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So I forgot to close the lid on my 64 oz water bottle that was nearly half full. It had diluted fruit punch gatorade in it and was hanging out of my gym bag and pretty much emptied onto the carpet on the front passenger side. I didn't notice until I got home. I immediately soaked up as much liquid as I could with white cotton towels and rinsed out the floor mat. The dark brown floor mat still shows a bit of pink in it and the beige carpet looks like hell.
I figured I'd take it to an auto detailer but it's been raining so I kept putting it off for the last couple of days. I finally called a carpet cleaner today and have them scheduled to try to clean it on Friday. I went by an auto detailer any way and they took one look at it and said forget it, it's not coming out as they've never been able to get out gatorade stains. They told me my best bet is to just replace the carpet as it looked like just that section can be replaced.
What do you guys think? I looked on the Internet and a lot of people seem to think the stain can be removed. I haven't tried any of the solutions I've found as I don't want to make the problem any worse and have no desire to use vinegar in my car.
I'm going to call my dealer to see if it's possible to order the carpet just in case. The detailer told me I'm just wasting my money trying to get the carpet cleaner to get it out.
Think about the correct process as pulling up the stain into a clean cotton towel.
You will need clean "cotton" towels - small spray bottle - fill bottle with take hot/warm water and a couple of squirts of a a dishwashing detergent - spray/thoroughly-wet the stained area - press-then-rub wet area with the cotton towel to pull up the red into the cotton towel - spray/wet again - use another section of the cotton towel to bring more up - repeat and repeat until gone.
To make the mat easier - bring inside - use a ironing board - wet the area with solution - put cotton towel on top - hold a steam iron with stem going on top of the area which will bring up a good amount - rub thoroughly - repeat until gone.
I talked to carpet cleaner and they believe they can get it out. Didn't ask which chemicals they use but if they don't have any luck, I'm going to try Red Relief.
Go to Lowe's and pick up a bottle of "Folex." It comes in a spray bottle, all natural and you spray it on and rub it and then soak it up with a towel. I've gotten blood out of upholstered fabric with it. It's worth a try. If it doesn't work, at least you'll have something for if you spill at home. I've gotten stains out of my car carpet with it. I had seen it on a blog and this girl had gotten a huge stain out of an old antique sofa that had the stain there for a while. It's pretty handy! Good luck either way. I would definitely ask the dealer too.
Frankly - with automobile carpet/mats - clean cotton towel - and any "good" cleaner - to thoroughly "pull" the staining liquid up and out is best. Otherwise - you have risk of a "ring stain" coming back up later.
Cleaners that "dissolve" the stain - actually dilute it into the lower fibers - which can later cause a "ring stain" to come back out.
Cotton towel - decent wet cleaner - and 5-10 minutes of work and you should be good.
Your choice to have a detail crew do it - frankly they look to get a decent penny for 5-10 minutes of real work.
I've tried pulling the stain out of the floor mat with no success. I've been experimenting with the floor mat because I can simply replace it if things go wrong. No color at all transferring to my clean white cotton towel.
The good news is that washed the towels I originally used to clean up the excess spill and they came out perfectly white so there's hope.
LOL. Yeah, I ordered the OEM all weather ones. They're just rebranded WeatherTechs right?
Anyway, here's what the carpet cleaner was able to do:
That was the best the guy could do after an hour of trying. The problem was the attachment they use to apply steam is flat and rectangular. They spray a solution that removes red coloring and the steam activates it the solution. He had trouble where the floor curves upwards towards the console and around the seat because the attachment has to make a seal with the surface that it's cleaning. But he was able to do the area around the seat and door sill by removing the hose to the attachment and just doing a little bit at a time.
I may give it a shot myself with Red Cleaner and an iron but they warned me that it's not very effective and a lot of people just end up burning the carpet.
03-04-2015, 04:04 PM
