[HOW-TO] Winter Steam-Clean & Odour Removal in 30 min

[washandbrew]

Melbourne’s damp mornings + windows up = mouldy carpets, foggy glass and that “eau-de-gym-bag” smell.  
Here’s a fast DIY steam routine I ran on the R34 last weekend – took 30 min and the cabin’s bone-dry afterwards.

Why interiors reek in winter
• Humid cabins grow mould in 48 h  
• Flu bugs love cold vinyl  
• Mud + road salt = smelly footwells

Gear list
– Hand-held steam cleaner (120 °C)  
– Shop-vac or household vac  
– Microfibre towel ×2  
– Mild APC for plastics

Step-by-step
1. Quick vac; yank out floor mats.  
2. Steam mats top & bottom, stand upright to dry.  
3. Seats top-down, wand ≈5 cm off fabric; slow cross-hatch passes.  
4. 10-sec blast in each HVAC vent + recirc box – kills hidden mould.  
5. Finish with a glass squeegee; steam melts the oily film that causes fog.

 

Safety – Steam uses <1 L of water (Stage-1 friendly). Test on a hidden patch first and avoid direct hits on screens.

Need it done fast? Same-day interior sanitise at (link pulled) – dry before your coffee’s gone. Mods, pull the link if it’s not allowed.

Happy to answer Qs or hear what products you lot are using this winter.

Edited May 26 by GTSBoy
Need to talk to site owner wrt advertising before doing so.

[soviet_merlin]

As a cheap and easy solution I'd suggest to leave one of these in the car. The one with refills.

Place in the car on the armrest / centre console when parking at home. Just take it out before leaving. Pop it back in after coming home.

Makes a noticeable difference in the wagon. I presume it'll work even better in a coupe with less cabin space / air volume in the car.

[soviet_merlin]

6 hours ago, soviet_merlin said:

As a cheap and easy solution I'd suggest to leave one of these in the car. The one with refills.

Just as an aside: one reason to buy the model with refills is that you can take out the little strainer compartment with the granules and empty the collected water. Doesn't really work with the disposable ones.

The lesson I learned is that at some point you are going to be tired or in a rush or not paying attention and you are going to knock over that stupid little container and spill it over the seats. Can't spill water that isn't there...

[MBS206]

Another reason they go all smelly, is getting water leaks. If you don't get in and stop the water getting in, (Not just the little bit from in the air/on your clothes/shoes if raining) then it will rust things, and destroy electronics. I'm presently cutting a large chunk of floor out of a car and welding new metal in because someone didn't realise how bad a leak was in a car that was getting very infrequently driven. 2 years, and floor rusted through completely on one side of the car...

I will also add, for anyone that hasn't skip the steam clean (I think it's a great idea as a part of your regular once every 3/6 months style of clean anyway) and get yourself a wet / dry vacuum. Like the big floor cleaners. As clean as you think your car is, you'll be amazed at how much dirt it pulls out. And the more dirt and crap you can get out, the less the car will smell, and my god how much nicer it all looks!

@The Bogan Mark has a specific car one that he raves about. I just stole the mother in laws wet/dry vacuum deep cleaner, and use the hand held section. On a car that hasn't had it before and is 25+ years old, I can spend over an hour on the passenger floor alone, and STILL deem that section as dirty, and more dirt just keeps on coming out! 

Honestly, in the time we've all had our cars, when was the last time you deep cleaned the carpets or seats (cloth type seats)? You'll be shocked how much crap you're sitting in...
And then you'll need to go home and do any carpets in your house too, as that will continue to terrify you...

[The Bogan]

@MBS206 My little Bissell is awesome, I do all of our cars yearly 

I do it in the warmer months though so I can leave them open to fully dry out

When I'm not using a car for an extended period I throw a big moisture absorber in it, boxes of 8 are cheap at Costco, I just sit it on the seat

 

[Kinkstaah]

I got a hand held bisssel one and it's a piece of shit. Doesn't work for more than about 5 seconds.

So much so that I nearly refuse to believe any wet dry vac actually works or has enough suction to clean the carpet of a car. I'm discouraged as all the good ones are $300+ for an unknown result.

I saw MCM did a Ryobi video where they use this thing:

https://www.ryobi.com.au/products/stick-vacuum-cleaners/18v-one-hptm-brushless-spot-cleaner-tool-only

Anyone have any experience actually using a tool like this when not paid to showcase it?

[GTSBoy]

18 minutes ago, Kinkstaah said:

I got a hand held bisssel one and it's a piece of shit. Doesn't work for more than about 5 seconds.

I've got one (not the car one, the domestic spot cleaner one, which is basically the same jobbie) and have driven it hard for hours and hours at a time. Grimy sofas, 6' floor rugs, etc.

I'd blame your specific example rather than the whole category.

I haven't used mine in the car, because.... you know, it's my car. So there is no-one else's ball sweat in the driver's seat, there's no kid food/drink spills or hand prints inside because they've never had an opportunity to put them there. You know, basic, standard Skyline rules.

