That OLD car smell

[Audios S6]

We hear a lot about new car smell, but not old car smell.

I did a 1988 BMW, the car did have that old car smell, much like I remember cars from the 50s. The car got all carpets cleaned and extracted, vehicle was left open to fully dry overnight. Leather, vinyl and vents all got steamed. Headliner wasn't touched. Smell was gone, just left with fresh smell, I did mention that it was possible that it would return, after all, 3 hours of cleaning can't necessarily undo 25 years of odor accumulation. One other note, the front seats were just reupholstered as well.

I just got message from the owner that the smell is starting to return. Asked if there's anything I can do.

Checking in here before I do anything but my thought is:

Re-steam everything quickly (to verify sanitation)
Light steam of headliner (normally don't like the risk of touching it, but that seems the likely place odor is hiding.
Ozone or odor bomb?

I'm leaning toward ozone as I don't like chlorine type foggers, always seem to leave a 'hotel room' ambiance.

Any other suggestions?

[dad07]

Go with your first thought......ozone generator.

[fly07sti]

+1 on Ozone.

[Paul@Autogeek]

I've had 3 old BMW's (Two from the 90's and one from Early 80's) and no matter what I did they all would return to the EXACT same smell. Odor Bomb's would work for a few weeks but it always crept back. Regardless of the front seats I believe that it is the old BMW leather/vinyl material that gives it that smell and while the front seats are reupholstered the rest of the car is going to give off that scent.

[Audios S6]

Thanks fellas. Just needed an excuse to get an ozone generator......and an excuse if it doesn't work (thanks Paul)

[FUNX650]

Hopefully "ozoning-it" will wind up
being a long-term solution.

However:
Sometimes that "old-car-smell" is the
result of the car being driven by folks
that have that "old-people-smell"...
(Don't ask me how I know.)


Regards,
Old Bob

[DaveT435]

Have any of y'all used CarPro So2Pure. I don't know about getting rid of this type of odor, but it got rid of cigarette smoke smell permanently.

[MPBGT]

Some cars just have a smell. My 71 Beetle smelled the same as my Dads 69 Beetle that smells very similar to our 280 SL. I think it's something with the seat padding used in older German cars. It's not a bad smell, but it's distinct.

[BillE]

I had a similar situation last year...old car smell from leaving an old chunk of carpeting in the truck over the winter. I lived with it for 3 or 4 years until I found this product.

Try Meguiar's "Whole Car Air Re-Fresher-New Car Scent." #G-16402.

I've never been a big fan of 'sprays', but this stuff WORKED! After a year, I can still get a faint odor from the product but the main thing is, 'old car smell' is still gone.

Bill

[JSou]

I'm dealing with a truck right now that has a smell that I just can't get out.

I changed the cabin air filter, used the 1Z Einszett klima cleaner in the vents, steam, extracted all carpets/fabric, and still...

I searched other alternatives and stumbled upon DrivePur. There's a guy local to me who is an authorized operator for these systems. I may have to ask how I become one so I could handle these types of situations.