I have a friend that asked if I can see about "deodorizing" his car...I said I can see if I can do something, but truly, idk what to do...he said it is just an old car, and his teenage sons...but he wanted to see if the smell can be REMOVED...? I am guessing I should try shampooing the carpets, wiping everything down, etc, and then spraying some fragrances...but what else could I try?
There is a product by Chemical Guys called "offensive odor eliminator" that may be a good option for you. It's like $7.45 for a concentrated 16 oz bottle. Maybe some of the guys on this forum can give some feedback on the effectiveness of this product since I haven't used it yet.
Kill it from the source. It may be mildew from damp trunk liner, a smelly evaporator core, or stale food.
"and his teenage sons...but he wanted to see if the smell can be REMOVED." tell them too shower, and change their clothes....... Seriously, Fabreeze can help.
Could be the foam cores of the seats.. depending on what the car is and where/when it was driven you may be dealing with a serious case of "booty funk" going on in the foam.
The worst part about it is having to use 1 of those 5 senses to locate the smell... I can't do that lol.
As suggested -Identify its source and remove it, a counteractant like Fabreeze will only cover it up, to return later Most odours are caused by bacteria and unless you are able to neutralise the bacteria that is causing the odour it will continue to smell. Without identifying and eliminating the source of the odour / mould you can't get rid of it, there are many products that mask odours; what you need to do is remove and clean and thoroughly dry the whole area; carpets (inc rubber backing), upholstery (inc foam and etc) that is affected, including the headliner and metal floor pan (don’t forget to clean/replace the cabin air filter). Use Aquartz - So2Pure (CleanAir), Titanium dioxide or titania ( TiO2) a photo catalyst treatment is not a perfume cover-up type product; but an advanced high grade air purification coating based on the latest nano-science technology, and possibly the most effective treatment for odours thus far. In the presence of light, active oxygen is formed and excited on the treated surfaces to destroy all micro-sized air pollutants, including petro fumes, smog, diesel smoke, exhaust gases, industrial smoke, chemical off-gassing or volatile organic compounds (VOC) from car fabric, leather and plastic materials, air toxins, cigarette odours, etc.
I just cleaned the inside of my car with a bunch of products and made the interior of my car smell like it is brand new again. But then again, I went over everything (practically). 1z plastic deep cleaner over every surface plastic... (quite a bit in my car), followed by 1z cockpit premium. that made it smell tons better already just because those two products have fairly strong smells. Then I went over all the seats with adam's carpet and upholstery cleaner, and did my driver's carpet with it too (only that one because the other carpets don't get traffic). I say, if you can't locate the source (or don't want to), just clean the entire thing. Most likely it would be the seats just because of sweat and other things most people won't like to read. Other than that, floor mats and carpet hold water and mildew pretty well, so I say clean all those. If the air-con smells bad, pick up some cleaner for it. If you have a carpet cleaning machine/shampooing machine, go for it. Other wise, I recommend Adam's carpet and upholstery cleaner. It takes a bit of scrubbing with a hard brush to get the tough stuff out, but it is honestly very quick and easy. And I bet it is a lot cheaper than getting a machine to do it.
