Getting salt and mud out of interior carpet

[Lucky1]

Winter has taken its toll on my interior carpet. Even with some mats I still see some mud and salt scattered throughout the sides of the interior carpet, especially in hard to read places around the pedals.

Guessing I'm going to need a thin, toothbrush like wirebrush to get around the sides but I'm afraid of just pushing the dirt and stains deeper into the carpet.

Can anyone suggest how best to clean this? I went to the local auto parts store and all they had for interior carpet cleaning was a Turtle Wax carpet cleaner and a salt eraser cleaner (which I am I little uneasy about).

Turtle Wax product is here:
http://www.turtlewax.com/main.taf?p=2,1,4,16

The overall damage isn't that bad since it is contained to the areas described but suffice to say I am going to take my car to a professional interior/exterior detailer after this winter.

[randomquickness]

http://www.chemicalguys.com/Carpet_a...spi_191_16.htm

[RimasRS]

Best would be with wet vacuum cleaner with some chemical stuff

[vanbmw]

I bought one of those smaller portable Bissel carpet cleaning machines. You add water and the Bissel cleaning solution to the machine. Then the machine sprays the solution on the carpet and you scrub it in. The cheaper units just use a scrub brush while the more expensive has a brush that turns and scrubs for you (mine is the cheaper one). You let it sit for a few minutes and then you suck out the water/soap/dirt and it stores it in a separate tank. The water you pull off will be dirty and you can see how much it gets out. I use it 2 or 3 times a year on my cars and the carpets look good. It is also handy if you have kids or a pet that drops stuff on the carpet. Also good if you are a drunk and have an accident with red wine...

[TOGWT]

Removing Road Salt

Once the product has been tracked in, however, it needs to be cleaned up in a timely manner. Use a vacuum or a mop to clean up sodium chloride products. Mop up calcium chloride or magnesium chloride ice met with a good detergent. If dirt has been tracked in with a de-icer, a mildly acidic cleaning agent works best. Carpets damaged by tracked-in residue will typically require professional cleaning.

Use a stiff brush to dislodge any loose road salt and then remove with a vacuum, spray the area with a carpet cleaner and let it soak in, the salt stains are highly alkaline once mixed with water, so I'd reach for an acidic product to counteract/neutralize. You might find that rinsing with a solution of vinegar /water helps. Repeat until most of the stain has been lifted.

Finally clean carpets by spraying the area with a carpet shampoo or P21S Total Auto Wash and then rinse and remove with a carpet extractor. Using the vacuum, remove the excess moisture, loose dirt and the grime, allow carpets / mats to thoroughly dry before use, and then apply a fabric protection (303TM High Tech Fabric Guard) Be aware that once you add water to salt it becomes corrosive, so take care to dry the affected area thoroughly after the salt has been removed.

[BlackjackMulligan]

Originally Posted by vanbmw

I bought one of those smaller portable Bissel carpet cleaning machines. You add water and the Bissel cleaning solution to the machine. Then the machine sprays the solution on the carpet and you scrub it in. The cheaper units just use a scrub brush while the more expensive has a brush that turns and scrubs for you (mine is the cheaper one). You let it sit for a few minutes and then you suck out the water/soap/dirt and it stores it in a separate tank. The water you pull off will be dirty and you can see how much it gets out. I use it 2 or 3 times a year on my cars and the carpets look good. It is also handy if you have kids or a pet that drops stuff on the carpet. Also good if you are a drunk and have an accident with red wine...

+1. I have the Auto version of the carpet cleaning machine and it has a heater- heated water works even better.

However, a product that I can't say enough about is Folex- you can get a big bottle of it at Home Depot for like 7 bucks and it truly is a game changing product. It gets stains out of carpet very easily...it's worked wonders for me on lighter color interiors. You can mix it in the carpet cleaning machine too if you want.