Removing caked on road salt

[cnw8542]

Hello all, this is my first post on here. I have a dilema. After I pulled out my winter "all weather" rubber floor mats from my 2009 Ford Fusion. I noticed there was this caked on road salt left on my carpet around the edges of the floor mat and in the corners. I have tried using some foaming carpet cleaner with a brush, but its not seeming to do the trick. Any suggestions or recommendations?

[Dubbin1]

Take them to the closest car wash and power wash them. Most places have clamps mounted on the wall for this.

Scratch that I missed your point...

Try using a stiffer brush, you may have better luck when it dry to loosen the salt up.

[cnw8542]

Ive been looking on the site for a good carpet cleaner and brush, any recommendations?

[Dubbin1]

Ive been looking on the site for a good carpet cleaner and brush, any recommendations?

For the carpet cleaner go to Lowes and pick up some Folex, its simply the best stuff out there. I'm sure while you're there you will also find a stiff brush that will work just fine.

[watson1000]

my suggestion would be to mist it with a little water to soften it up and vacuum it out , you will have to use a shampoo to fully remove after you get the top layer off .

Glenn

[oldmodman]

Pressure washer with plain old water. You have to dissolve all the salt to get it out of the carpet. Then extract all the water. Want to know for sure that all the salt is out? Taste it. I'm not kidding.
And I had a friend drive her car out from the mid west last year. And it was covered with salt underneath. I had her park it at the curb in front of my house and I put a sprinkler under it. Let it run all day, moving it from the front to the back. That got all the salt off. A good pressure washing with it up on by lift got the hard to reach places. And a few cans of WD-40 took care of any rust on the bare metal.

[poweraid]

plain ole water to dissolve the salt . for floor liner I start by using a brush and the vac attachment to break up what I can first. then use water and vac . repeat , use a brush in-between . the carpet floor mats power wash em, use garden hose whatever then vac. try not to over saturate the floor liner cause the salt water could go right to your floorboard. use a carpet cleaner when u got most of it out like your last step . but plain water will disolve the salt and then vac it up. does hot or cold water work any better ? idk . now when winter comes again ditch them carpeted floor mats and get out the rubber ones . this will save your carpet floor mats but u still gonna get runoff onto the floor liner . now I'm not sure if they make them for cars but I use " husky" custom molded made to fit u make/model floor mats for suv/trucks. these have raised edge lips to keep all that crap from running onto the liner. these help a lot but not 100% .

[dougaross]

plain ole water to dissolve the salt . for floor liner I start by using a brush and the vac attachment to break up what I can first. then use water and vac . repeat , use a brush in-between . the carpet floor mats power wash em, use garden hose whatever then vac. try not to over saturate the floor liner cause the salt water could go right to your floorboard. use a carpet cleaner when u got most of it out like your last step . but plain water will disolve the salt and then vac it up. does hot or cold water work any better ? idk . now when winter comes again ditch them carpeted floor mats and get out the rubber ones . this will save your carpet floor mats but u still gonna get runoff onto the floor liner . now I'm not sure if they make them for cars but I use " husky" custom molded made to fit u make/model floor mats for suv/trucks. these have raised edge lips to keep all that crap from running onto the liner. these help a lot but not 100% .

WeatherTech lines are fantastic for keeping salt off the carpets. "Salt Eraser" - I read some good reviews about it. Bought a can, but my WeatherTechs worked so well I haven't had a chance to use it. You can google it.