How to rid a used car of bad smells?

C

Carpenter

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I recently bought a two year old car which smelt of tobacco smoke when I first got it; the upholstery was pretty grimy too. I thoroughly shampooed the fabric and carpet, followed by vacuum and wash down of all other internal surfaces, bar the head lining. The car doesn't stink of 20 Benson and Hedges anymore (looks nice and clean though) but it doesn't exactly smell fresh either. I don't want to mask the smell with an "air freshener" (surely they can't be good for you?), is there anything else I can do to "freshen it up"; I'm spending a couple of hours a day in the thing so I'd like to get it as clean as I can?

Carpenter
 
Sounds like you have covered most things apart from head-lining, which is notoriuosly difficult to rid of the smell of fags.

Have you checked all the door pockets and other storage areas, lifted the back seats, cleaned out the boot, wheel-well and the boot upholstery and carpet?

The only thing remaining that I can think of is the pollen filter for the passenger area which can become contaminated with fungi or other microbes as well as the smell of the previous owner's fags. These are usually accessible from the area below the glove-box or the rain-deflector (scuttle) panel under the wind-screen accessible from under the bonnet. It should be detailed in the owner's manual.

Change the filter and buy one of those air-con cleaning cans in a motor-factors (I know Halford's sell the Comma-branded one) and follow the instructions.

Other than that, try your local valeting operation.
 
You could try spraying the roof lining with laundry spray water, they sell it in the detergent sections of most supermarkets, M&S do a very lightly fragranced one, hopefully when it dries it will have masked the smoke smell.
 
Rub breadsoda into as much as you can and then vacuum it out - it's like one of those Shake n Vac things, but it neutralises odours rather than masking. Also white vinegar should help - it will stink when wet but dries to smell free. I have not tried either of the above in a car but don't see why they wouldn't work.
 
I bought a car a few years ago that was owned by a smoker - there was grainy stuff in the ash tray that sorted the smell out completely. This was put there by the car dealer, but it did the trick.
 
Thanks for all the advice folks; I had washed out all door bins, cleaned out boot and wheel well, including thoroughly shampooing the boot carpet and parcel shelf! The garage changed the pollen filter, at my insistence and I washed all glass interiors with white vinegar. I might try the baking soda on the carpets and leave it to absorb any odours for a while. As a last resort I did spray some of that laundry fragrance on the upholstery and headlining to see how things go.
 
I think I have it now: take up the pipe (Bruno flake smells good), wear an old flat cap and get myself a nice "driving coat" ( I saw one in an old shop window in Athlone recently, what are they, exactly?)!!

On a more serious note I came across further recommendations for baking soda- sprinkle the powder on carpets to soak up odours. Someone else suggests putting some vinegar soaked cotton wool in an open zip lock bag under the seat to get rid of smoke smells. I'm trying both at the moment, I'll report on their effectiveness over the coming days....
 
Hi Carpenter, I remembered that fresh ground coffee works really well with smelly fridges, so I thought maybe it works for the car as well - I googled it and got millions of good results back on it. This link here is full of good ideas (mentions the vinegar, the baking soda, the coffee and some other stuff as well).
Good luck!
 
Thanks Petal, I'd seen the coffee suggestion too; I'm pretty sure some of these have got to work, not so sure about the car coat though!!!!
 
If you don't like the pong of synthetic air freshners, you can put a few drops of essential oil (any chemist or health food shop) on a tissue and leave it in the glove compartment.
 
I think I may have discovered the smelly culprit- found some mouldy (chocolate???) "sweets" down the back of the rear seats; things are smelling a lot sweeter since!
 
God, That reminds me of a smell I couldn't source a few years ago. it was in my hallway and downstairs cupboard. Washed, disinfected, scrubbed everything and everywhere for MONTHS!. Finally I found the culprit......... a cheese sandwich (six months old and covered in mould) that my son had stuck into his winter jacket pocket and hadn't worn for six months over the summer. UGH!
 
Neutradol gel - you can buy this in most petrol stations and it absorbs bad smells rather than masking them.

I am a smoker but my car doesn't smell of smoke thanks to these.
 
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