Meguiars apc, carpet & lingering smell (from the cleaner)

[OCDcleaner1]

Hi All,

new to the forum so a brief intro - my name is Alex and i'm from NJ. I am an enthusiast detailing my own car.

I've washed my carpet with Meguiars APC 10:1, brushed it and vacuumed with shop vac, but a week later the carpets still have lingering Meguiars APC smell and I have to admit - I do not really like the smell... any chance the speed up the "airing out" part? I've tried using fans but it doesnt seem to help.

Thanks.

-Alex

[ShaneK]

Might try applying water with a spray bottle and vacuuming with a wet/dry vac. I don’t have a carpet extractor so I clean carpet with APC, rinse with water and vacuum to dry. I haven’t noticed any APC smell. Poor man’s extractor.

[Mike Hoekstra]

I'd hit the carpet again with straight water and then extract it to allow it to dilute the remaining APC in the rug.

[OCDcleaner1]

Thank you guys, will give this a try in a few days once my Bissell SpotClean Pro Cleaner arrives - they have 30 day trial, hopefully I like it!

[PaulMys]

Thank you guys, will give this a try in a few days once my Bissell SpotClean Pro Cleaner arrives - they have 30 day trial, hopefully I like it!

Welcome to AGO, Alex.

Keep us posted on how it works for you.

[TrustJesus]

Mike got it,
I think what happened was you left a majority of APC, in the carpet fibers. A shop vacuum doesn’t really suck it out. Which is the smell you getting.

What you need to do is what Mike said, spray it with straight water and get it out with an extractor. Get that APC right out of the carpet.

[OCDcleaner1]

thanks PaulMys and TrustJesus, will update everyone in a week or so.

[dennis b]

I wish you luck getting the smell out. Maybe on your next buying spree on Autogeek try Carpro MultiX. It's an APC that has very little APC fragrance and leaves no obnoxious odor. It also rinses cleanly compared to most APC's. Most APC's you have to rinse repeatedly to get rid of the slippery feeling. MultiX rinses squeaky clean with very little effort. At a 10:1 dilution ratio it works very well on interior carpets and such. A 5:1 dilution ratio works well on dirty jobs like heavy brake dust or engine bay cleaning.

CarPro MultiX All Purpose Cleaner Concentrate

[Jacob Harrod AUTOCLEAN]

Please read post #20 of this thread as my reply applies here as well.

Best way to clean carpet and upholstery?

[Eldorado2k]

You’re asking too much out of a shop vac in this situation.. Not to mention you’re creating a huge mess inside the vac and you’re either risking getting alot of that mud into the motor [if using it without the filter as recommended when sucking up water or you’re running the risk of mucking up/nearly ruining the filter if it’s 1 of the good ones. I’ve never used the cheap paper filters on mine, only the nid grade blue ones and the hepa, and I wouldn’t put my good hepa filter though that kind of muddy mess considering how much it cost.

But back to your method.. That’s just not gonna cut it. You clearly left too much of everything still in the carpets. Either use cotton terry towels to mop up until they come up clean or until you’re satisfied with the level of dirt you’ve mopped up. A shop vac cannot vacuum the same amount of dirt that you’ll mop up using your elbow grease. It’s not easy, but it works.

I’ve tried the shop vac alone method and I quickly found it to be somewhat of a joke compared to traditional methods. But if it did work, I’d buy a 2nd 6hp Ridgid and dedicate it for extracting.. But it doesn’t, that’s why they sell extractors. Lol.