Tips for removing cigarette smoke?

[Drewser]

Bought an 04 Passat for scrap price and fixed it up. Into it for under $1000 now and have it running great. However, previous owner was a heavy, heavy smoker...like everything covered in ash, tobacco in and under shifter, etc. We pulled all seats out, disassembled center console, and deep cleaned everything. Then we've run an ozone system a few times. We have about 90% of the smell gone. Turned the front defrost on yesterday and got blasted by large amounts of ash, so cleaned that up now too.

Knowing that it will take some time and repeated cleanings/ozone treatments to fully get rid of it, what have you guys done that's worked well? Lots of tips on the internet, just curious about personal experience. Have tried apples (did nothing) and essential oils on cotton balls (maybe helped?). Looking for more ideas to speed up the process.

 

[Andyinchville1]

Of all the things I've done to remove bad smells (and it sounds like you've done the big one already (ozone) , you could try repeated steam cleanings , wiping hard surfaces with simple green and Febreze.

There may also be special products to help remove tar and smoke (you may want to try calling serve pro since they often do fire clean ups and may be able to give some pointers / tips).

short of physically removing the smell , you could try overpowering it with other scents ....

Barring the above, the clothespin on the nose can be used as a last resort !

Andrew

 

[Drewser]

Barring the above, the clothespin on the nose can be used as a last resort !

Ha! Yeah, it's definitely to the bearable phase. But when it's been sitting in the sun for a while you definitely smell it when you open the doors. And in Arizona with 115 degree temps, it bakes it right out at you. I actually miss the "melting crayon" smell of our Jetta...

 

[Mongler98]

#1 is hot water, vinegar and ammonia lightly mixed like a cap full of each to a gallon. Get a fogger and hot box the car in recirculation mode with the AC off after you detailed everything. The headliner might have to be done but it's the only way to get rid of it.

Highly suggest the bistle little green detailer.

 

[Drewser]

#1 is hot water, vinegar and ammonia lightly mixed like a cap full of each to a gallon. Get a fogger and hot box the car in recirculation mode with the AC off after you detailed everything. The headliner might have to be done but it's the only way to get rid of it.

Highly suggest the bistle little green detailer.

We own a full Rug Doctor which works really well for extraction using the hand tools. It's big and bulky but we had it anyway so didn't make sense to purchase a separate extractor. It's really gross what we get out...we did the carpets with seats removed 4 times (1 soap, 3 just water) and the water was still brown...wondering if we should have just kept going until clear. But I'm not sure the water ever gets clear...

 

[Mongler98]

We own a full Rug Doctor which works really well for extraction using the hand tools. It's big and bulky but we had it anyway so didn't make sense to purchase a separate extractor. It's really gross what we get out...we did the carpets with seats removed 4 times (1 soap, 3 just water) and the water was still brown...wondering if we should have just kept going until clear. But I'm not sure the water ever gets clear...

It will never be clear. At least light brown or grey. Yea of you have a big machine like that... I used to rent them till I just paid up for what i needed.
A big tip is to lean how to get all the water out as you work.
I've detailed hundreds of things from chairs to cars and every carpet in between. You never get clear water.

 

[tactdi]

Search YouTube for the Ammo NYC detailer guy. Just saw a snippet of him talking about removing odors out of cars.

 

[oilhammer]

The headliner will be the toughest. Short of taking it out and replacing it.

I've had to un-cancer some older cars, but they had simpler interiors. As I recall, lemon juice can help pretreat some fabrics before a good steam cleaning.

Those little Rug Doctor rental units with the furniture/drape attachment actually work pretty good. But I don't think the headliner will tolerate it but you can certainly try.

The last one I did, with a buddy of mine, was an '89 Mazda pickup, and we stripped the insides down to the bare shell, and had to manually scrub every INCH of the metal with Castrol Super Clean.

