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View Full Version : 2001 Acura all leather can smoke smell be removed?



Spiney
09-14-2014, 03:01 PM
We lost our car in a hail storm. We stumbled upon what could be a great deal, a 2001 Acura 3.2 with 31,000 actual miles. It's in great shape except my wife thinks it smells of smoke. I think it's more a smell of a coverup from smoke.

The original owner of 12 years supposedly didn't smoke. The current owner has only had it since may. He only put 1k miles on it. He fell and fractured both his legs and needs to sell it for medical bills. He appears to smoke.

The smoke smell is a deal breaker for my wife who otherwise loves the car.

Is there a way to extract the smoke smell? If so to what percentage. Neither of us smoke and my wife is particularly sensitive to it.

The car is all leather interior with fake wood trim. Carpet and I guess cloth headliner.

TIA for any feedback, Dave

conman1395
09-14-2014, 03:16 PM
I would say an ozone machine is your best bet.

TurboToys
09-14-2014, 03:36 PM
i've had two cars now where the owner smoked and after buying them the smoke smell came back, because the dealer installed smellcovers wore off.

i think your absolute best bet is to attack the interior full blast like i did.

top to bottom, scrub and spray everything, headliner especially because that seems to be a spot people miss with smokers, the smoke gets in the headliner and will cause you to get reflashes of smoke smells. that and the ac/vents.

you can get it 80-85% gone with the first go round. then 95% after the second thorough cleaning a year later or so, or whenever you can start to smell it again, which means its resurfaced out of something like the pads below the carpet or pad in the headliner.

i also used a dakota odor bomb smoke odor remover, which helps for the first year or so, those things scents last a long time. youll want to run the AC/heat on recirculate while its going so it can penetrate all the vents as well, that or guy a 1z product meant for cleaning the vents of cars.

other than that, i clean all my leather with megs apc in a light dilution (15:1), and scrub with a leather scrub brush, then do the carpets the same with with a good spray and scrub with either a carpet brush, or my PC fabric brush attachment. the key to getting rid of smoke smells is to get every nook and cranny and then hit it with the odor removers like the odor bombs and/or an ozone machine. which you may need to take it to a professional to get them to ozone it. not worth buying one for one car.

Fast Eddie
09-14-2014, 03:55 PM
I get my fair share of cars that need the smoke odor removed. Usually the process is full interior detail, shampoo, extract all carpets upholstery etc. and clean everything with special attention to the headliner like stated above, let the carpets dry and shock treat the car with ozone.

Also replace the cabin air filter (if it has one, my car doesn't).