cleaning the carpet

[Brett Dikeman]

On May 12, 2006, at 10:10 PM, DeWitt Harrison wrote:

> I've got all my seats out to run new battery wire and new
> sound system wiring. (The old cable splice issue and the
> problem of ensuring plenty of juice for the amps in the rear
> have both been solved with a continuous run of 1/0 cable,
> front to battery.) This seems like the perfect time to
> rilly, rilly clean the carpet. I would be very grateful to
> hear of methods that have worked well for folks.

What worked really, really well on the 200q20v recently (without  
removing any carpet):

1)Quick pass with the vacuum

2)Used a wide (half inch by 2 inch, roughly) somewhat stiff (think  
vegetable brush/nail brush?) that came with a firehose-style nozzle I  
bought at the auto parts store to brush the carpet in the direction  
of a vacuum nozzle in close proximity; I worked from one side to the  
other.  On black carpet, this lifted all the little white bits of  
fuzz, and the brush also sends any embedded dirt flying.  This also  
works really, really well on the fuzzy door seals which seem to  
attract lint all the time.

3)Put a couple ounces of Lysol into one of those big "janitor" grade  
spraybottles and hose down all the carpet.  Let it soak for a bit,  
then rub down with towels.  Repeat until the towels come up clean- 
looking.  You can also follow up with some regular water+rubbing to  
kill off the lysol smell.  If you use distilled water in your mix,  
you won't end up with as much problems with the carpet feeling matted/ 
stiff afterwards.

4)brush the carpet after it has dried

I've been considering running new battery wire; how much of a pain  
was it to get to everything?

Brett