how do you clean carpet?

[99GrandTouring]

Hello all!
After reading on here I think I have been doing it wrong.
Before I would spray a ton of carpet cleaner on a spot use a brush in a circular motion and then blot it up.

Is this wrong?
Is there a special procedure or way to use? There are some ground in dirt in my floor mats I just can't seem to get out..
THanks!

[TwoTooBlack]

The best thing I've found for stains on the carpet (as opposed to general shampooing) is Meg's Extra cleaner. This stuff quite literally cleaned a stain in my living room carpet (Megs: Its not just for garages any more!) that 4 or 5 professional cleanings had failed to remove. Also great on engines and wheel wells. Did a fab job on my wheels one day when I accidently picked it up instead of Hot Rims. I keep a bottle in the garage and in the house. Great stuff.

[rjstaaf]

I use the consumer Meguairs Heavy Duty Carpet & Interior Cleaner on my carpets. You don't want to put a ton of any cleaner on your carpet. It will soak deep into the carpet and you will never get it all out. I usually do my Mustang carpet in four sections, each side front and rear. I will spray a section down just to get the very top of it damp. I let it soak for about 10 minutes and then I take a white towel and really scrub the carpet. I then go in again with a slightly damp (plain water) towel and scrub again. Then, with a dry towel I try and dry it the best I can. Once I get the whole carpet done I open the windows and let it air dry the rest of the way.

I do the carpets at the very least once a month. It is better to do frequent light cleanings rather than fewer cleanings that require lots of cleaner.

[1999NCSU]

It is not a Meg. product, but I love ZEP spot carpet cleaner. I picked it up from Home Depot for $4. The directions are simply too.
1. Blot/vacuum affected area.
2. Shake and spray on stain, but do not saturate.
3. Blot up.

I use a terry towel and scrub a little, but it is very easy. I was very impressed the first time I used it. Sorry no pics.

[jfelbab]

I used to use the Little Green Machine and liked the results but it was always clogging up so now I just spray Meguiar's carpet cleaner on the carpet, brush it in then use one of my older shop vacs to **** the fluids out. The carpet gets clean and dry pretty quickly with this method.

[99GrandTouring]

Well I scraped the two spots with a knife before cleaning to break them up..
I have sprayed, scrubbed and blotted till there is almost nothing being pulled up via the cloth...

However after they dried you still see the spot where it was...
Is this normal after having a old stain cleaned?

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by 99GrandTouring
Well I scraped the two spots with a knife before cleaning to break them up..

I have sprayed, scrubbed and blotted till there is almost nothing being pulled up via the cloth...

However after they dried you still see the spot where it was...
Is this normal after having a old stain cleaned?

Could be the action of cleaning so well has had an effect.

Just to throw my two Meguiar's cents into the ring,

I don't know if you can beat this product for cleaning fabrics of all types, Heavy Duty Carpet & Interior Cleaner is pretty hard to beat.

Lynn loves this stuff for spot cleaning in the house, but it's just as effective in the automotive world. I told this story on SCG, which is down right now till the back-up gets reloaded, but here goes...

After wet-sanding and then buffing out my cherry red Blazer, my white NIKE tennis shoes were covered with red stains and residue from the job. I threw them in the washing machine with some Tide on the hot setting and when they came out everything was white again but the nylon mesh tongue, it was now and even pink color.

I figured Tide would have taken care of it, but it didn't. I didn't want to wear white Nike tennis shoes with pink tongues, so I grabbed the Heavy Duty Carpet & Interior Cleaner and sprayed some on to the nylon tongue, agitated and then blotted with a terry cloth towel.

It worked perfectly. All the pink color was gone, the nylon mesh tongue was white again. I didn't think it work as well as it did because the washing and drying process tends to either remove stains, or lock them in.

This product works great, look for it at most auto parts stores and give it a try, you won't be disappointed.

Mike

[rjstaaf]

Here is one of my bottles up on the left on the top shelf.



Here is the other cabinet to the right. I kind of commandeered the utility room cabinets



These are my most frequently used products, the rest is stored in 4 18gallon bins in a closet and then there is the stuff in the garage

[TwoTooBlack]

To rjstaaf,

Ohhhh, PLEEEASE! If my wife ever sees photos of your cabinets, I'll never hear the end of it! (Fortunately, the chances of her visiting this forum are ZERO! )

Them are some FINE looking cabinets. Not so much the cabinets as the manner in which they are kept. It looks like a darnded display rack!

Please tell me they don't always look like that.

[fiberrich]

Meguiar's Heavy Duty Carpet & Interior Cleaner is absolutely incredible stuff!

I used it to clean the beige carpets in my 1993 BMW I have for sale. I've always swept my carpets, but I never shampooed them.

Years of dirt, grime and grease spots came right out with such ease that it was unbelievable to my eyes!!!

I emailed pictures of the interior of the car to a potential buyer and the very first thing he stated to me when I followed up on the phone was "I can't believe the condition of those carpets. They look brand new!" And they do look brand new, even in person!

Based on the comments of others getting great results using the product on their carpets in their homes, I plan on using it for spot treating the next time I shampoo the carpets in our home as well.

Great stuff and highly recommended!!

[scrub]

I used prestone interior cleaner with good results. I might try the Meguiar's heavy duty cleaner next!

[megatnh]

hello
i am driving 2003 camry with beige carpet underneath the floor mats which are dark brown.whenever i flip over the carper i observe the diffent in color bewteen the carper underneath the floor mats and the floor carpet itself.the floor carpet under the floor mats is brighter and thus giving a cleaner? impression

how do i clean the carpet so that the difference is not so obvious

[orange monkeyee]

I'm going to be testing out the carpet cleaner as soon as I receive my order. I spilled a bunch of strong green tea on my carpet one day and I've dumped almost everything on it, oxyclean, detergents, all purpose cleaners, even this Blue Magic guarunteed **** that failed. If it gets it out I will be thoroughly impressed.

[Rick]

Another option for a more bulk packaging would be the detailer all purpose cleaner. I am still using up my all purpose cleaner plus (all purpose cleaner is the replacment product). It works very well for shampooing carpets. After a pre vaccum I spray some on to the section to be cleaned with the foam sprayer, scrub in with a soft carpet brush then vaccum out. It dries fairly quickly this way.

As far as your green tea spill keep in mind that you'll probalby need to go over it several times in order to get the area properly clean. I had a genius friend spill a 64oz Dr. Pepper in my last vehicle and it probably took me 2 hours and 3 bottles of the carpet cleaner to finally get down to it all and get it properly out of the carpet, but it did come out.

[electricgreen]

I use the Meg's carpet cleaner (a little goes a long way!!), a denture brush for heavy stains (pick them up at the dollar store), and my bissell little green. I LOVE my little green, works great, although I wish it did better at extracting the water. Just did this last night, had to remove a bit of wing sauce (hot sauce & butter) from the grey carpet in my Baja. Worked perfect!