How to Remove Smoke Smell from Your Car

[prateek07]

Many of us have been in this situation where no matter how hard we try, we just can’t remove smoke smell from our cars. This is especially true when the car interior has been exposed to cigarette smoke for years.


Whether you used to smoke or you bought a used car or you got the car due to the passing of a relative, the smell of cigarette smoke is driving you insane.
In this post, we will go over in detail, how you can effectively get rid of smoke smell from your car.


Follow along as we go step-by-step from the simpler techniques to the more complicated ones.


I. General Steps To Remove Smoke Smell


These are what we consider to be first steps you need to take before getting into applying one of the techniques. You will want to take appropriate steps to remove cigarette smell from interior surfaces like carpet and upholstery, and from your heater and air conditioner system.

Items you will need for basic cleaning

• Vacuum cleaner
• Steam cleaner
• Odor neutralizer (like Ozium)
• Vinegar
• Plenty of rags

A. Begin cleaning in a ventilated location
Roll down your windows and preferrably clean your car in a well ventilated area (like your driveway or a parking lot). This will allow your car to breathe and take out some of the smoke smell.


B. Take out the trash
Remove any signs of cigarettes or tobacco like ash, cigarette butts, cigars, trash or related litter.


C. Thoroughly clean the interiors of your car
If you can remove your car seat covers or floor mats, take them out and complete a deep vacuum of every nook and cranny. You will want to separately vacuum the floor carpets and the floor mats. Let the floor mats air out in the sun for sometime.


Since each type of leather is unique, it is important to follow specific guidelines while cleaning leather. Follow our detailed guide here to clean leather surfaces.


Use a steam cleaner on the upholstery. Wipe down the steering wheel,
dashboard and any other exposed interiors.


If you’re looking for a homemade remedy, you can use combination of half water and half white vinegar to clean the steering wheel. Alternatively, Simple Green is an environmentally safe all purpose cleaner. It is often the area of most cigarette smell since smokers tend to blow into the direction of the steering wheel.


Use Windex or other glass cleaning products to wipe down layers of tar on interior glass surfaces.


Consider replacing the upholstery, headliner and carpets and floor mats if you feel the cigarette smell is impossible to get out.


D. Air out the duct system
Start the engine and put the car in park. Turn the fan and air conditioner on maximum cool settings (full fan and the lowest temperature). Make sure you have the air recirculation turned off. Roll the windows down and let the air conditioner blow out the smoke smell.


E. Neutralize the air intake system
While the air conditioner is on full blast, look for the air intake of your car. It is usually located on the front fender of the passenger side of the vehicle. Spray the odor neutralizer directly into the vent of the air intake system. This will help combat the cigarette smoke smell coming out of the air conditioner. Continue until the smoke smell reduces.


F. Neutralize the car’s heating system
A step that many people miss out on! You will want to turn your heating system on to maximum heat and like the previous step, spray the odor neutralizer into the intake system while the heat is on. This will eliminate the smell of smoke from the interior ducts and air condition vents.


G. Follow our next steps to eliminate smoke smell from your car
Have you completed the steps outlined above and are yet smelling smoke? Don’t worry, this is a common problem. The above steps serve as a foundation to eliminate the basic causes of smoke smell.


II. Home Remedies to Remove Cigarette Smell from Your Car


A. White Vinegar
White vinegar is an excellent defense against cigarette smoke. Simply pour vinegar into a cup or bowl and leave it overnight in your car.


Baking Soda
Baking soda is commonly used to remove many odors and can be used against smoke smell too. Simply sprinkle some baking soda on carpet and floor mat and vacuum it off.


Charcoal
Another common method is using a bowl of charcoal in your car for a couple of days to absorb the cigarette odor. This method eliminates smoke smell rather than masking it.


Citrus Fruits
Leave peels of freshly cut lemons, limes or oranges in your car for a few days and watch as the smoke odor disappears. This is an effective and natural solution to remove any cigarette smell.


Coffee Grounds
Another highly effective method to remove smoke smell is place coffee grounds in your car. This fast acting technique is more likely to mask the smell than completely eliminate it.


Dryer Sheets
If you have cloth seats then you can wipe down your seats with dryer sheets. This powerful method will deodorize your car instantly but is unlikely to eliminate the cause of the smoke smell.


