laundering carpets?

[BerniniCaCO3]

Hi--
Bought a 1989 colony park with tan interior. Well, used to be tan. Now it's camouflage: blotches of dark brown mottled with the original tan
It's really pretty awful. But hey! It was an $850 car with the functional bits in excellent running shape.

Is it best to simply go at it with a steam cleaner?
Might it even be best to remove the front seats, and pull all the carpeting out...? Depends on how much trim I'd need to pull to get all the carpet out from under it!
Can I take a pressure washer to it outdoors, once removed, maybe?

What did you do?

thanks!
-Bernard

[mcninetyone]

You probably won't want to do this.

My carpet wasn't nearly that bad, just worn and looking tired. And I replaced it with the rubber mat/carpet substitute from a police car.

Whether you do that or not, the carpet can be removed pretty easily and fast. Once the front seats are out, the rest is simple. It can probably be steam cleaned then, but should be perfectly dry before putting it back in. So if you've only got two weeks, do the carpet first and it should be dry in time.

pressure washer might work too?

[gadget73]

I took the brown carpet out of my car and laid it in the driveway. I mixed up some carpet cleaner and water in a bucket, then just dumped it on. I used a scrub brush to work the cleaner into the carpet as best I could, then hung it over the fence. Once it was on the fence, I just blasted the hell out of it with the pressure washer until brown water stopped coming out. I discovered that the carpet was actually grey after it dried.

[BerniniCaCO3]

excellent: if that worked for you, gadget, then we'll give it a try.

Actually... we're giving serious thought to dying just the carpet a deep black. With a black steering wheel cover, and black carpeting, with the tan leather seats it will be pimp-- and practical! When will designers ever learn that floors and steering wheels are high-wear surfaces that should NEVER come in light colors? If you want off white seats, for the love of god, install a dark grey steering wheel....
Do you have any idea what the material is?
I suspect nylon or polyester, or a mix of course. Nylon is supposed to be easier to dye; polyester not so easy.

If the carpet is flexible enough, we'll stuff it into a drum full of hot dye; if not, pour it on and hope it doesn't come out too blotchy!

[BerniniCaCO3]

and yeah, it does look that bad. Like a million muddy boot prints stewed for 20 years.
The carpet fibers are starting to stretch out and fray; it looks like '70s shag instead of tightly-knit fibers.
Short of replacing, there's nothing we can do about THAT, but a dark color will make it less noticeable, or at the very least, not have the dirt rubbed in, which adds injury to insult.

[marquisman]

i would try to find a box panther at the junk yard with a brown interior. then take the carpet, steering wheel and column plastic shroud(clean them of course) and swap into the wagon. and im talking about the chocolate brown.

[gadget73]

well, cleaning won't fix worn out carpet, it'll just get the stains and dirt out so it doesn't look quite so horrific. If you can find better carpet in a darker color, go for it though. I do like the dark brown. its practical. Black and/or a dye job I wouldn't do though. Black fades to grey, and it shows every bit of lint and crap. The dark brown hides a lot, and it goes well with tan. Personally I feel that black only mates properly with grey or darker red colors. Of course I have no concept of color matching, which is why my entire wardrobe consists of beat up jeans and whatever free shirts that I end up with from work or from my stepdad's "I don't fit these and I need space" cleanouts. I haven't bought clothing in years, outside of socks and undies.

[BerniniCaCO3]

It IS a good idea.
I can only hope I find one! There's only ever 1-2 boxes in a crazy rays junkyard at a given time...

[marquisman]

if you get chocolate brown, it would be a nice color combo with the tan. just think cookies and cream lol

[midwestLTD]

JC Whitney has a set for your car for $80.99.. Not bad for a new set..

[midwestLTD]

Heres the url

http://www.jcwhitney.com/autocustomcarpets-carpet-kit/p3006732.jcwx?filterid=d50805y1989j1