I want to shampoo my carpets in my '00 Coupe. Would renting a rug doctor from the local hardware store do a good job? Does anyone else have suggestions on a good way to clean the carpeting?

 

Vac, vac and vac again.

Spray some Folex (available at HD in the carpet cleaning section) onto the carpets and scrub lightly, wait 15 mins and vac again with a wet/dry vac.

Scrub lightly- All you need to do is work the product into the carpets fibers, excessive scrubbing is not needed. So a few light passes with your brush from front to back and from side to side.

Keeping your carpets vacuumed on a weekly basis is the key to keeping them looking great for a long time. Dirt is the abrasive that wears your carpets out. Same thing applies to your leather. You should always vac your seats, especially in the seams.

 

My wife bought this stupid hand held steam cleaner from a tv commercial that I laughed at her about for buying it. As it turned out it is the best thing for carpets I ever saw.

 

Ok, just finished my 00 vert 10 minutes ago. Took the seats out. Vacuumed it all out real well with rigid shop vac.

Now here is how I do it. Assuming your interior is not a pig, I just spray a good coat of Scotch guard cleaner protecter over the trunk, passenger then drivers side. I do one at a time. I let it set for about 5 minutes and then i take a stiff brush and a bucket of hot water and go to work scrubbing. I scrub pretty hard and I use quit a bit of water. Now I just get a brush full and scrub. However, it your carpet is very dirty, I would mist it with a hose. I know it sounds like too much but That's the way I've done it for 30 years when I have had to do a really dirty carpet.

After scrubbing the secret is having a crap load of towels to dry with. I used about 12 towels today and as I said I didnt use what I consider to be alot of water.

Also, to tell the truth I would probably take the filter off my shop vac and get the water up that way if it was too much. I can't imagine a vette being that dirty. But you never know. It was cold here today and I have the car by itself in a 3 car garage. I just cracked one door and kept the propane space heater on. When the carpet gets fairly dry I apply a coat scoth guard protectant. But have a wet towel ready to get the overspray.

GL

Chris.

 

WAYYYYY too much work.

There are many ways to do it.

GM BLacks suggestion is a good one.

Here is the way I do it.
(I will pull the seats ONLY if neccessary.)

1) I use a handheld dirtdevil with the rotating brush (The one with an actual drive belt not those POS ones that rely on the suction of the vac) and vacuum the everloving shet out of the car

2) Vac again with attachments to get every nook and cranny.

3) I have a carpet cleaner for the house with attachments, one of said attachments is a dual rotating brush for upholstery. I will use that with a good carpet cleaner and do the car. If you do NOT have this then you can use a typical 1 gallon garden sprayer (set on MIST), a brush and a shop-vac.

4) I always have a stiff hand brush and a bottle of semi dilluted cleaner in a spray bottle for those hard to reach places.

5) Use the shop vac over the entire area to help dry it.

6) scotch guard it and walk away.

 

I need to justify buying those PC brushes, so am going to clean the carpet soon...I'll go easy on the speed and brush stiffness, though. Glad I don't need to hose the mats....these products come out completely with a shop vac? Also, any other products besides Folex that anyone uses?

 

Searched in Home Depot this weekend for Folex for the carpets, and all I found was the Folex Spot Cleaner. Is this the stuff, or do they make an overall rug cleaner solution that is better. I don't really have "spots," I just want something to freshen up the carpet. Thanks.

 

If you have a PC, use the carpet brushes and some warm water. Folex is great and found locally, our Wolfgang and DP offerings arent bad either.

 

Carpet extractor is the best way if you can afford it. You'd be amazed at the difference.

 

Have the PC and your brushes. Don't know if I'm looking for the Folex Spot Cleaner, or some other product by Folex.

 

Carpets-

303™ Rug / Upholstery Cleaner & Spot Remover or Folex Instant Carpet Spot Remover

P21S Total Auto Wash (its active ingredient is d-limonene based (citrus) a safe all purpose cleaner (APC)

Woolite® Heavy Traffic Carpet Foam or Hoover Deep Cleansing Carpet/Upholstery Detergent

 

Just finished doing the carpets using Folex and the blue carpet brush with the PC. Sprayed, brushed, wiped with a towel, and repeated until the towel wasn't picking up any more dirt. Took 2 cycles on the passenger side, 3 on my side. Then I did my wife's SUV and dang were those dirty! Treated all with Scotch-guard for carpets. They're a little stiff...I think because of the scotchguard but not sure. I never soaked them, which I'm thinking would cause the fibers not to be soft anymore?...so maybe with the Folex and scotchguard, there could be some residue left on the carpets. But overall, they look great!

 

Problem with that is since there is still some residue left in the carpet it will be more prone so soiling.

 

I know. That's what I was thinking...but everyone said they really liked Folex. So maybe it WAS the Scotchguard..in which case, the residue could be helping to keep the carpets clean. Otherwise, a think a warm water rinse may be in order. Anyone have an opinion on using Folex alone with no rinse following?...I did use quite a bit of it...but I was looking to shampoo my carpets, not just spot clean them.