Hi guys, Amateur here. My mom purchased a 2006 Rav4 off of my friend who's mom had passed away. It was his mom's car. She was a lifetime smoker. We have thoroughly cleaned the car, but there's still a lingering smoke smell. The car has leather seats. I'm suspecting the headliner has a ton of residue left in it. We want to totally remove the smell. I have cleaned the carpets with my little Bissel cleaner. No stains or anything there. What is the best way to remove the smell/residue from a headliner? I mean, worst case scenario, I find a new headliner, but I'd rather not go through the trouble of removing it. Also, about 14 years ago (High school), I worked at a Radio Shack that was attached to a car repair place. They had a spray that ACTUALLY smelled like a new car smell. I cannot find anything about it online. Any ideas?
I've seen a few people use steam machines as a way to release the odors and help with fabric cleaners.
I have had the same problem, all the cloth surfaces, headliner, pillars and carpet all smelled of stale smoke, I used a steam cleaner( test a small spot, as there was some staining) and Febreze carpet and furniture spray. It worked for me, Hope this helps.
I was just reading about this subject on another forum and they recommend steam and a ozone generator. You can get a ozone generator from Amazon.
Hi guys, I realize this is an older post but we just released a product that tackles this exact issue. We have a new product called CleanFresh and it's a ready to use (RTU) cleaner that contains odor absorbers that can remove the smell of smoke and nicotine. It can be used on a variety of surfaces including plastic and upholstery. More details on CleanFresh here. If you have any questions about this let me know. If you're interested in trying it, please PM me.
In a hopeless attempt to purge the miazma, I liberally sprayed and scrubbed the interior with every upholstery cleaner, air freshener and scented cleaning product I could find. The end result was that instead of smelling like a decommissioned third class railway carriage unlocked for the first time after a month in the sun, it now smelt like a decommissioned third class railway carriage unlocked for the first time after a month in the sun, with an elderly dead prostitute in it….
