Stain Horror Stories:
“Up in Smoke”
Hall of
Stains
Chances are, as a detailer you have probably seen horrible messes. Pigment, odors, or just plain grossness can turn stomachs and perhaps even make you wish you were doing something else for a living. This section is dedicated to those horror stories and will share the tales of the really bad spills and stains that took special treatments and extra man hours to eradicate.
The Survivor: Jason Thacker
The Victim: 13-year-old Subaru (that had been smoked in all 13 years)
The Gory Details: The nicotine, tar and other carcinogens were pretty bad as you can see from the pictures. The smell was worse than the pictures if you can allow yourself to imagine.
The Exorcism: Here is the process I used and here is why I DIDN’T use my ozone generator. First up was just to pull out the floormats, headrest and the spare tire that was located inside the trunk area of the vehicle and then I vacuumed everything. Next I pretreated the carpets and upholstery with Optimum Carpet & Fabric Cleaner & Protectant. I then added ValuGard Odor Terminator to my carpet extractor at 6 oz to 3 gal of fresh water. I then extracted the carpets and upholstery using that solution and, of course scrubbed it with a brush. While the carpets and upholstery were drying, I wiped down the headliner with the Optimum Carpet & Fabric
Cleaner & Protectant. Then did another good wipe down with a microfiber towel that had been soaked in ValuGard Odor Terminator. Next up were the hard surfaces. For those, I used Optimum Power Clean (my APC) at a 10:1 ratio and mixed in 4oz of Odor terminator with the APC. I also used this on the spare tire that I mentioned was in the trunk inside the vehicle. So, it needed to be treated also due to the rubber of the tire which had really held on to that smoke smell. After everything had been cleaned, I then used the spray bottle of Odor Terminator mixed full strength to spray into the HVAC (heat/AC) vents. This car didn’t have a cabin filter to replace. So, I had to do what I could on that
area. The smell was almost gone at this point. For a final step of odor removal, I misted the Odor Terminator on everything I could that was safe (which was almost everything that water would not damage). I had to be also be careful around any electronics. I then dressed the hard surfaces with Optimum Protectant Plus, cleaned the windows with ONR (Optimum No Rinse) mixed at the wash dilution ratio of 256:1 or ½ oz to a gallon of water (Side Note: I use ONR on windows all the time, but especially in a smoker’s car. Seems to really get the film off the glass better than anything else). Now, I’m sure a few would say I should next use my ozone generator. It’s a commercial grade unit that can
tackle doing a “shock treatment” on a 450-square-foot-room. More than enough for what’s needed in a car. So why not use it?? After looking at the vehicle’s wiring and rubber seals, I noticed that there was some dry rotting and other signals of wear. It’s a 13-year-old car, so I am not surprised! Using an ozone generator would have made this problem worse! I knew that if I used the ozone, I would have caused further damage. The customer probably would never know. But, I would. So, I took the long route and better choice and went with Odor Terminator to remove the smell versus a process that would have cut the life of the wiring and seals much shorter.
Got a scary stain story to share? Send it to Editor Debra Gorgos at debrag@autodetailingnews.com if you dare! VOL. 2, NO. 4 • FALL 2017 | AUTO DETAILING NEWS |
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