How to Clean Carpeting in Car, Truck or SUV

If you have had your vehicle for any amount of time and do not have some level of protection for the carpets, whether it's a floor liner, floor mat or the factory mats at some point your carpets in your vehicle will need to be cleaned and shampooed. There is a right way and wrong way to do this. If you follow the steps we lay out below you will be able to take care of your vehicles carpets with some simple tools and cleaning supplies.

Carpet Cleaning What's needed:

• Vacuum - a wet/dry vac works great, but your household vacuum will do the trick too
• Stiff Bristle Cleaning Brush - Use a brush that has either plastic or horse hair bristles. If you use any other types of bristles it can damage the carpet
• Spray bottle with clean water
• Carpet Spot Remover - We used Auto Magic Fabric Cleaner Plus and Auto Magic Power Foam
• Carpet Shampoo or Cleaner - Auto Magic Special Cleaner is what we used in the video

Steps to Cleaning Your Carpets:

1. Remove the floor mats and any large debris or trash that cannot be vacuumed up.
2. Now vacuum the carpets getting all the sand, dirt and garbage left. For the stubborn sand and dirt ground into the carpet use the brush to agitate the carpet. This will loosen the dirt and allow you to get it cleaned up.
3. Once you have vacuumed the surface it's time to clean the big stains with the spot remover.
4. Spray the heavily soiled spots with the spot remover and let it set for 30-45 seconds.
5. Use the scrub brush and agitate the surface, loosening the stains.
6. Take a dry microfiber or terry cloth towel and scrub the stains. This will pick up the loosened stain.
7. Now use the spray bottle with clean water and mist the carpets surface.
8. After the heaviest soiled areas have been cleaned and the carpet misted, take the Auto Magic Special Cleaner or your general purpose cleaner and spray it on the entire carpeted area.
9. Use the brush and go over all the carpet, scrubbing everywhere to loosen up any stubborn dirt or stains
10. Again use a towel to go over everything soaking up and lifting any stains
11. At this point you can either let the carpet air dry or put a fan on it to help it dry faster

Once the carpets are dry, you will be able to see if there are any other spots that need attention. If there are simply use the spot remover to go over those areas.

This is not something you will need to do on a weekly or even monthly basis (unless you have a high traffic vehicle(No pun intended). Cleaning the carpets can be something done every couple of months or at the change of seasons.) Doing this will improve the life of your carpets and keep your vehicle looking better for years to come.