Filthy carpet trim - how to clean?
 

Following up from my flood the other day I started looking at the state of the footwells and carpets, it's sandy beige (papyrus?) trim. The drivers side is really bad apart from the overmat which I bought new a while back.

The main foam-backed carpet is badly stained, highlighted by the recent soaking. As are the fixed carpet sections around the pedal area.
The transmission tunnel side panel I cleaned once before (last time I did the drains!) as that was stained, I thought it looked like brown shoe polish from the location and colour.

The main carpet I've now washed in the shower using a scrubbing brush and washing machine liquid detergent. I did it 3 times as a seemingly endless amount of dark brown muck came out. It did seem to be water-soluble (especially with detergent) with only a small amount of gritty residue.
It could ideally be done few more times, but I haven't the willpower and it's looking so much better now, draining out hanging vertically before I put it somewhere to dry.

But I am mystified what could have stained it, the amount seemed ridiculous for just shoe polish. The dark brown colouring was in the carpet side fibres and backing material, relatively little came out of the foam padding on the other side. Though I do wonder if it came out of the heavy black soundproofing material permanently fixed on the transmission tunnel as that was soaked too.

That leaves the transmission tunnel trim panel to do again (a bit of black shoe polish from me) and the footrest (both come out when I attack the drivers side drain the drain) plus the fuse panel cover and the carpet under the pedals.

The last one, which also goes round the kickdown switch, looks tricky to remove. Does anyone know how?

I was looking for the same info. On detailingworld.co.uk someone recommended using a power washer jet lance like you would on the car, apparently it gets most of the dirt out.
Have a search on there to see what they recommend as the detergent. Although probably care is needed in case the power wash can damage the carpet?

I'd probably give the jet washer a go if it was summer. ;) As it's the base carpet and covered by mats it's worth taking a risk.

But does anyone know if/how the carpet under the pedals comes out?

Hi guys
I've used Persil and small carpet brush like this one below
First I damped it with water and persil and left it for 10minutes.
Then brushed in properly taking my time and jet washed it.
For interior same stuff but no jet wash of course, just kept applying more and hot water by brush from the bowl and then sucked all in with one of them
http://www.averncleaningsupplies.com...HbcaAgVP8P8HAQ

For heavy stain I used a commercial stain remover spray, but I can't tell you which one coz it was given to me in a clear spray bottle

It was this brand, but it wasn't coffee one if I remember well, but I found all Prochem stuff to be fairly powerful
http://www.clean4less.co.uk/coffee-s...CygaAv9C8P8HAQ

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i..._6IWV7iLJbvQjr

The drivers carpet pretty much dried out by this morning and still has some staining and marks.
The difference is that it's much more like shoe marks from the location, and a damp cloth doesn't touch it so I'm guessing shoe polish, which the other stuff was not.

On the other hand solvents - I tried methanol, ethanol and white spirit - did get some of it up, so with a clean cloth it's looking a lot better, though still a bit darker than it should.
But it sits under a mat most of the time so there are limits!

Given the car didn't have a drivers mat when I bought it I wonder if something was spilt on it and it was thrown away, but that it also soaked through into the carpet below. Coffee maybe, but rather a lot of it......

Well now I do. ;)

With the main carpet, footrest and fuse cover out the only thing holding it is the trim round the kickdown switch (D2 facelift). That trim is held by three Torx T25 bolts beneath little covers that are easily lever out with the tip of a small screwdriver and the carpet section can then be wiggled out beneath the accelerator pedal.
The kickdown switch stays in place so the car is perfectly driveable, though I'd probably put the fuse cover back first.

I have to say, I've used this stuff for years on various different coloured carpets, and it's always got everything out. Cheap and extremely effective.

http://www.halfords.com/motoring/cle...ner-400ml#tab3

Zip

thanks, I will probably try the washing powder & brush first. If that fails I could try the Halfords stuff. Although mine is covered by a rubber mat so it doesn't really matter too much.

Out of interest the carpet around the kickdown switch has a thick matted backing that seems quite absorbent, but it's not the squishy foam used on other sections.
It will take a while to dry out but came out last and and needs to go back first so a bit of speed is called for!
In order to dry it I eventually put it in a very low temperature oven, and that has worked well. Hot enough to dry, but I could still handle it so maybe 85C give or take a bit.

