Before / After Carpet Cleaning... Advice

[astrogus]

Cleaned up the carpets on a heavily soiled Chevy HHR the other day, Customer advised me that soda, coffee, and other liquids have been sitting in the carpets for years, plus the vehicle had no floor mats which made it even funner. I gave it hell and always strive for as close to 100% in everything i do, I was OK with the results but still felt like it wasn't 100%, I'm thinking that the brown leftover is just the actual fibers dyed at this point from it sitting for so long.

MY PROCESS
Vacuum all the loose dirt and debris first
Sprayed the carpet with CG Fabric clean and agitated with a hard bristle brush.
Extracted with my Mytee 8070 just plain hot water.
Then sprayed with Folex and agitated (Because i wasn't happy with the results just from CG fabric clean)
Extracted with Mytee 8070 again
Then raked the fibers with clean terry clothes until dry.

What do you guys think is there only so much you can do? Thanks for your input in advance.

[SKorch630]

It looks a hell of a lot better than it did! The only honest answer I'd give the customer is, that if he wants clean carpet, he's going to have to replace it. Then put mats over it, and coat it with a protector.

[Wors]

Coffee & soda are tannin stains. A cleaner on the acidic side might have yielded better results but with it being years the carpet looks a lot better.

[Mantilgh]

Looks a lot better.

For know coffee or soda stains its best to start with a tannin (acidic) stain remover. Let dwell, agitate, and blot, vac, or extract and repeat. Then move on to your regular cleaner. I like to pretreat bad stains that I think may be oil or grease left behind with a citrus based cleaner in between the two.

I have had good luck with diluted vinegar as my acid based stain remover.

[astrogus]

It looks a hell of a lot better than it did! The only honest answer I'd give the customer is, that if he wants clean carpet, he's going to have to replace it. Then put mats over it, and coat it with a protector.

Yea i told her the carpet is worn down, she was very happy with the results i just felt for me personally i wanted a little better final product.

[astrogus]

Thanks for the info, i was looking at the Meguiars tannin stain remover i might give that a try in the future.

[Wors]

Here is a great video to get you started with the Meguiars Carpet Cleaning Products

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HweQSpYdhRs