My teenage daughter left a twist top plastic bottle of milk in my rear floorboard and some of it soaked into the carpet before I realized it. I have tried EVERY type of cleaner I can come up with and am now researching replacing the carpet. I now see that Acura carpet is not as prevalent and hard to find. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

 

Why are you looking to replace it? Is the odor still there? Have you done a hot water extraction? If the smell is still there that means there is still milk in and under the carpet. Best way to get it out is to extract it. If it's stained, what is the carpet color?

 

All good questions -

OP depending on how handy you are or aren't you could always have your car detailed. Probably not a bad idea anyway after the winter we have had. A good detail shop will be able to steam clean your carpeting and should be able to help you out.

 

The carpet is Grey. I have not done a hot water extraction. I have tried Baking Soda, all sorts of carpet cleaners, and a small hand held wet vac type cleaner. Would a detail shop be able to do hot water extraction? There are a few other stains in the carpet but the main issue is the faint smell.

 

You can rent the Green Machine cleaner from Lowe's for about $60 w/ the top-line cleaner, which will need to be performed in multiple, MULTIPLE passes to get this out, but it will work.

Don't wait on this. Your car will REEK like $5 hooker cooter if the temps start to rise (I speak from personal experience...save the hooker cooter part. I usually go for the $17 ones)

 

Personally, I'd hire a good detailer- you could either get the whole car done or just the interior- it shouldn't cost more than $60-80 for the interior detail with the carpet cleaning. It beats replacing the carpet at a lot more cost.

 

Well I guess she could use a good through cleaning inside and out so will start there

 

You can use a rug doctor with a wand attachment. Usually run you about 30 bucks total. Hot water from your sink is all you need. The baking soda might take care of the odor, but it will leave the residue which could very well continue to smell. Rug doctor sells some pretty good chemicals too that will probably take care of it, but if you don't have other things to clean as well, it might be cheaper to have someone else do it. Let us kniw what you do and how it goes.

 

Please get that out asap. I left a sealed cup of coffee ( with milk ) in my Jeep last summer (90+ degrees ) for over three weeks. It had rolled under a seat and I had forgotten about it . I noticed a smell one day that kind of reminded me of Parmesan cheese, in a bad way, so I went looking around, and somehow , it had built up so much pressure it had started oozing out. My dumb self opened the lid, and it shot out everywhere, spraying this nasty, curdled , white goo with a smell that made me want to burn the car down , all over me, the car, and everything around. Moral of the story : Get the milk out of any car.

 

Let's try this from a different vantage point - you only have two real options here. You've spilled a milk protein, which now induces a lovely process we all know as fermentation. All the cleaners in the world are only going to minimize or mask the reaction until it has fully fermented and decomposed. You can only use 1 or 2 methods to fully remove the odor.

1.) LIQUID EXTRACTION - You need to use a wand attachment on a rug cleaner

2.) ENZYME NEUTRALIZATION - You can use vinegar, which of course beings it's own host of olfactory offenses, or use a product known as Nature's Miracle, which breaks down the enzymes that are causing the offensive scent.

Cleaner's WON'T solve this issue unless they contain an agent that can neutralize decomposition of the caesin proteins.

If you're going to use a minimalist approach, Nature's Miracle should do the trick.

 

The cheapest option would be to use a product like Nature's Miracle, as Deathmetal mentioned.

Liquid Extraction will get the milk out too and you could also get the rest of the car done at the same time.

 

GROUPON! I am serious. I just recently found a very affordable deal for a total detail of my car and it removed all of my hard to get stains.

 

try vinegar with water. Distill 1 qt vinegar with 2-3 qt water, spray it over the stains and let it soak for 10 min, then spray more clean water and dry it with towel.

 

DeathMetal FTW !

Stop by a pet place and get some Nature's Miracle. As a dog owner I'm never without the stuff. It's not the most elegant way but it should work. Car may smell like Nature's Miracle for a while but that's far better than the "vomit" smell of milk in a car.

DO NOT try any use anything like Fabreeze. All that will do is make your car smell like a cheap tart trying to perfume over something malodorous. Sorta like perfume on a cigarette smoker. (holds his nose)