Interior: Cigarette Smoke embeded in fabrics

[LSNAutoDetailing]

Hi AGO'ers...

I have a friend of mine who bought a used truck and whoever owned it prior was a smoker and my friend is allergic to the remnants in the interior fabrics.

I'm sure it's embedded everywhere, seats, carpets and headliner.

What is your recommendation to clean the interior and eliminate the scent?

[DaveT435]

I've had great results using CarPro So2Pure

As far as cleaning I've used both 303 and Chemical guys Fabric cleaner

[TheAverageMan]

Blast it with an ozone machine for a few hours

[Ccrew]

Blast it with an ozone machine for a few hours

Only way I've seen to really knock it down and keep it down.

[The Guz]

The Meguiar's Air-Refresher Odor Eliminator's work very well.

[Rsurfer]

The Meguiar's Air-Refresher Odor Eliminator's work very well.

You need an enzyme that will kill the odor and not just mask it.

[The Guz]

You need an enzyme that will kill the odor and not just mask it.

These don't mask odor.

[LSNAutoDetailing]

I don't have an Ozone machine.
In addition to all the other suggestions, what about Natures Miracle?
I use that to get pet odors out of carpets.

[oldmodman]

I was given a great deal on an 02 Toyota with cloth seats that had been owned by a smoker.
Got it from his estate after he died of lung cancer:eek:
I used an extractor and Folex on the entire cloth interior. Carpets, seats, and headliner too.
It took three applications of Folex before the extracted soapy water wasn't brown. Then another five go overs with just warm water to get out all the soap.
Put fans in the interior and let them run all night.
And even after all that I still had to clean the AC ducts.

But finally, No rolling ashtray reek.

[LSNAutoDetailing]

Wow! Sounds like a big job.
Wondering if I can rent an extractor.

[TheAverageMan]

I don't have an Ozone machine.
In addition to all the other suggestions, what about Natures Miracle?
I use that to get pet odors out of carpets.

You can get it on Amazon for less than a hundred. Just search for "Ozone generator".

[99monguse]

Thought I saw where you could use a steamer to destroy the smell and bacteria.

[jcb27]

I'm going through the same thing right now. So far I have tried the Meg's Odor Eliminator can. It didn't really do much for me. I tried an Ozium gel can. It does an OK job but not perfect.

I then tried AutoVaccine. It has done the best but still not quite where I want to be. After receiving it, the packaging indicated that for smoke odors you should use 2 of them and I only used 1. Maybe the 2nd one would have made the difference.

I then used a brush and Pinnacle Leather Cleaner on the seats. Not much noticeable difference.

I will also soon be trying a steamer to clean the entire interior. Hopefully that'll do the trick.

If not, I may try So2Pure. If that doesn't work I will probably buck up and take it to a local detail shop that uses the DrivePur system.

[jcb27]

My McCulloch 1385 arrived Wednesday. I steam cleaned the entire interior and for the first time since I purchased the car, leather is the predominate smell in the car. The lingering smoke smell is almost completely gone. I have some So2Pure being delivered soon which I'll give a try to get rid of the last very little bit of smell.

So if I could make a recommendation based on my recent trials, it would be:
1) Do a thorough interior cleaning with vacuum and interior cleaning products
2) Steam clean everything
3) If any smell remains use either AutoVaccine or So2Pure (based on others reviews).

[medicscott]

Run 3D odor removal through the AC vents 3 or 4 times and then extract all the carpets and seats. That should do the trick if you don't have an Ozone. I'll give you a can when we meet up to do the Maserati.