How do I get salt stains out of my car's carpet?

Question

They are pretty thick stains, lots of built up salt. It won't dissolve helP!

Answer 1

You'll need to have a good, powerful "wet/dry vac" (vacuum) on hand. Borrow one from a friend, rent one, or check around at your local coin-op self serve car wash places.

Get a pail and put about two of quarts of hot water in with a teaspoon of liquid laundry detergent (Tide) so you've got mild soapy hot water. Use a heavy duty scrub brush and sop a pint or so of the soapy water all over the area you want to clean. Scrub vigorously to loosen and dissolve the stain.

Then use the vac hose to extract as much as possible out of the carpet. Repeat soapy water treatment again if necessary, then suck out the dirty water again.

Once you have done this, most of the stain should be gone... or at least significantly reduced.

Next, pour about a cup of vinegar (yes, vinegar!) all over where the salt stain was. Let stand several minutes, then vacuum it out.

Voila, salt stain is gone, your car smells like a pickle and you can empty, clean and return the vac. Don't worry, the vinegar smell will disappear when the carpet dries.

Just make sure you extract as much fluid as you possibly can between stages and especially on your final extraction of vinegar.

Get some carpet samples or floor mats before next winter! :-)