tobindia

My wife spilled coffee on the floor of our 2014 RX. It has beige (I think it was called parchment.) carpet. The grey floor mat cleaned up fine, but what splashed onto the carpet was a problem. I was not able to get it out myself with a wet cloth, and much to my dismay, the car wash people couldn't get it out either. They suggested that they paint it. That was frightening, but it worked beautifully. My question now is: How can I prevent this from happening again? (I know, I can not allow coffee in the car, but that ain't gonna happen!) Is there some sort of protector that I can use? Failing that, is there something that I should do besides the "wet cloth" routine?

zmcgovern4

iTrader: (2)

They painted it? That is not ideal... if the stain remains, then so does the coffee.

Removing stains is all about understanding what produced the stain and then finding the right chemical to counteract the stain. In your case, it was easy... you knew exactly what caused the stain, so a little research should have led to some easy solutions for removing coffee stains... not just a wet towel. A generic carpet cleaner would have likely removed the stain when it was fresh.

The majority of stains can be summed up to Proteins and Tannin (there are others, of course)... examples of protein stains: milk, food, organic matter, vomit, blood, grass, juice and urine.... examples of tannin stains: coffee, tea, cola, natural colored fruit juices, grease, oil and smokers tar.

Meguiar's has 2 great products that are specifically created to deal with these 2 groups of stains... Meguiar's Pro Fiber Rinse & Tannin Stain Remover D106 & Meguiar's Pro Protein Stain Remover D116.



As far as stain prevention, you can apply some protection to your carpets to help resist deep staining. 303 Fabric Guard is a quick and easy way to apply a water repellent barrier to carpets and other fabric surfaces to help resist stains temporarily.

-Zach

eknine9

iTrader: (8)

Cheap solution for carpet stains is folex.

zmcgovern4

iTrader: (2)

Definitely a good call.... this product has a big following in the detailing industry because it is readily available at local hardware stores and works on the majority of regular stains.

-Zach