remove smoke smell

[cd36]

Hey Guys,

My girlfriend just got a car, that unfortunately had a smoker as a previous owner. The smell isn't terribly strong, but it would be nice to get rid of most of it. Anyone have any experience in getting rid of the smoke smell from a car? Would just using a strong carpet/upholstry cleaner on the floor/seats/headliner do it? Any advice would be great, thanks!

[Andrew Wilson]

Re: remove smoke smell

Meguiar's Odor Eliminator works really really well. It literally eliminates any type of odor. Make sure you spray it in the head liner and the seat belts as people often forget these areas.

[LelandGray]

Re: remove smoke smell

I'd suggest Meguiar's Odor Eliminator, too, although I haven't used it yet on smoke smells. I used it in my car the other day (I have a water leak from the windshield, sometimes it smells mildewy in my car) and it got rid of the odor.

I have a few cars I'm going to try it on where the owners are smokers, just haven't tried it yet.

[Murr1525]

Re: remove smoke smell

You will want to clean everything, all the surfaces (cloth, vinyl, plastic) with APC, etc, including dabbing (not soaking) the headliner.

Get the air filter chaned if it has one.

And then lots of airing out, and Odor Eliminator.

[speed3blackmica]

Re: remove smoke smell

Murr's process is exactly how i would go about doing it. Just be sure to get a real good cleaning of everything with some APC, or even Quik Interior Detailer (not to mention the smell of QID is great)..once you've got all hard surface's cleaning, clean out any stains the may be on any seats, floor carpets, and to top it all off, meguiars odor eliminator just like the others recommended will get the nasty smell out

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: remove smoke smell

You will want to clean everything, all the surfaces (cloth, vinyl, plastic) with APC, etc, including dabbing (not soaking) the headliner.

Get the air filter chaned if it has one.

And then lots of airing out, and Odor Eliminator.

This is the best and quickest way to eliminate the odor.

[SX4DUDE2013]

Re: remove smoke smell

yup. CLEAN EVERYTHING VERY WELL!!!!! then ATON of airing out. and i use chemical guys new car scent and it works great

[I Shine]

Re: remove smoke smell

I also just bought a car that was previously owned by a smoker and dog lover.

I had planned to do every listed above. I was pleasantly surprised that after EVERY hard and soft surface with APC+ (10:1) the smell is gone. I still have some Meguiars odor eliminator on stand by if the odor makes a return. Two weeks and it still smells fresh.

[TOGWT]

Re: remove smoke smell

Smoke

Its molecules are microscopic and they exhibit a very strong adhesive quality; plus they don't conform to normal cleaning standards. It is these micro particulates that embed themselves in the fibres of the headliner, seats and carpet.

A solvent will not break their bond; a detergent will not suspend them for extraction. More than any other odour problem smoke removal is a process. You cannot eliminate odours by shampooing the interior, and/or spraying a deodorizer. Many odours are caused by micro-organisms such as bacteria, mould, and mildew.

It amazes me that even professionals still think they can eliminate odours by shampooing the interior, and spraying a deodorizer. Nothing is farther from the truth, technically, an odour is an invisible gas, and so it can permeate any material or crevice. Many odours are caused by micro-organisms such as bacteria, mould, and mildew. Not only does shampooing not eradicate these odours, it spreads them over a much wider area!

You eliminate dour-causing organisms with very specialized chemicals. Look for stains, if there are no stains, use the process of elimination; it is very effective when searching for the source of an odour; floor or seats, mats or carpet? If the vehicle has velour upholstery, a spill can penetrate on contact. If it is vinyl or leather, it will run to the deepest seam and / or the foam.

The most important aspect of removing as opposed to using a product that will cover it, only for the odour to return later on, or at the very least mitigating an offensive door is that you must find and remove its origin. Don’t be fooled by the claims of odour removal products; if it doesn’t have a cleaning agent in it, you’re not going to get rid of the odour.

If you thoroughly clean the interior and it still smells you have not removed the material which is generating the smell. You can use an ozone machine, steam / extractor, scrub, and vacuum etc but if you do not remove the origin the smell will remain.

Replace the cabin air filter (if fitted) as it will retain the smoke micro-organisms

[jenfour6]

Re: remove smoke smell

Hey Guys,


My girlfriend just got a car, that unfortunately had a smoker as a previous owner. The smell isn't terribly strong, but it would be nice to get rid of most of it. Anyone have any experience in getting rid of the smoke smell from a car? Would just using a strong carpet/upholstry cleaner on the floor/seats/headliner do it? Any advice would be great, thanks!

Smoke odor can be pretty hard to get rid of..if it's possible to keep an eye on the car, opening the doors and windows to let the car air out for a day would help. Baking soda has been known to help clean out stains an odors too. Also, there are all kinds of smoke odor removers or disinfectants you can get from abatix

[jenfour6]

Re: remove smoke smell

Hey Guys,

My girlfriend just got a car, that unfortunately had a smoker as a previous owner. The smell isn't terribly strong, but it would be nice to get rid of most of it. Anyone have any experience in getting rid of the smoke smell from a car? Would just using a strong carpet/upholstry cleaner on the floor/seats/headliner do it? Any advice would be great, thanks!

If it's possible for your girlfriend to keep an eye on the car for a day, try keeping the doors and windows open for several hours to air it out. Also baking soda is known for getting all kinds of stains and smells out, you might try that!

[billddrummer]

Re: remove smoke smell

My girlfriend smokes, and it's rapidly becoming unbearable.

I'll take the collective suggestions since I'm in 'economic bondage' at present.

[billddrummer]

Re: remove smoke smell

As an aside, she knows she is not to smoke in the vehicle.

That doesn't prevent her from poking her head in with a cigarette in her mouth, which she claims is 'purely by accident.'

I don't believe it.

[The Guz]

Re: remove smoke smell

What about one of those air re-fresher odor eliminator or odor eliminator. Odor eliminator is cheap at walmart.

[Randmill]

Re: remove smoke smell

I posted this in another forum a few days ago and will share my experience with using Meguiar's Odor Eliminator in this thread. I have a 2007 Toyota Tundra that I have smoked cigars in for almost 7 years. The tobacco smell was overpowering so I decided to turn my ride back into a non-smoking vehicle. Getting everything in the interior as clean as possible is the first and most important step, so here is my process for odor elimination:

Vacuum interior, including headliner and clean everything with 10:1 APC
Treat all leather upholstery with leather cleaner followed by conditioner
Clean and condition all vinyl surfaces
Clean badly soiled floor mats with 4:1 APC
Replace cabin air filter (A/C smelled REALLY bad)

Once everything was cleaned and conditioned as well as could be, I ran an ozone generator (borrowed from a friend) in the vehicle with A/C on recirculate for 15 minutes, then aired out the truck. This left a slight lingering chlorine smell that was completely gone in about 2 days. Most of the tobacco smell was gone as well but was still pretty noticeable. I don't think is a necessary step for the odor elimination but since I had one available to use, I thought I'd give it a try.

About a week and a half ago, I fired off the Meguiar's Odor Eliminator canister according to the directions. What a remarkable difference! No more tobacco smell; no more A/C smell; no residue from the canister. My truck now has a clean, fresh, almost like new leather smell. I had a non-smoking passenger a couple of days ago - typically, non-smokers are extremely sensitive to lingering tobacco smell but they couldn't detect any trace of tobacco. This is a great product and based on my personal experience, I can say that I highly recommend it!