Carpets in the Washing Machine?

[supercarrera]

Hi, I'm thinking about pulling all the carpets this weekend and throwing them in a commercial washing machine around the corner. Anybody ever do this to clean their carpets? I'm wondering if this procedure would damage them in any way.

Scott

[NLXTACY]

Did it on a 4Runner no problem all though I got yelled at by the old Korean owner who started screaming at me when she saw what I was pulling out of the washer

[mainemike]

Soak them with a spray-on carpet cleaner, or any green cleaner of your choice, and hang them on the clips at the do-it-yerself carwash, and blast away withe high pressure rinse. Works great!

[supercarrera]

Originally Posted by NLXTACY

Did it on a 4Runner no problem all though I got yelled at by the old Korean owner who started screaming at me when she saw what I was pulling out of the washer

LOL yeah I'm afraid of getting yelled at too.

[GAS-A-LOT!]

What is wrong with basic shampo cleaning from a detailer/carwash?

[sseaman]

I used our home carpet cleaner this past weekend, it has a wand for steps and furniture. It was gross what came out of the carpets, headliner and seats. I spent 1.5hours doing the 4runner and Avalon. Which should equate to the time for an 80.

[NLXTACY]

Originally Posted by sseaman

I used our home carpet cleaner this past weekend, it has a wand for steps and furniture. It was gross what came out of the carpets, headliner and seats. I spent 1.5hours doing the 4runner and Avalon. Which should equate to the time for an 80.

This is why I stuck them in an industrial washer...and dealt with the berating in a language I didn't know.

[supercarrera]

Originally Posted by NLXTACY

This is why I stuck them in an industrial washer...and dealt with the berating in a language I didn't know.

Seems like a machine would do a more thorough job of cleaning also.

[ThePookieBear]

I have a steam cleaner at where I work (cleaning carpets till after drafting school ) but am somewhat hesitant to do the headliner. I'm afraid the heat would melt the glue and stuff causing it to sag like so many pos old pickups and cars from the '80s.

[gotmud]

Originally Posted by mainemike

Soak them with a spray-on carpet cleaner, or any green cleaner of your choice, and hang them on the clips at the do-it-yerself carwash, and blast away withe high pressure rinse. Works great!

X2. My preferred method as well.

I have also soaked them with a water/saop solution, scrubbed with a stiff brush and used a regular garden hose to rinse out. One trick I found to keep the nap looking good is to run a shop vac over the carpet before it dries completely.

[hondaguy6513]

He said nap

[turbocruiser]

I've always used our carpet steamer cleaner thingamadoo loaded once with solution and then once with straight water so as not to leave traces of detergent and attracting dirt. I've always been afraid that putting the carpets in commercial washers would screw up the backing especially the backing in the rear cargo area which is pretty frickin fragile. In fact after steaming all over that rear cargo carpet and really getting it clean I realized that there was some sort of stain soaked into the backing, after all that cleaning work I told myself to order the replacement! BTW, if your rear cargo carpet is looking worse for wear and you think that you are gonna replace it "eventually" I'd do it sooner rather than later; Dan told me that they are now an "e" part or something that signifies it is not in production anymore. Hope that helps (HTH).

[mazder]

Use a pressure washer.

[nuclearlemon]

ditto...there was something resembling oil spilled in my 80 when i got it...pressure washer took most of it out. i presoaked in tide. they're freaking heavy when wet, so put the carpet in a pickup first, then presoak, take to pressure washer and when home, drape over tailgate to drain/dry.