I have these interior panels, they cover the lower b-pillar area in my Conquest. They are a steel wire frame with a sheet of particle board, yellow foam (probably polyurethane, maybe latex?), covered in synthetic leather.
The leather is in great shape, but they came out of a parts car that sat outside for 10 years and definitely had some mice inside. They are bone dry now, but it looks like they got wet at some point. They don't smell awful, but they have a funky, mousey odor that I'd like to get rid of before installing them. They are hard to find, too, so I'd like to save them if at all possible.
I've had pretty good luck deodorizing car interior parts in the past by just leaving them out in the sun and letting the UV and heat cook the odors out of them. I'm thinking I want to try treating these with something before I do that, though. Does the hive have any suggestions that won't risk damaging the foam or particle board? Seems like I have a ton of options: vinegar, peroxide, alcohol, ammonia, diluted bleach? Pet urine remover? Steam cleaner? Maybe something else I'm missing? I'd rather try to eliminate whatever is in them vs. just covering it up with some fragrance. My goal would be for them not to smell like anything when I'm done.
Here's a crappy picture, sorry for the lack of pixels, but hopefully it's good enough to illustrate what I'm dealing with.
Ozone generator might be the ticket. I have a small one that I use on apartments and car stuff.
I think it would be hard to spray a liquid on them without risking damage to the particle board backing.
With that being said, I've had great results using white vinegar as a deodorizer. I had a Transit Connect van that was infested with cockroaches. The carpet and foam underlayment was disgusting, to put it mildly. After power washing the hell out of the carpet and hanging it to dry in my garage, it still smelled like roach poop. I bought a gallon of white vinegar and sprayed it on heavily with a spray bottle. Like saturated heavy. After about a week, it finally dried after being hung up in my garage. The stink was gone.
I'd try an ozone generator first though. Maybe put the pieces in storage tub big enough for the ozone generator and parts. Then seal it up and let it run for a few minutes.
jgrewe said:
Ozone generator might be the ticket. I have a small one that I use on apartments and car stuff.
I was thinking along the same lines but with a different method. Put them in the car with it closed up and use this product. I learned about it here and have used it several times with success.
Biocide auto shocker
I swear by Odoban. It's a disinfectant cleaner that is pretty safe to use on anything. We sprayed some on our rental sewer snakes when they came back covered in poo and they never smelled bad.
That looks like urethane foam to me. That's what most manufacturers use, I think. It's not closed-cell, so you can soak it like a sponge and squeeze out the water. Give it a "spin cycle" to get extra water out by tying a rope to it and swinging it around over your head for a few minutes.
I might mix up some Odoban (maybe a pint to a gallon of water) and pour it on. Give it a good squishing like you're hand-washing a t-shirt. Wring it out, spin it, let it dry in the sun a couple days.
I bought an ozone generator a while ago for used cars. Works great.
Fueled by Caffeine said:
I bought an ozone generator a while ago for used cars. Works great.
I have been thinking of getting one as well. Any recommendations?
I've had pretty good luck with a product called Atmosklear: https://www.maryellenproducts.com/atmosklear.html
THANK YOU!! The Saab sits in the driveway for most of the year very close to her gardening projects so my wife refers to it as the "blue storage shed." Guess what garden supply bakes in the sun into a horrible odor that won't come out?
I've left the car open day and night for two weeks now and it still stinks.
This isn't the car's first funk rodeo, either. The fuel and brake lines both rusted out and sprayed into the rear seat foam. It's been a year and it's not perfect, but I put the rear seat bottom in the trash before it detonated.
Just to follow up on this, looking at the suggestions, they seem to fall into two categories: oxidizers and disinfectants. So I tried what I had on hand, 3% hydrogen peroxide and 91% isopropyl alcohol. Sprayed with peroxide, let them sit out in the sun for a day, scrubbed with alcohol and a sponge that evening, did peroxide and hot sun again the next day, way improved but still some odor. Caved in and bought the Atmosklear, went with that one due to it being an oxidizer and having no fragrance. Sprayed them with that and gave them another day in the sun, and I'd say at this point that I hit my goal; they don't smell like anything! Thanks for the help, guys.
I bought a $75 (?) ozone generator off Amazon and it works miracles.
When it's done, your car doesn't smell like some fruity spray. It just smells like...nothing.
Woody (Forum Supportum) said:
This one:
How long would you say to do an entire interior? Less than a month? If it works I'll keep it, but if it can't get the smell of baked chicken poop out of a car I don't want to own it.
In reply to P3PPY :
I park the car in the sun, start the engine with the a/c on recirculate and the fan on high, and then run the machine inside for about half an hour. It helps to tip the floor mats up so they get deodorized, along with the carpet below it.
Then turn off the car and the machine, remove the cord so you can keep all the windows closed and leave it in the sun for an hour or so.
That's it. You're done.
Ozone is heavy, so you want the machine up high.
jgrewe
Dork
6/21/23 11:25 a.m.
I have the same machine. I usually roll a window up against it and let it hang its butt outside the car. I block off the rest of the opening, set the timer(max is 2 hrs) and close the door.
"Order placed, thanks"
And thanks to you all, too. Our house's POs grew pot in the basement, so hopefully this can knock out that lingering smell, too. You get hints of it after coming back from vacation when the fan/AC have been off.
P3PPY said:
"Order placed, thanks"
And thanks to you all, too. Our house's POs grew pot in the basement, so hopefully this can knock out that lingering smell, too. You get hints of it after coming back from vacation when the fan/AC have been off.
Be careful about using it in your home while you are going to be home. Have a plan for how to vent the basement thoroughly after running the ozone generator, I believe there are warnings that come with the machine along the lines of "don't use in enclosed spaces with people present, and vent well prior to re-occupation"
I have a similar machine. Must come from the same factory.
works well.
ensure to ventilate the space well after using.
The machine comes with a bunch of warnings about breathing it in. Definitely ventilate for bit to avoid inhaling it and getting a sore throat.
Welp, first two hours with the ozoner didn't do anything last night. Going for a second round now.
Also Ozone machines can get hot, so keep them secured.
They kill things by basically giving them cancer to death, they just make reactive oxides like hydrogen peroxide. P3PPY, you might just need to let it run on it's own for several hours and just leave it sitting.
I'll give it a shot. Raining here for a couple days so I'll start again on Tuesday. HOPEFULLY it's odorless by the rallycross on Sat. (And hopefully I have a working diff installed...)
So there is this faint odor after running -- I think my brother's exgf used to sell these things as purifiers and she ran it in her house constantly. It was some pyramid scheme thing. I mean, it was amazing -- she's the only cat owner I've know whose house didn't smell like it. My allergies never even acted up. But apparently it was killing us? I'll have to ask her what it was she was selling.
Days on end made zero effect on the smell. Gonna have to spray with something or just kill it with fire. Also im returning the magical blue box. Ladies and gentlemen, we have found something stronger than ozone.
I have used this on tobacco smells in auto upholstery and mold smells. Seems to work best if the material has been cleaned first and allowed to dry. Soak with Odor Eliminator, scrub with a rag, and then respray.
I even got the tobacco stink out of the vents, but that took several soakings and making a sprayer with a flexible tube to get down into them.