[Kinkstaah]

I guess when I say it's a POS I mean.. the solution and the stuff has the capacity for maybe... 1 spot.

You know, as a spot cleaner.

What I really *want* is the ability to do an entire car, all upholstery, all carpet, mats, all seats, door card inserts, A pillars, roof liners, etc. In one go.

I get lured by all the jank that comes out and think "I'd like to be able to clean to that degree"

[GTSBoy]

59 minutes ago, Kinkstaah said:

What I really *want* is the ability to do an entire car, all upholstery, all carpet, mats, all seats, door card inserts, A pillars, roof liners, etc. In one go.

I think even the "commercial" capacity ones that you would hire from supermarkets etc wouldn't have the capacity to do all that much in one go. I will go through half a dozen tanks of solution and dumps/rinses of the waste tank for one little 2 seat sofa. Or similar for one 6 footish rug. That's the price you pay for something small that only takes up a bit of cupboard space, instead of something that takes up the entire laundry cupboard or half the shed.

[The Bogan]

This is mine, works a treat for the cars, suction is good, I use the Bissell clean and protect stuff

I have found giving it a good spray and light scrub with the soft brush on the head of the nossle for carpet, and a rub with a microfibre for cloth seats and cloth door trims, prior to another quick spray before vacuuming it up works the best

@GTSBoy You would surprised on what it gets out of carpet and seats that actually "look" clean, I recommend that you test drive yours when you have a little time to kill, then post pics of the muddy looking water that I believe you will find

[MBS206]

We have one that holds 2.8L of water. On floor carpet that hasn't been touched in 2 or 3 years, will take a minimum of 2 fills of the tank to do a bedroom, and that's going AROUND the bed.

 

In the cruiser, I used an ENTIRE 2.8L tank, just on the front passenger footwell. But it had some fungus growing, and had been full of mud from being used as a 4WD for many years.

I can do that floor again, and it will still pull mud out. However, the water now only looks dirty, not pitch black and leaving full sludge in the bottom of the tank it sucks back into.

Oh, and, this is about a $1500 unit.

Edited May 28 by MBS206

[GTSBoy]

48 minutes ago, The Bogan said:

@GTSBoy You would surprised on what it gets out of carpet and seats that actually "look" clean, I recommend that you test drive yours when you have a little time to kill, then post pics of the muddy looking water that I believe you will find

Yeah, I'm not interested in wetting the carpets, and I don't care about brown dirt/dust that lives deep in the pile or underneath. It's not like I crawl around on them in my birthday suit or eat dropped food off them (because there is never any open food in my car).

The seats are alcantara (cheap Chinese imitation alcantara, to be sure!) with barely 1" of foam pad behind the surface. That's not getting wet either.

Any car that I would be happy to get the interior wet, I would not care to put the effort into.

[The Bogan]

2 minutes ago, GTSBoy said:

Yeah, I'm not interested in wetting the carpets, and I don't care about brown dirt/dust that lives deep in the pile or underneath. It's not like I crawl around on them in my birthday suit or eat dropped food off them (because there is never any open food in my car).

The seats are alcantara (cheap Chinese imitation alcantara, to be sure!) with barely 1" of foam pad behind the surface. That's not getting wet either.

Any car that I would be happy to get the interior wet, I would not care to put the effort into.

Each to their own I guess 

Me, I put just as much time into cleaning inside of the cars as I do on the outside

As for getting wet, it is really no different than steam cleaning the carpets at home, apart from the cars carpet dries alot faster than the house, again, I only do it in the hotter months and leave the car opened up for a few hours

As I only do it yearly, it is just before I do the diff and gearbox service, so I clean the carpets, then it's up on stands, wheels off, service, clean the undercarriage,  grease the bushings and do a nut and bolt check on everything 

Disclaimer: I typically had all the time in the world to kill when I was working 🤣, so spending a full day or 2 cleaning, serving and "looking at stuff" was,  easily achievable, and a fun mental therapy day

As for time to kill, I retired last Wednesday, so apart from my physical training, my days are filled with lots of random jobs around the house and garden...."Idle hands are the Devils something something"

I am also buying a new house sooner rather than later, I'm actually looking at a potential property tomorrow, I'm looking forward to getting a car hoist as I'm starting to get to old to crawl around under a car, I can only imagine all the undercarriage cleaning and looking at stuff when that gets set up

[GTSBoy]

52 minutes ago, The Bogan said:

Disclaimer: I typically had all the time in the world to kill when I was working 🤣, so spending a full day or 2 cleaning, serving and "looking at stuff" was,  easily achievable, and a fun mental therapy day

As for time to kill, I retired last Wednesday, so apart from my physical training, my days are filled with lots of random jobs around the house and garden...."Idle hands are the Devils something something"

I'm so far behind in the jobs I have to do at both work and home (including car) that I have become immortal. There's simply no way that I can die now.