes - the ones shown just as an example; finding them handy for all sorts of things!

For killing odour, particularly smoke, you’d be better looking at getting an ozone generator. You stick in the car, leave for a couple of hours and then, VERY IMPORTANTLY, vent the car for a couple of hours before going inside it (if you’ve got a garage, overnight is ideal!)

For leather I was a big gliptone fan but since being bought out, the formula may have changed…. Nothing confirmed yet but am actively looking for new leather care stuff.

Just a few more thoughts….

Get the interior stripped out. Not only does it make cleaning the carpets much easier but it means you can thorough clean and vacuum what’s under the carpet (and another potential odour source)

The front seats are the hardest thing to remove (and remember to lock the srs seat belts) but its SO worth the effort. You could properly deep clean the interior over a weekend.

In terms of chemicals, Bissells stuff is very good, but very expensive! Stuff designed for pet cleaning is good as it often has enzymes to kill of bacteria. I’m currently using dirt busters shampoo.

Lily my white turbo was heavily smoked in - one driver from new who smoked 60 a day and his wife was also a heavy smoker. I changed the head lining, seats and carpets and I can STILL smell nicotine although of course much fainter than it was. If you do strip the interior out, you might want to remove all the plastics and replace the decaying foam bits on the back with sound deadening, as well as giving it all a good wash. Depends how keen you are !

Down the rabbit hole we go…..

I agree with the hired Rug Doctor for a good one off clean. I know I am too lazy to ever do this job more than once or twice ever!

They are powerful and you’d have to spend a fortune to get one of this quality to keep yourself. There is a little handheld nozzle that comes off them (make sure you hire the right one that included this!).