I've never had to remove very heavy carpet staining, but a good wet and dry vac, with the right carpet shampoo, usually does a great job of cleaning and reviving carpets. I have this model: http://i.imgur.com/fsERP0d.jpg

If you haven't already got one, just convince the other half that it's a good investment for cleaning household carpets and flooring :)

A Vax continuously pumps clean, warm water through the fibres, while lifting and brushing them. And the best bit is, when you've done you can turn the water off and use it to suck them dry (or, at worst, slightly damp).

In case anyone else is planning to take all this out, this is the "ideal" sequence, after removing the overmat and main foam-backed carpet from the drivers footwell:

1. Remove drivers knee panel (worth a separate "how to" itself!) and fuse panel cover.
2. Remove kickdown switch surround and take out carpet under pedals.
3. Remove footrest - 2 stupid plastic hex nuts, the top one difficult to get at in a recess. Can be taken out with the pedal carpet in place as the edge of that folds back.
4. Remove transmission tunnel side cover - another tricky manoeuvre! In "as new" condition this is bracketed to (and blocked by) the knee panel so that (and the footrest) must come out first.

Installation, as they say, is the reverse of removal. And I've not given all details of the fixings, screws etc. just the basic sequence. :D
Just one little tip when putting the footrest back:
If, like mine, the captive bolt for the upper fastening is rather long you will find that a standard socket won't go over it and reach down to the plastic nut when fully secured. I eventually got mine off by slowly rotating it with the tip of a thin screwdriver until I could get a socket to just reach it.
When putting it back I put a couple of washers in place, one before fitting the footrest so that it's raised slightly there (not a problem) and the other directly under the fixing nut so that it didn't have to go so far down the thread.
For washers I used some tap washers as these are fairly thick, firm and resilient so won't rattle; a thinner one under the footrest and a thicker one under the nut.

And obviously if you do this take the "orange drain" out as well and clean it thoroughly, but have a bottle handy to catch any water in the tray! Softened in warm water they go back in easily.

The final result without mats, a lot better than it was. I cleaned the footrest plastic too. ;) Winter mats going in on top, summer ones have been cleaned and stored.

One final puzzle, possibly related to the misaligned joint I found in the air duct, is exactly where the right edge of the section around the kickdown switch goes; I didn't look at it when taking it out. Maybe someone could check on their car by taking off the fuse panel cover and looking?

I'll explain.............
When I put that bit of carpet back it had two possible positions for the right-hand edge:
1. Tucked in behind the air duct that runs down beside the fuse panel
2. Folded rearwards (towards the driver) against the duct, partly covering it

Judging by the shape (and difficulty I recall when removing) I think #1 was probably how it had been, but I couldn't get it back in easily.
But with it folded over the air duct the fuse panel cover needed a fair bit of pressure before the retaining knob would screw on, suggesting it was pushed out by the carpet.
No problems with foot space around the accelerator so I left it for now.
If it is indeed supposed to be tucked behind the duct I'll probably take it out, trim the edge a bit for a better fit and put it back "properly". :cool:

Anyone fancy taking the fuse cover off and having a look for me? ;)

Do these photos help you, HP?

It would appear that the carpet is folded forward and partly covers the duct as photo 3 shows. +++

Thanks David, I think so. It's the last picture that looks at it but I can't tell 100%.

Is the right-hand edge of the carpet curled forwards so that it's backing rests on the vertical section of air duct? Or is the edge tucked behind the duct?

I think my carpet has quite a big overlap which very obviously covers a fair bit of that duct. Maybe I just need to trim it a bit? See close-up attached

PS Nice footrest, and clean carpets. +++

The edge is definitely not behind the duct but overlaps the duct by 25mm.

Want another photo? - its lunchtime and I am just strolling around the garden house/car......

I left the carpets out as I realised how dirty it was down there and I had better get the vacuum out!!

No thanks, it's pretty much the same as mine now I can compare the two pictures. Many thanks for your help. +++

I also think I'd hooked the top behind a clip that maybe was there to hold something else, so as a result had sprung the bottom out too far. :tuttut:

Edit: And the other bit I missed is that the corner of the fuse cover needs to tuck behind the plastic kickdown trim. Easy to take out but trickier to put back properly.

The footrest was an experiment about a year or so ago. They didnt have any finer (smaller) pattern as I would have wished so it was the 25mm pattern or plain smooth which I thought would scratch too easily. I think that the treadplate is just too industrial though which is why The Laird looked at the rubber barred version with Trophy885.