DancinT

I need your help. The grown daughter of a friend of ours had a stroke a few weeks ago and really needs to sell her 95 coupe however she smoked in the car. Any body have a solution to getting rid of the smoke smell?

gkrynick22

The smell of smoke never really comes out. There is probably a layer of tar on most of the plastic interior pieces. There is also smoke residue in the carpet. You would have to replace the carpet. Thoroughly clean every plastic piece in the car. Thoroughly clean the steering wheel and seats. Even after you do this the smell might still be there. I had a car that I replaced the carpets and about 80% of the plastics and the car still smelled like crap. Were you going to buy this for yourself, or sell it for her? If you are selling it for her, the easiest way would be to sell it to a smoker. Good luck.

bdw18_123

There's no easy way to get rid of it. You pretty much have to thoroughly clean the whole interior. Especially the carpet, as it tends to hold the smell in more than the plastic, vinyl & leather.

My '90 ZR-1 had an old cigarette smell to it too. I vacuumed then cleaned with carpet cleaner (the kind with odor eliminator) all the carpet. I also cleaned all the plastic and vinyl first with Simple Green, then detailed them with Mother's "Back to Black". And cleaned the seats with leather cleaner/conditioner. Smell is gone now.

This may work for you also, depending on how bad the smell is. If it's really bad, you may not be able to completely get it all out. The smell in mine wasn't really bad, but it was there.

See my restoration thread here (link below) for more details and pictures of how I cleaned mine:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c4-z...te-thread.html

cv67

Clean everything REAL well

Spray some Ozium (sold at Pep Boys) under the seats so it gets in the foam, under dash, in trunk

Keep windows down or cracked for a few weeks, it will go away. Bought a car from a cigar smoker yrs ago it took about a mo or so to go away and smelled new again. All leather interior.

Guess depends how long they smoked in it and if they kept the windows up like some do all the time .Then it could be tough.

lt4obsesses

I'm sorry to hear about your friend's daughter, my prayers are with them.

If you shampoo the carpets, use a good cleaner on the plastic and leather you should be fine. It may take more than one application, but it will come out. I smoke in mine sometimes, but I take care to clean the interior thouroughly at least once a week. When non smokers ride in it, they comment how suprised they are that it doesn't smell like smoke.

BerniesVette

Might try Fabreeze on the carpet and headliner too. Just a thought!
Bernie

vetsalsman

Pour some amonia into 2 open containers, place one in the footwell & one in the rear cargo area. Close car up for about 12 hours.
After 12 hours dispose of amonia. Let car sit with windows down outside in sun for a few hours. Smoke smell will be gone

dukeallen

It might also come through the vents. I've heard of spraying lysol in them with the fans on to draw it through.

Muffin

I didn't know that.

nutz4c4

Find a detail shop that has an Ozone generator. Smell gone from everywhere.

WW7

Bernie's right, this stuff works great, we used it in an apartment that the tenent had smoked and it got the smell out...WW

http://www.febreze.com/en-us/pages/h...c-37b96cf76d45

24695bob

There are still enough smokers out there who will never notice the smell... SO sell it to a smoker and forget about it...

Chances are the buyer if he/she smokes will never smell anything unusual or even unpleasant to them....

Bob G.

PLRX

My 92 had that problem.

Take the seats out, clean carpet, clean or wipe everything with simple green. You'll see the nicotine on the rag, it was Fng disgusting. Clean the seats and use fabreeze on the carpet and headliner. You'll see the intensity of the smell will go down but, it will stay for a while. Drive with windows down and do this, burn incense inside. That one worked very well.

DancinT

Thanks everybody for all your suggestions. I really appreciate it. We are going to help her sell the car since she needs the cash now and also needs something more practical to drive so we just want to get the most out of it that we can. We plan on cleaning it very thoroughly top to bottom but I know that smoke is particularly hard to get out so just wanted some suggestions. If one thing doesn't work, we'll try something else. Again thanks again for all your help.

Cindy

92ragtop

Leave a fish under the seat. In a few days you won't even notice the smoke smell.

Z06_BluByU

let a cat **** in it...


.. you wont smell the cigarettes anymore...

corgasm

"Find a detail shop that has an Ozone generator. Smell gone from everywhere"


From a web site on ozone generator dangers: " It attacks rubber/plastic gloves, rubber/plastic gaskets/ O rings, washers, vinyl materials, etc. and cracks them."

Maybe the relatively short duration of use of an ozone generator to remove smoking odor will not have this effect.

SQUIRMIN VERMIN 84

Kidding aside, it reminds me of that Mythbuster episode where they took an '88(I think), C4 and locked it up for weeks with 2 pig carcasses inside. Cigarette smoke can't even come near that....

pianoguy

Once you get the cigarette smell tamed down, maybe use some leather conditioner on the seats, door panels, etc. that has a leather smell, such as Zaino's 'Leather in a Bottle'.

Railroadman

What myth were they trying to bust? That's the dumbest thing I've heard in a long time!

OT but this brings it to mind. Back about in the 70's went to hear singer Tom Rush. He was doing a little humor between songs and mentioned how to get even with the bank if they have been jerking you around. He noted by law they can't just arbitrarily go into someone's safe deposit box. "So you go out and get yourself a nice big mackerel....."