How to Deep Clean Your Car Carpet [A Step by Step Guide]

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The environment inside the car holds the same importance as like or home. It should be healthy and fresh. And for this all you need to deep clean your car carpet that clenches tons of germs and bacteria.

Car cleaning especially carpet cleaning is the most overlooked part of our society. It is quite an easy and simple task that brings the reward of peace. Moreover, dirty carpets are unacceptable if you have kids or pets. Not cleaning the car carpet also shows a huge contrast between a well-maintained car and a rusty-dusty car.

Thankfully, you can do it yourself instead of going to professional car cleaning. You do not have to leave it to a professional detailer. What you need is minimal equipment and a detailed but simple guide on how to do it.

Must check out our top picks for the best car steam cleaners, the best mattress steam cleaners, and the best carpet steam cleaners.

Get Ready Your Car to Deep Clean the Carpet

Things You Will Need to Clean the Car

  • Microfiber towel
  • Vacuum
  • Bristle brush
  • Soapy water
  • Carpet cleaner
  • Toothbrush
  • Steamer

Cleaning Time: 3-5 Hours     Skills: Intermediate 

Unscrew the Battery Cable

The foremost step is to disconnect the negative battery cable. For deep cleaning of the car carpet, you need to keep car doors open for a long, which kills the battery. Secondly for cleaning you need more space and for that have to remove the car seats. Because some of the seats have airbags so when you have to disconnect things that have airbags you need to disconnect the battery for about 20 mins.

Remove the Seats and Mats

The next step is to get the front and back seats and mats out of the car to get more room to clean. Be careful, while removing the seats they do not hit any metal part that may get scratched. When you finally remove the seat you will find a lot of mess under the seats like paper, pens wrappers, etc.

Remove All the Gunk and Garbage

Pick up all the mess inside the car, and clear the trunk as well, the more space you get the more it will be easy for you to clean the carpet. Tidying up the car before starting the cleaning will make things a lot easier.

Vacuum and Brush the Carpet

In the car cleaning process, the first part is to start with vacuuming. As it is quite difficult to dirt and debris from the carpet so vacuuming makes your work easier. But it’s still challenging to remove the dirt from the edges. For this use a  toothbrush to push the dirt up and loosen from the carpet. Using a brush helps you to vacuum the carpet even better.

Spot Cleaning

The next step is the spot treatment. In this step, your target is to remove the stains, sticky gums, and food particles. For this, our recommendation is to use warm soapy water and a toothbrush. Saturate the area with warm soapy water and brush the particles to remove them.

The best alternative is to use a steam cleaner rather than soapy water. Steam cleaner’s high pressure eradicates the gum out deep inside the fiber. Once you remove the stains, give it steam shot one more time to sanitize the area and prevent mold and odors.

Shampoo the Carpet

Once you are done with spot cleaning, the next step is to shampoo the car carpet. It’s the most important step in carpet cleaning. As it removes all the odors and things that you could not get while vacuuming.

All you need is carpet cleaner, brush, and towel. Spray the entire carpet with carpet cleaner and brush it thoroughly to get it deep inside the carpet.

Brush the carpet in different directions to get better results.

Rub the microfiber towel back and forth directions to clean the entire carpet. Then use a vacuum extractor on the carpet to suck all the dirty water inside the carpet. Use vacuum in the horizontal and vertical directions, so as not to miss any area. Finally, Brush the whole carpet to get the carpet fibers in the same direction.

Pro Tip
Our best recommendation is to use an extractor vacuum instead of a towel to get higher results

Cleaning the Mats

Make sure to clean mats outside the car because the footwell is the worst area that needs to be clean.

Apply the same steps of cleaning on mats, but this may take you a long to clean and extract the dirt because they might be dirtier. For more efficient results, attach the brush head to a cordless drill instead of scrubbing with your hands.

Finish Up Step

After removing the shampoo, leave the carpet to dry. Let the door open, and find a nice spot in the sun. Make sure to do this cleaning on a warm, sunny day so that air drying is complete in 1 or 2 hours. If the carpet still feels damp, leave it out for another 2 hours.

FAQs

Why Carpet Cleaning is Important?

With clean carpets, there will be improved air quality and airflow in the car. This advantage is quite helpful for people who get car sick easily. The overall look and feel of the vehicle also get much better for a longer period of time. All in all, routine cleaning and maintenance keep things around for years.

What is the best option for carpet cleaning in a car?

A steam cleaner is an excellent option for soiled car interiors. You can reach difficult areas and eliminate germs and bacteria. Although it takes a fraction of the time of other cleaning methods, it still is a cost-effective way. There is no use of harmful chemicals nor does it leave any chemical residue. It also deals effectively with dirt and grime and gives nearly pristine results.

Can you use a steam cleaner on car carpets?

Yes, it is common to use a steam cleaner on car carpets. Usually, the old-school cleaning method along with the carpet scrub brush is used for better results. You can clean the dyes and dirt from the seat. You can get rid of oil shifted from your hands to the steering wheel, radio controls, and the shifter handle.

Andrews

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