Drying Out Interior Of A 2003 Le - Toyota Corolla, Chevy Prizm (1998-2008)

Hi all! Monday the 3rd I went to watch a fireworks display. Just as the event was starting, the heavens opened and rain POURED down. Everyone was soaked to the skin. Lucky me, I was the driver to this event. As we ran back to the car, muddy and drenched, we jumped in. All four of my seats got very wet as the water dripped off our clothes. It's 3 days later. I've run the AC and left the windows open to dry it out. The seats are dry now, but I have two problems...

1) Mud on the seats. What is a good cleaner for cloth seats?

2) The smell is somewhere between wet dog and sweaty gym socks... I was going to use Febreeze to eliminate the odor, but I want what's causing the smell to be gone, not just covered up. Suggestions?

Thanks. I guess my interior could have used a nice summer cleaning anyway! ;-)

Mike

rent a carpet doctor type machine with an upholstry attachment and go over the seats 2 to 3 times with the regular shampoo and some shampoo targeted for odors.

Bikeman982

Remove the seats and clean them outside of the vehicle. Also clean the carpeting inside the vehicle while the seats are out. It would work on my car, might be complicated if you have a new Corolla.

1,424 posts

You don't need to or want to remove the seats from your car. There are sensors to mess up, and the potential for scratches to you and the car is high.

To clean off mud, wait for it to dry back to dirt and vacuum it off as much as you can.

To get out the smell, get a rug doctor and use the attachement and a odor remover solution to clean the carpet, floormats and seats.

Let all the interior dry completely before sitting in it or driving the car. Then lightly spray the interior with Febreeze and let that dry.

Now you should be good to go.

BTW, Febreeze does remove odors. It contains alcohol and enzymes that actually eat odors away. For your situation though, it won't work because the odor causing stuff is too deep in the seat for Febreeze to reach it.

I'm afraid I've got bad news. Thoroughly saturated auto seat upholstery never really goes back to "normal" from a cleanliness standpoint. One of the major disadvantages of cloth upholstery is that it does allow moisture to pass through to the cushion material, which is typically some sort of closed-cell foam. This material will wick moisture, and unless you can immediately access a powerful wet vacuum within minutes of the moisture being applied, it will go quite deep, indeed.

All of the procedures you've been given to deal with the problem are quite valid, only thing I'd do is also include a strong fan AND a small heater inside the vehicle. The ONLY thing which will eliminate moisture is is making the surrounding air drier than whatever is holding the moisture. The best way to do that is to heat the air. So, even on a fairly warm day, adding more heat to the air will dry it out and make it better able to evaporate the moisture you intend to eliminate. Air conditioners will work less well because the cooler air, while it may have a lot of it's moisture condensed out of it, will cause the moisture in the upholstery to condense rather than evaporate, thereby causing it to soak in even deeper than before into the foam upholstery. So, HEAT, not cold air -- get it? I know it's counter-intuitive, but trust me, it works.