Cat Litter
Last but not least on our home remedies list is using cat litter is absorb cigarette smoke odor. Simply leave a bowl of cat litter in your car for a couple of days and let the cat litter do its magic. best ways to remove smoke smell from your car


III. Best Ways to Remove Smoke Smell From Your Car


We’ve saved our best kept secrets for last. These techniques require to use products generally not found at home but are generally simple enough to follow. All of these methods are designed to remove smoke smell and not just mask it.


A. Ozium
Ozium is an on the spot air cleanser. It kills any cigarette or cigar smoke smell as well as disinfects against bacteria. This spray is a lot more effective than Febreeze.


Spray Ozium in your car overnight and leave the windows closed. Repeat this process until the smoke smell disappears.


Odor Bomb
An odor bomb will quickly eliminate any smell in your car including smoke and cigarettes.


The odor bomb won’t simply mask the smell but will actually destroy it.


Ozone Treatment
An ozone treatment or ozone shock treatment is the best way to remove smoke smell from your car but it should be your last resort since it is very dangerous if not used correctly.


We highly recommend going to a professional for this than trying it at home. However, you can rent an ozone generator and try it out for yourself.


Note: You will want to use an ozone generator in an open space. The EPA has stated that “ozone has little potential to remove indoor air contaminants.” However, “high concentrations of ozone in air, when people are not present, are sometimes used to help decontaminate an unoccupied space from certain chemical or biological contaminants or odors (e.g., fire restoration).”


An ozone generator uses ultraviolet radiation to break O2 particles into oxygen atoms. These atoms then fuze with O2 to form O3 (Ozone). Since Ozone is unstable, the extra Oxygen atom will break off and join another molecule. This process creates O2 again while breaking down bad odors since the extra O atom has fused with the molecule of cigarette smoke or other odors.


How to Use an Ozone Generator to Remove Smoke Smell:
Step 1: Clean out your car as described in the general steps above.


Step 2: Place the ozone generator in your car or connect it with a hose.


Step 3: Start the ozone generator until the entire car is filled with ozone.


Step 4: Turn on your car’s fan (through the air conditioner) to circulate the ozone through the ducts.


Step 5: Air out your car by driving around.


Conclusion


Those are best techniques to remove smoke smell from your car.


If you’re still having trouble with cigarette smells, you can also take your car wash professional for a complete detail.

[lane5515]

You can never totally remove cigarette smell from a vehicle's interior. If you think you did it's all in your head. It's like stink on a monkey - you can try to clean it but the smell will come right back.

[Eldorado2k]

What about replacing the cabin air filter with a new 1. That should be considered, right?

[rendezvous2004]

You can never totally remove cigarette smell from a vehicle's interior. If you think you did it's all in your head. It's like stink on a monkey - you can try to clean it but the smell will come right back.

When I bougth my truck from a smoker, I never noticed a smell. And I never did anything special, it has been a couple of years now and there is no smoke smell at all.

Should I give a special wash anyway?

[TTQ B4U]

I had a neighbor buy a smokers car and it took a full interior detail and 5 treatments with My Ozone Machine but it's good now. I treated it over the course of 3 weeks. Ran it inside the car for 1hr with the last 15 minutes of each with the HVAC Running in various modes. He put in a new cabin filter both before and after as the first one initially seemed to saok up a lot of smokiness. the 5th treatment I ran the machine in the trunk.

[Jeremy1976]

Had a customer vehicle that was heavily smoked in. I treated all the carpeting with Wolfgang carpet cleaner, then steam cleaned the entire interior including headliner, and also blew the ventilation system out with steam. I spent a good 3 hours on just the interior, but the smell was, and is still completely gone.

[rlmccarty2000]

The headliner is difficult to clean and not damage the glue holding the headliner in place. Steam is effective for cleaning a headliner but I would only use it as a last resort method. Like a doctor"do no harm".

[KirkH]

ONA gel is an amazing product. It will eliminate any odor.

[Aaryn NZ]

You can never totally remove cigarette smell from a vehicle's interior. If you think you did it's all in your head. It's like stink on a monkey - you can try to clean it but the smell will come right back.

Actually, I couldn't agree more with you lane5515.

Aaryn NZ.

[GSKR]

Actually, I couldn't agree more with you lane5515.

Aaryn NZ.

Agree as well.80 percent of nicotine smell is in the headliner and sun visors.wetting or steaming that makes it worse.Nicotene and cat urine are next to impossible to remove.