Black carpet with tan interior??

Ok well I've been cleaning the new car out for about 3 days now. It appears the last owner was a complete and utter slob more so than I had thought when I bought the car. I knew it needed cleaning but this thing is just flat out disgusting.

Anyway, I've been scrubbing at the carpet as best I can and using a Little Green carpet machine and its still not getting the stains out completely. Here is a before and after picture of the passenger side with seat removed.

Before:


After:


The driver’s side is worse. I'm a clean freak so the stains are driving me crazy. I was playing with the idea of staining the carpet black to cover all the stains but wasn't sure how it would look with the rest of the tan interior. I've done this before on another car but the whole interior was black so it worked out just fine.

Has anyone done that before and if not how do you think it will look? Ya or nay?

I've done something similar with my old '88 Bonneville SSE. The interior was gray but the carpet, similarly, was stained BADLY. So I replaced it with black Lesabre T-type carpet that I had from a rotted parts car. Looked good with the gray panels and seats. However...

In your situation, I personally don't think black carpet would look good. Simply because the car appears to be green (is that correct?). If it were up to me, I would leave the carpet tan, stained as it may be, simply for other surrounding aesthetics. Again, this is an opinion, but if it were my car and I opened the door, I don't know that I'd want to see black on the floor.

On ANOTHER note (I know I'm ranting, I'll stop soon), I always liked black with tan. Just not with a green car lol. Hope that helps the decision a bit!

you might want to make a solution of "Iron Out" and see if it bleaches the carpet (usually, No) and if not, use it in a solution of warm water to get rid of those restcolor stains in the passenger footwell areas. Be sure to follow label directions and dont mix it with other stuff except as permitted on the label (fumes). "Iron Out" is usually available at larger hardware stores, WalMart, larger grocery stores. DO NOT use CLR or Whink (when you read their labels you'll see what I mean).

You've done excellent job cleaning up the carpet and I think that with some 'specialty chemicals' you'l get it clean all the way. I think professional "spray on" dyes are still available to redye areas that get bleached in cleaning. Don't know where to get 'em though.

for replacement carpet see accmats.com. I bought a replacement carpet for a Volvo 740 from them some years ago, it was great. Be sure to get it with their padding (included) and be aware they will leave *no* room for installation error. Also be aware that the may not show the carpet on their web site, you may have to call them. Most likely a carpet for a different G body (aurora?) would fit. They would know.

Albertj

If you can't get the stains out you can try to find SEM dye in a similiar color. You can get it from eastwood.com.

Z-type wrote:

I've done something similar with my old '88 Bonneville SSE. The interior was gray but the carpet, similarly, was stained BADLY. So I replaced it with black Lesabre T-type carpet that I had from a rotted parts car. Looked good with the gray panels and seats. However...

In your situation, I personally don't think black carpet would look good. Simply because the car appears to be green (is that correct?). If it were up to me, I would leave the carpet tan, stained as it may be, simply for other surrounding aesthetics. Again, this is an opinion, but if it were my car and I opened the door, I don't know that I'd want to see black on the floor.

On ANOTHER note (I know I'm ranting, I'll stop soon), I always liked black with tan. Just not with a green car lol. Hope that helps the decision a bit!

LOL, thanks for the reply. I think you've only confused me more! J/K. Yes the car is the teal green color and I've never considered how that combo would look. Hmmm, more thinking ahead.

albertj wrote:

you might want to make a solution of "Iron Out" and see if it bleaches the carpet (usually, No) and if not, use it in a solution of warm water to get rid of those restcolor stains in the passenger footwell areas. Be sure to follow label directions and dont mix it with other stuff except as permitted on the label (fumes). "Iron Out" is usually available at larger hardware stores, WalMart, larger grocery stores. DO NOT use CLR or Whink (when you read their labels you'll see what I mean).

You've done excellent job cleaning up the carpet and I think that with some 'specialty chemicals' you'l get it clean all the way. I think professional "spray on" dyes are still available to redye areas that get bleached in cleaning. Don't know where to get 'em though.

for replacement carpet see accmats.com. I bought a replacement carpet for a Volvo 740 from them some years ago, it was great. Be sure to get it with their padding (included) and be aware they will leave *no* room for installation error. Also be aware that the may not show the carpet on their web site, you may have to call them. Most likely a carpet for a different G body (aurora?) would fit. They would know.

