Did a interior for a client cleaned matts with product and scrubed with brush then used hose with firemans nozzle to wash clean, left hang rest of day while i did the whole interior along with exterior had about 6 hours tied into it, not alot of sun that day, put the matts in before customer picked it up, got a call that night saying the interior had a mildew smell to it, did i do anything different said no, did his car a week earlier no complaint, he went to look into it further and called me back said the matts seemed still damp. He took them out left in garage for week no been raining every day here. I called him today and he said interior is better but has gotten better, told him i will look into a product to help it out. Can anyone suggest any product to help rid the smell? I was thinking a box of baking soda would work under the seat? Need help here,someone suggest ordorban? thanks need a product.
What I would recommend, if it is JUST the mats, just redo them for him, but dry them better, use a shop vac to suck as much as possible up, blow with hair-dryer, or something, and spray some fragrance in there after... I do like odoban, works well, but I would not rely solely on its fragrance to do this job. I just found a local detail supply shop near me, he stocks scents at $15/gallon, and he has baby-powder...VERY nice, not over-powering, and a little goes a LONG way!
Re-clean the mats and dry them thoroughly. A product like Meguiar's odor eliminator or Odoban can also be used to really clean kill odor causing bacteria.
You really want to find the source of the smell, and eliminate it. Carpeted mats hold tons of water and dirt, If you stirred up all that junk in the mats and didnt rinse it all out and then dry them completely, I could also see them smelling not so fresh. Agree with the advice above - re-do the mats, if you have access to a pressure washer to rinse them, that would really help, if not use what you used before AND get a shop vac or Extractor and pull as much water after the rinse out of the mats and get them out in the sun . Smell the mats after they are dry; if they still smell, you can choose to do this again, or find some Meguiars Odor Eliminator which uses enzymes to help kill the bacteria still in the mats and neutralize the smell. Dont try to cover it up, as this really never works and introduces another smell in the vehicle that the Client and family might not like, be allergic to, etc... Did you also clean the carpeted areas of the vehicle?? Were they dry when the vehicle left your shop? If not , you need to also do them all over or at least smell the areas and see where the smell is and eliminate it. Good luck with this ! DanF
just re clean and make sure that the matts are dry prior to giving them back to the customer. Also if you wet the interior carpets at all make sure those are 100% dry before placing the matts over them as that can cause that smell too. Pick up something that has a fragrence as well as a odor eliminator such as the Chemical Guys Stripper Scent, if it's even being sold still. I do a lot of interiors and i make sure to dry the area as best as possible and if anything is still damp before i leave i make sure to let them know to keep the windows cracked open to prevent that from happening.
