Help! Spilled Tire Gel on carpet

[Richard E]

I have a little emergency. I noticed late last evening that a bottle of Meguiar's Endurance High Gloss tire protectant gel spilled over in a cardboard box and soaked through to the carpet in the back of my PT Cruiser. (Last time I make the mistake of transporting products, even briefly, in a cardboard box, rather than a plastic one. ) The carpet doesn't come up, the floor is the floor. I decided not to make it wet at first, but just to rub with white terry cloth towels really hard, pressing on the carpet, checking to see if I was bringing up the tire gel, which I was. After more than half an hour of that, the carpet seemed drier to the touch. Then I thought it might be a bad idea for the carpet to dry completely, so I made it very slightly damp with some water, covered it with a damp towel, then covered that with a dry towel. My thinking was that the dry towel would help draw up the wetter gel-water mixture. I put a little weight on it too - 12-pack of water-bottles.

Today- or latest tomorrow - I plan to go some hand wash place that I think has steam carpet cleaning - or is it some other process?

Does anyone have any recommendations? Do I need to be particularly careful about the choice of detailer? I live in San Diego. Should I just rub it some more with moist towels?



I sent a Private Message to Mike Phillips and he wrote back:


Hi Richard,

Endurance contains polymers that resist water so it will probably take more than a towel and water to remove it. You can post this to the forum where others may have some ideas, a hot water and cleaning solution together with an extractor.

Call some established local detailers and see what they can do.

Mike

[Mike Phillips]

Here's cleaner Meguiar's offers for interior cleaning that in my experience works great!

Heavy Duty Carpet & Interior Cleaner



It can be hard to find in retail stores so you might call Customer Care to get a bottle. 1-800-347-5700

Mike

[Tom MacDonald]

I would recommend using the Heavy Duty Carpet Interior product. Not alot, a few spray then work it into the area. After an hour or so, I would get a carpet extrator or a wet/ dry shop vac and wet the area with water as warm/hot as possible, agitate, then vaccum up.

This may take a few times to correct, but I think it will work.

Good luck,

Tom

[Tom MacDonald]

Carpet extractor... was what I was meaning to say, for removal of the moisture.

[Richard E]

Thanks for the suggestions! However, I am so new to detailing I need to ask some basic questions:

1. Since I don't currently own either a shop vac or a carpet extractor- I barely know what they are or how to use them - would I still be better off going to a professional for at least the first cleaning?

2. Any suggestions about which one to buy to do subsequent cleaning passes on the cargo carpet area, as in brand or model?

3. Should I use a spray bottle to wet the area with hot water?

4. Does "agitate" mean to rub with some kind of brush? What kind? or just toweling?



I will definitely be getting some of the Meguiar's Heavy Duty Carpet & Interior Cleaner ASAP!

Again, thanks for the help.

- Richard

[Tom MacDonald]

Richard,

Using a professional detail shop for the initial cleaning would certainly be a benifit. They would have all the supplies needed to correct this. If you want we may be able to help with finding a shop that does good quality work.

Let me know...

Regards,

Tom

[Richard E]

Thanks Tom.

Yes, I could use some help finding a professional detailing shop. Do you know of one in the San Diego vicinity? I will be travelling to Encinitas on Thursday for a few hours. And I would make a special trip to Lake Forest to solve this problem, too, if you give me the address.

Perhaps my selling car dealer can give me a detailer referral. I'll check tomorrow. It wouldn't be economical for a mobile detailer to make a visit only to shampoo about 4 square feet of carpet! With all the rain we've been having, my local hand-wash place wasn't even open today.

I had some good luck finding the Meguiar's Heavy Duty Carpet and Interior Cleaner locally. I used Meguiar's dealer locater and called my local Kragen's Auto Parts, and they had it in stock. They have the best selection of Meguiar's products I have seen so far in my area.

I went to Home Depot and bought a wet-dry vacuum. The salesman suggested I get their smallest one, a Stinger, 2.5 gallons, 1.75 hp., $27. He said it would be strong enough to suction up water from a carpet. Is that true? I guess I'll find out soon. This selection was based on the facts that I mainly want it to vacuum the car and shampoo the car's carpets. I live in an apartment and will have to haul the vacuum down a flight of stairs every time I want to use it. (Assuming I can get my 50 ft orange extension cable to reach it out the window!) I found a more powerful small Shop-Vac at Costco online, 4.5 hp, 3 gallons:

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?prodid=10028816&whse=&topnav=&cat=1914&b=1

But it will take 7-10 days and cost $60 with shipping before tax.
The local Costco only stocks a huge one, 20 gallons.

I'm wondering whether those coin-operated vacuums at the self-service car wash are wet-dry vacs, or if they're dry only. I'll go check.

I saw a Bissell Little Green Machine ( or something) with a heater built in for $79 at Costco. But that seems like overkill given that I really plan on using the Meguiar's Heavy Duty Carpet Cleaner ($5 at Kragen's!). Or are their important other reasons to get it that I am overlooking?


Thanks again to everyone for your help,

- Richard