Albertj

Thanks, I've been working my butt off to clean every part of the interior. I even srubbed the headliner because some how they stained that too. I think they left a bottle of soda in the car on a hot day and it exploded...geez. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll pick up some of that Iron Out stuff and see how it works. I'm not so much worried about under the seat because I won't see that. I'll have to take a look at accmats.com if all else fails. Thanks for the heads up!!

Jack the R wrote:

If you can't get the stains out you can try to find SEM dye in a similiar color. You can get it from eastwood.com.

Hmmm, I'll have to check that out also. Thanks for the suggestion. Its going to have to be something soon. I want to get to the driving part of this deal!

I would def just dye the carpet. We used to do it in situations like this all the time when we had a used car on the lot with stained light colored carpet

looks like you found a nice tresure under the seat...


hmm i remember that someone did it once in this forum..painted the carpet black.
but cant remember where the pictures are. It will defendly make the car darker inside.

If you do go to a black carpet... pics! I would like to see it.
I have been thinking about painting my dash top and maybe more, but not sure how it would look as, obviously, mine is white....

dye wont cover the stains. your best bet is to have it pro cleaned with a powerful steam clean. but before you take it to them douse the area with naphtha and scrub the hell out of her. then follow with soap and water.

rhinofla did it i think

ok. but those stains look like ice cream. they can be removed.

try tuff stuff, seems to work really well on stains for me !!!

BrianEsser wrote:

I would def just dye the carpet. We used to do it in situations like this all the time when we had a used car on the lot with stained light colored carpet

That is an idea but I wasn't sure the light colored dye would cover up the dark stains. Especially that red stain. I'll have to try a test spot.

Snowdog wrote:

looks like you found a nice tresure under the seat...

hmm i remember that someone did it once in this forum..painted the carpet black.
but cant remember where the pictures are. It will defendly make the car darker inside.

That one seat produced $2.36 in change and about four pens. Totaly cash count is around $7.00 in change and about 15 pens. Complete and utter mess.

Hmm, I'd like to see those pics

#1BearsFan wrote:

If you do go to a black carpet... pics! I would like to see it.
I have been thinking about painting my dash top and maybe more, but not sure how it would look as, obviously, mine is white....

I'll def post up pics if and when I do that. I'd rather not but if it makes the interior look cleaner than so be it.

robotennis61 wrote:

dye wont cover the stains. your best bet is to have it pro cleaned with a powerful steam clean. but before you take it to them douse the area with naphtha and scrub the hell out of her. then follow with soap and water.

I was wondering if the dye would completely cover the stains or not. Naptha is nasty stuff, wouldn't that mess with the color even more?

robotennis61 wrote:

ok. but those stains look like ice cream. they can be removed.

I have no idea what that red shit is. Its not chunky just stained good. Kool Aid perhaps?

maximum wrote:

try tuff stuff, seems to work really well on stains for me !!!

Funny you mention that. I LOVE Tuff Stuff and that is what I've been using on the interior panels followed by some Armor All. Tuff Stuff works awesome on just about everything but it didn't do so hot on the carpet. It worked decent but the Bissell Deep Cleaning Pre treatment produced better results.

naphtha is fairly safe. just dont leave it on too long before rinsing. scrub first with S/water then naphtha and again with S/water. should come out. you have to identify the "red" first. if its ice cream,hot water should loosen it up....

Ok, thanks for the heads up.

Ya def not ice cream because I've scrubbed that to death already with hot cleaning solvent from the carpet cleaner and it barely came up any.

Found the link with the painted carpet. Def looks good on the grey interior IMO but not sure how it would look with the Tan. Wish I had photoshop skillz.

https://rivperformance.editboard.com/interior-f20/spoil-the-rivi-day-painted-carpet-t2638.htm?highlight=carpet

It looks to me like the interior in the link you provided is Tan.???

That's does look like a tan interior.

Hmm..perhaps it is. Not sure why my first view looked like grey. Good news for me since I liked the look.