You probably spend a lot of time in your car getting to where you need to be every day. And if you have a car that smells really bad, there’s no question that it completely sucks the enjoyment out of your daily drive – to the point where you might find yourself looking for the perfect spot to abandon your vehicle.
Sure, you could use an air freshener, but air fresheners only mask the smell, and they don’t fix the problem. You’ll need to target the stinky smells right at the source – here’s how to do so.
The Source of The Odor?
When it comes to cars, smells are one of the first indications that something is off with the system. For example, if you have any sweet smells – that’s an antifreeze leak, or if you have a burning smell – that could be a problem with overheated brake pads or an overheated clutch. All of these smells should be diagnosed properly by a professional mechanic.
However, we’ll focus on bad garbage smells for this article. Here are some possible reasons why your car smells bad:
- Dogs
There’s nothing more enjoyable than taking your canine companion with you on little adventures – at the beach, or in the countryside.
However, the fur and sweat on your dog collect and traps all the dirt, mud, sand, and leaves that are hard to clean off.
When your dog hops back into the car after your trip, more often than not, all this sweaty residue comes off onto your seat and carpet causing smelly odors.
- Rubbish in car
Got a nasty smell of rotting fruit or meat? Then the reason is most probably exactly what it smells like. Do a complete check of your entire car, under the seats, and in the nooks and crannies. You might find decomposing food items that are causing the offensive odors.
- Wet, sweaty seats
Football, soccer, tennis, basketball – all these activities really make you break out in a complete sweat. Although it’s healthy for your body, it’s not exactly good for your car seats if you start driving off when you’re still drenched in sweat.
Your car seat fabrics absorb all of this sweat, and when it dries up, it sticks to the car seat, quickly turning your sweet-smelling four-wheeler into an airtight cabin that smells like an old gym sock.
- Carpet odor
As you’re walking, you step on all kinds of things every day. The soles of your shoes tend to pick up spills, food residue, leaves, and other items that you may not notice on the floor.
Once you get back into the car, these things that you step on get transferred to the carpet, especially food liquids which may cause some seriously funky carpet odors over time.
Interior Detailing vs. DIY
If you want to remove these odors and deep clean your car, you’ll want to do some interior detailing. Most people send their cars to professional detailers, but you can also do it yourself – to an extent.
- Cost to pay for a pro vs doing it myself
If you want to do some interior detailing by yourself, you’ll need to invest in some basic gear. This will cost you anything from $5 to $50, and a couple of hours on the weekend, or whenever you have free time.
A professional car detail can cost $50 for the most basic wash, up to $2500 or more for super high-end detailing.
- Where to rent a carpet cleaner?
If you’re planning to vacuum up the interior of your car, but don’t have a powerful enough vacuum cleaner in your home, you can rent one. Stores like HomeDepot offer carpet cleaner rentals that start from around $30 a day.
These carpet cleaners are specifically designed to work well with the car and home carpets, with wet and dry functions that deep clean soft fabric surfaces, killing all unwanted odors in the process.
Method for Removing Garbage Smell From Car
If you’re doing a full cleanup inside your car, you’ll want to start early on a sunny day. This ensures the carpets and fabrics in your car can dry out fully before being used again.
First, you’ll want to actually remove all the seats inside your car. This makes it so much easier to reach and clean up every single nook and cranny inside your vehicle. You also get to clean your seats individually and dry them out completely in the sun, removing as much odor as possible.
Next, use your carpet cleaner and do a complete vacuum of the entire floor area of your car, making sure there is no residue left.
Pick up big pieces of rubbish and throw them away by hand. Alternate between wet and dry cycles to ensure your carpets are 100% clean and odor-free.
Check and vacuum the trunk as well, to ensure no odors seep into the interior from the trunk of your car.
Then use your carpet cleaner on your car seats, and repeat the process. If your car seats are leather, then wipe them down with an appropriate leather cleaning solution, and condition them with leather conditioner.
Finally, take a cloth, dip it in some soapy water, and wipe down every single solid area in your car – things like your dash, doors, handbrake, steering wheel, and glove compartment. Let it dry out to remove any smells.
Once everything is dry, piece everything back together again and you now have a clean, odor-free vehicle.
What Tools Do I Need to Remove the Smell?
You’ll need a professional standard carpet cleaner, like a Rug Doctor or equivalent. Also, some basic tools to remove the seats from your car – most seats use a Torx screw head, so try and get one if you can.
Other than that, you won’t need any other specific tools. You can just use what you can find in your household cleaning materials, like cloth and soap water.
How to Prevent the Smell From Coming Back
To prevent bad odors from coming back into your car after you’ve cleaned it, you can use charcoal bags, which are commonly used in wardrobes or closets in home settings as well.
Charcoal is known as a strong odor absorber, and it also removes moisture from the interior of your car, ensuring that any bacteria, allergens, and stale odors don’t linger around.
It is also odorless, which means you won’t have the same worries as when you’re trying to choose the perfect air freshener smell for your car.
Ensure that you keep your car clean from any debris, rubbish, or sweat that will stick to the soft surfaces in your car and cause new smelly odors to emerge.
Final Thoughts
Driving on the open roads should be an enjoyable experience, and not one marred by the unbearable smell of garbage or any strange odors that cause you stress and discomfort.
By ensuring that your car is deep cleaned regularly, not getting into the car when you’re still drenched in sweat, or cleaning up your dog thoroughly before they get back into the car seat after a big day out, you reduce the chance of bad smells accumulating in the car to the point where they become a much bigger problem to tackle.
