A friend of mine just bought a "pre-owned" RX and the inside has the smell of cigarette smoke. When she first bought it, she didn't seem to notice it (much), but now as the weather is warming up, it is very strong. I went outside today to see for myself and she wasn't kidding.

She said that Lexus has shampoo / cleaned the carpets and the mats, and put in a new air filter but it is still noticible. I suggested that maybe it is in the headliner.

Is there something out there that can get rid of this smell for her?

She has tried fabreze, leaving the windows open while it's in the garage and even one of those car "plug-ins", but nothing seems to work.

Any advice would be greatly appreicated.

Chris

 

Here is some feedback from what others at Autopia have had success with,

http://www.autopia.org/forums/showth...cigarette+odor


http://www.autopia.org/forums/showth...cigarette+odor

May want to check into an odor bomb; http://www.topoftheline.com/odbomairvens.html

IMO< you have to attack it by manually cleaning the rug, seats, door panels and headliner physically with a product like 'Kids & Pets Brand Stain and Odor Eliminator' which kills the microbial growth, then use one of the odor bombs afterwards. No matter which method you choose, it will be a lot of work, no way around it. Concentrate on the headliner, but make sure you use only a faoming cleaner, don't use any wet spray product, as it could loosen the glue that holds the fabric on.

There are plenty of tips used by others there at Autopia though, so try the ones that appeal to you and your budget. I haven't had to do a lot of it myself actually, and when i did I used a combination of things, but always started with an extractor ( hot water shampooer) on the rugs and seats (if cloth) and a cleaning of all other surfaces too, including Blue Coral foaming upholstery cleaner on the headliner. Then finally a product called Ozium. The hardest part is that you really should take the seats out to get everywhere under them. I think you can get *most* of it out that way. 99%.

Then, there's aways a detail shop or car dealership that will do it professionally, with an ozone generator. They have pro's and con's though, so you might want to leave that as a last resort on a car you want to keep.
Good luck.

 

Thanks Guitarman for your response. I pass on the information to my friend. She feels Lexus she take care of this more then her having to do it herself - just her opinion.

Chris

 

Any luck with getting the smell out?