Cleaning Floor Mats... Process?

[1ForAllFor1]

Hi guys and gals,

What process would you recommend for doing this? The body shop that I took my 1 to got the floor mats nice and gross, I want to vacuum them off and clean them up. No stains or mud mind you, just lots of dust, dirt, etc. Can they be removed and vacuumed? What do people recommend?

Thanks!

[1ForAllFor1]

Fabric mats.

[ben14142001]

I'm usually pretty careful about wetting down floormats too much, unless they are disgustingly filthy. I usually just take them out, beat them around to get the dirt out and then vacuum them throughly.

-Ben

[1ForAllFor1]

Originally Posted by ben14142001

I'm usually pretty careful about wetting down floormats too much, unless they are disgustingly filthy. I usually just take them out, beat them around to get the dirt out and then vacuum them throughly.

-Ben

Perfect. That was going to be my strategy. Much appreciated.

[Cooldaddygroove]

For the 3 years I owned my 545i, I powerwashed my fabric floor mats about every 2 weeks at the car wash. Hit them with the soap cycle, then the rinse cycle, then took them home and let them either air dry outside or in my basement next to the furnace.

3 Years later and they looked brand new, so I woudln't worry too much about getting them wet.

[vanbmw]

I have a Bissel carpet cleaning machine and it is great for floormats. It is a portable unit that you add water and bissel carpet cleaning solution to. The machine sprays on the water/cleaner solution and you use the scrub brush to scrub the mats. Then the machine vacums out the water and dirt leaving behind a clean mat. The water that it pulls out of the mats will be super dirty!!! After the mat dries off you can give it a shot of schotguard to help keep it clean in the future! It works great and is not very expensive. If you have kids or pets, you will put it to use in the house when an accident happens!!!

[Oregon]

Crud can be blasted-away with an air-hose held sideways, fast/friendly, removal/blast/install takes 2 minutes, perfect.

[Lester]

Get the BMW rubber mats for winter, keeps the crud off the fabric.

[1ForAllFor1]

Blah... well, I cleaned the mats, yesterday. No problemo. Here's the irony of the situation though: In using a bit of hand soap and water to wash the gunk off of my accelerator, I managed to drip a bit of soapy water onto the floor fabric (not the mat, I had already removed it for cleaning). I tried my damndest to get the soap out of the fabric and let it dry, but this morning the affected spot has turned kinda yucky looking and stiff. I'm going to be really pissed if I managed to destroy a piece of my floor fabric... ugh. I don't want to scrub at it any further for fear of making it worse. Can anyone suggest a procedure or product to get the spot back to looking like new?

Thanks!

[EspressoBoy]

1ForAllFor1,

I am sorry I was a turd the other day. You are really having a hard time.


If you live in a house, I highly suggest you buy a wetdry vacuum. It can be used to suck up a basement of water. It can be used for any flood anywhere. Just make sure you remove the air filter, and do not suck past the full level. Usually it has a ball inside that will float up and block the intake. Anyway, for car cleaning it is awesome. You can really clean the car out nice. Use a brush end for that, so you don't mark the car. I suggest a big wetdry, and get special attachments for finer cleaning. As for the wetspot, if it's big, remove the dry dust filter inside, and suck the spot clean, that is soapy and wet. If it still has soap, wet it some more and keep sucking it dry, till all is gone. Almost no soap you have should damage the rugs. Unless you use special soap that is. Stick to basic soap and you should be ok.

If you cannot get a wetdry, you can also use old towels. It's just more work. Just pat dry with towel, then rewet, then pat dry. Till all the soap is gone.

When it's dry move your hand over it, till it looks the same.

EspressoBoy

[esscolab]

Got oily stains on mine so put them in the washing machine (tub in the US?) on a cold cycle for 10 mins. They came out like new. Mine are the cheapo fabric ones that clip on.

[TOGWT]

Carpeted floor mats

Floor mats take a majority of the wear away from the interior carpet. However, this leaves floor mats with soiling as well as oily stains. Inspect for oily stains.
Use a solvent-based spot remover to remove oily stains. Spot treat really bad stains (303™ Cleaner & Spot Remover or Woolite® Heavy Traffic Carpet Foam)

Pour a small amount of cleaner onto a terry towel and wiping toward the centre of the stain to remove the spot. Clean normal to heavy soiling as described above. Floor mats may get as wet as necessary to properly clean them.

Normal cleaning- brush loose dirt/dust with a stiff brush, lightly spray surface with a carpet cleaner (Woolite® Heavy Traffic Carpet Foam) and let the foam to remain in place for 5-10 minutes and then remove residue.
Heavily soiled- brush loose dirt/dust with a stiff brush, use a citrus-based pre-cleaner P21S®®® Total Auto Wash 10:1 distilled hot water, let solution to remain in place for 5-10 minutes to enable cleaners to react, and then use a carpet extractor

The rubber backing and the ability to relocate them to a warm place (not direct sunlight) for quick drying aids their cleaning. After mats are clean and dried, brush them to raise the fibres and apply stain guard (303 High Tech Fabric Guard) to repel grease, dirt and oil based stains and provide UV protection against fabric fading.

[BlackjackMulligan]

I've had great luck with Folex rug cleaner (available at Home Depot) for removing stains in lighter carpets as well.