 

[2004LB7]

Zep smoke odor eliminator or ozone. those two are my main go to for smoke in our hotel rooms. ozone use on cigarette smoke takes a long time but leaves no residue or anything else behind. sometimes I am forced to leave it in the room for days at a time when a guest smokes in the room. several liberal applications of the Zep spray seems to do an admiral job too at a much faster pace but requires some cleaning afterwards to wipe up the spray residue. or just dive around with the windows down for a while will eventually do it too

 

[Drewser]

Posted some before and after pics here if anyone is interested: Before and after detailing pics

 

[MukGyver]

Don't use Febreze. unless you somehow love the smell.. it literally never goes away so you'll be stuck with it. I agree with the #4 post approach. That usually works.

 

[ToxicDoc]

I did similar cleanings. Then I embraced patience afterward. It took about a year or so for the remaining 10% to clear out

 

[pkhoury]

The headliner will be the toughest. Short of taking it out and replacing it.

I've had to un-cancer some older cars, but they had simpler interiors. As I recall, lemon juice can help pretreat some fabrics before a good steam cleaning.

Those little Rug Doctor rental units with the furniture/drape attachment actually work pretty good. But I don't think the headliner will tolerate it but you can certainly try.

The last one I did, with a buddy of mine, was an '89 Mazda pickup, and we stripped the insides down to the bare shell, and had to manually scrub every INCH of the metal with Castrol Super Clean.

Good to know. As an ex-smoker myself (who never smoked in my TDIs, ever), the smell is atrocious. I've seen some NASTY cars at the junkyard that make you think someone smoked 3 packs a day just in the car.

My recently acquired Golf has some light smoke odor on exceptionally hot days. Now I know there's not much that can be done for the headliner. The original cloth seats have long since been replaced with leather seats, and I'm kinda used to it, but I'd be much happier with that smell gone.

In cars with heavy smoke smells, the first thing that comes to mind is how the previous owner's lungs are probably blacker than coal!

 

[Nevada_TDI]

The first thing I was going to say was using an ozone generator...question, are you talking about the"commercial" ones with a discharge and a fan? Flea bay, Alibaba and others sell just the generators that run on 12 or less volts and are a couple of bucks each, they look sort of like fiber optic light "flowers.
" Hang a few of those along with the "regular" one and get done much, much, sooner.

 

[Drewser]

The first thing I was going to say was using an ozone generator...question, are you talking about the"commercial" ones with a discharge and a fan? Flea bay, Alibaba and others sell just the generators that run on 12 or less volts and are a couple of bucks each, they look sort of like fiber optic light "flowers.
" Hang a few of those along with the "regular" one and get done much, much, sooner.

I got mine on Amazon, about $50. Has a fan and produces a pretty powerful ozone smell. Runs off 120v and came with warning signs to hang on doors of rooms when it's running. Works really well. Have to air out car for about 20 min after using before we can get in.

 

[Nevada_TDI]

Lucky you!, my Wife hates the smell of Ozone, and I am rather fond of it, so no Ozone generators in my our house.

 

[CableJockey]

Chlorine dioxide.
Used to work at a detail shop and anything that had weird lingering odors after cleaning got bombed with the stuff for a full day.
Usually worked pretty good... But not what anyone should consider "safe": we were using it in much higher concentrations that listed on the label. For example: "treats up to 400 Sq ft" translated to "use two in a sedan"!

 

[Instigatr]

I bought a 93 corolla once that I swear had 4 people smoking like a freight train inside with the windows up and on recirculate. Asked a detail shop what they did and here's the answer. Take a 11x13 cake pan, pour about 1/2" of white vinegar in it. Place on floorboard, windows up. Leave at least 24 hours. I did this, except I placed 2 pans inside and left them for 48 hours. Bingo! Smell gone, even on hot summer days. Granted it smelled like vinegar for a few days, but never smelled the smoke again. Now as far as getting all the tar and such out? Good luck there...
Aaron