Mold & Mildew

[ninja]

I currently have a customer with a lincoln towncar that has a mold and mildew problem on both the carpet & leather seats. Any suggestions on how to approach this from a cleaning and elimination process?

[roushstage2]

Re: Mold & Mildew

I'd start by first parking it in the sun, opening all windows and doors (I suppose you don't need to roll down the windows if you open the doors though :p), and finding out where the dampness is coming from to form the mold/mildew. Mold generally grows in damp, dark areas. Failure to find out what is causing it will allow it to happen again and again.

To clean the seats should be pretty straight forward. Get them dry and clean them with some APC or a bucket of Woolite/Water.

As for the carpet, depends how bad/deep it is. I have gotten some light mold/mildew out by simply doing the above and soaking it with Lysol. Repeated a few times of course. May be bad enough to where the interior needs to be removed. Had to do this on my Neon when the taillight seal went bad and left about 3 inches of water in my car and filled up the spare tire well about 1/2 way.

[OhioCarBuff]

Re: Mold & Mildew

After you elimiate the source of the moisture and clean the mold, an Ozone treatment will eliminate any remaining trace of odor and kill all the mold spores, viruses, bacteria etc. You should be able to rent a high powered ozone machine at your local tool rental store

[AjNavo61490]

Re: Mold & Mildew

if you can get a steamer it would prolly be good to use that on it!

[Maserati Mario]

Re: Mold & Mildew

I had this problem before.
I had to replace the carpet.
Hope it's not that bad.
You need to check/replace the padding under the carpet.