Carpet cleaning tips

[Eldorado2k]

Does anyone use anything besides water in thier steamers?? I was thinking of using folex or an APC??

You mean inside the steamer in place of distilled water? You'd ruin the steamer.

[bill110]

Dumb? question... even with a steamer, how are you pulling the moisture back out?

$20 wet dry vac from one of the big box home centers, however; the steamer does not put near as much moisture as the extractor does into the carpet.

[Cruzscarwash]

I always see people say they use folex with a steamer, so what exactly does that mean??

[bill110]

I'm thinking they mean the carpet cleaners that are in wal mart etc. They call them steam cleaners but some of them don't even heat the water.
They are more of an extractor and you can add solution to the cleaning tank.

[Guyb]

I use Folex on the spots and use my Mcculloch 1385 steam cleaner in the method mentioned by Derek earlier. Folex is a good basic carpet spot remover. I only use distilled water in the steamer.

[dcjredline]

IMO you dont NEEEEED an extractor. It makes your life somewhat easier but it is not a NEED for a car detailing business.

I use the method you do, I have FOLEX and Meguiar's APC+ or Meguiar's Super Degreaser and if they wont get the stain out then nothing will. It takes alot of arm power but it works.

[Eldorado2k]

IMO you dont NEEEEED an extractor. It makes your life somewhat easier but it is not a NEED for a car detailing business.

I use the method you do, I have FOLEX and Meguiar's APC+ or Meguiar's Super Degreaser and if they wont get the stain out then nothing will. It takes alot of arm power but it works.

I agree with this.👆🏽

I also have a McCulloch Steamer 1275 but I rarely if ever use it to clean carpets. I've heard people that I've met in person rave about how good it is on upholstery but unfortunately I've yet to see the light for myself. It's great for cleaning dirty leather interior though..

As far as Folex, according to their website they recommend not using heat because that along with the Folex might end up setting the stain in deeper, which wouldn't be good of course. Before having read their info on the site I had tried using Folex along w/steamer and found that things worked much faster and better without trying to use the steamer w/terry towel/triangle attachment. If I just kept it simple and followed the directions on the bottle, it sped things up tremendously.

Here's the perticular upholstery in which I experienced that on. I would spray Folex and scrub w/steamer and little results...



Then I got fed up and turned the steamer off and just followed the simple directions on the bottle and bam! Stains came right up with just rubbing my finger over the stain and blotting the terry towel to lift it up. Who would've ever thought the directions would actually work? [sarcasm lol]

[FinishingTouchA]

IMO you dont NEEEEED an extractor. It makes your life somewhat easier but it is not a NEED for a car detailing business.

I highly disagree with this... but most of you guys don't see the interiors I see every day.


But back to the question: For stains use Folex or a good degreaser. If you can't get them out with that you'll need carpet paint.

[Eldorado2k]

I'm willing to admit that it's always easy to say you don't need a certain tool while you don't have it.. But once you obtain it there's little to complain about. Lol.

That being said, I've heard detailers I know say they use their extractor few and far between. But like you said, it's a must have if you're the real deal person to go to when the chit has hit the fan inside a customers vehicle.

Btw, I've never said extractors are not necessary. Just sayin.
Toss me 1 on a good deal and I wouldn't be complaining

[Cruzscarwash]

Ok, thanks for all the advice guys.

So I guess I'm doing something wrong, I have a dodge avenger come in the other day with black cloth interior and it has water stains in the seats. I tried megs APC, folex, my steam cleaner, elbow grease and once it dries it comes back. I don't know what else to do. Any advice?