Kieran
14-04-2008, 01:01 AM
Urgh. :sick2: Nearly all my Galants have been owned by a smoker at some point in their lives. Each of them has suffered with vile deposits of ash, tar and nicotine stains untill I've attacked the foul stuff. Without going off on one about smoking, I think the smell of a 'smoker' car is one of the worst smells there is! :sick2:
My GLSi is 17 years old and has one previous owner. Yes, the previous owner bought the car new. And then he smoked in it! :veryangry :sick2:
uploaded/326/1208127901.jpg
So, without further ado, this weekend I set out to banish the smell from my new purchase. I've spent the ENTIRE weekend removing, scrubbing, steam cleaning, wiping and spraying every surface in the car - I think I've got it beat but we shall see!
Here's a few 'Before' shots for you....
This is the overhead console - I never knew Mitsubishi fitted BROWN lights!!:speechles
uploaded/326/1208128284.jpg
One of the grab handles....:inquisiti
uploaded/326/1208128641.jpg
The stereo. The original owner eschewed the 'Ash Wood' effect facia in favour of the 'Ash Tray' effect!!/pan
uploaded/326/1208128518.jpg
You get the general idea, right? The car hummed./pan Every plastic surface had a coating of dust and fag ash, every upholstered surface (carpets, seats, headliing, door trims) had ingrained nicotine. It was truly horrible.
This picture though, illustrates the nastyness of smoking in a more stark fashion. Over the rear view mirror was a an extra wide overlay mirror. This sat over the existing mirror and was held to it by a couple of elasticated straps. I took this overlay off and here's the result. Where the elastic straps had sat, the plastic had been spared the nastyness... :skull:
uploaded/326/1208129156.jpg
:sick2:
So, the cleanup began. Or rather it didn't. Most of Saturday was spend dismantling the interior. No, not just removing the seats - all of it, bar the dashboard and the door cards. Every other bit of trim came out - Carpets, headlining, trim panels, boot panels..... the lot!!
uploaded/326/1208129429.jpg
uploaded/326/1208129465.jpg
With the interior out, I could wipe clean the chassis (you'd be surprised how much tar and smoke crap finds its way here!) and then begin the process of scrubbing, steaming, shampooing, steaming, scrubbing, steaming, wiping, shampooing........................................ ...............
Given the inclement weather on Saturday, coupled with Alex going out shopping meant that the spare room became KieranCorp decontamination area #1!! /Devil5
Carpet before:
uploaded/326/1208130175.jpguploaded/326/1208130205.jpg
And after:
uploaded/326/1208130243.jpg
The headlining stank. No, really. Within 30mins of bringing it into the house, the spare room also smelt like an old smelly car too!/pan This picture shows why.... This is a piece of white kitchen paper. The headlining had been sprayed with cleaner, scrubbed, steamed to lift the muck out of the fibres and then wiped. I then passed over it with this piece of kitchen paper to see how much more grot remained.....
uploaded/326/1208130422.jpg
The headling took a while, funnily enough..../Grrr :sick2: Makes you wonder what the previous owner's lungs must look like!!:speechles :speechles :skull:
Anyhow.... Here's a few pictures as the car went back together. No official 'After' pictures just yet as although the car is back together, I still have things to do, such as clean the glass - And I haven't even started the exterior of the car yet!!:speechles :inquisiti Oh and as per bloody usual my camera vampired its batteries and I haven't any spares!/pan
Oh look! it's like a new overhead console!!:sunny:
uploaded/326/1208130715.jpg
The seats - They're grey and have a good velour pile to them!:afro:
uploaded/326/1208130787.jpg
And finally a shot as the interior was being reconstructed. Looks better already!
uploaded/326/1208130837.jpg
So yeah, that was my weekend!!/pan Worth it though - The interior now looks and smells like a GLS should! :smug:
My GLSi is 17 years old and has one previous owner. Yes, the previous owner bought the car new. And then he smoked in it! :veryangry :sick2:
uploaded/326/1208127901.jpg
So, without further ado, this weekend I set out to banish the smell from my new purchase. I've spent the ENTIRE weekend removing, scrubbing, steam cleaning, wiping and spraying every surface in the car - I think I've got it beat but we shall see!
Here's a few 'Before' shots for you....
This is the overhead console - I never knew Mitsubishi fitted BROWN lights!!:speechles
uploaded/326/1208128284.jpg
One of the grab handles....:inquisiti
uploaded/326/1208128641.jpg
The stereo. The original owner eschewed the 'Ash Wood' effect facia in favour of the 'Ash Tray' effect!!/pan
uploaded/326/1208128518.jpg
You get the general idea, right? The car hummed./pan Every plastic surface had a coating of dust and fag ash, every upholstered surface (carpets, seats, headliing, door trims) had ingrained nicotine. It was truly horrible.
This picture though, illustrates the nastyness of smoking in a more stark fashion. Over the rear view mirror was a an extra wide overlay mirror. This sat over the existing mirror and was held to it by a couple of elasticated straps. I took this overlay off and here's the result. Where the elastic straps had sat, the plastic had been spared the nastyness... :skull:
uploaded/326/1208129156.jpg
:sick2:
So, the cleanup began. Or rather it didn't. Most of Saturday was spend dismantling the interior. No, not just removing the seats - all of it, bar the dashboard and the door cards. Every other bit of trim came out - Carpets, headlining, trim panels, boot panels..... the lot!!
uploaded/326/1208129429.jpg
uploaded/326/1208129465.jpg
With the interior out, I could wipe clean the chassis (you'd be surprised how much tar and smoke crap finds its way here!) and then begin the process of scrubbing, steaming, shampooing, steaming, scrubbing, steaming, wiping, shampooing........................................ ...............
Given the inclement weather on Saturday, coupled with Alex going out shopping meant that the spare room became KieranCorp decontamination area #1!! /Devil5
Carpet before:
uploaded/326/1208130175.jpguploaded/326/1208130205.jpg
And after:
uploaded/326/1208130243.jpg
The headlining stank. No, really. Within 30mins of bringing it into the house, the spare room also smelt like an old smelly car too!/pan This picture shows why.... This is a piece of white kitchen paper. The headlining had been sprayed with cleaner, scrubbed, steamed to lift the muck out of the fibres and then wiped. I then passed over it with this piece of kitchen paper to see how much more grot remained.....
uploaded/326/1208130422.jpg
The headling took a while, funnily enough..../Grrr :sick2: Makes you wonder what the previous owner's lungs must look like!!:speechles :speechles :skull:
Anyhow.... Here's a few pictures as the car went back together. No official 'After' pictures just yet as although the car is back together, I still have things to do, such as clean the glass - And I haven't even started the exterior of the car yet!!:speechles :inquisiti Oh and as per bloody usual my camera vampired its batteries and I haven't any spares!/pan
Oh look! it's like a new overhead console!!:sunny:
uploaded/326/1208130715.jpg
The seats - They're grey and have a good velour pile to them!:afro:
uploaded/326/1208130787.jpg
And finally a shot as the interior was being reconstructed. Looks better already!
uploaded/326/1208130837.jpg
So yeah, that was my weekend!!/pan Worth it though - The interior now looks and smells like a GLS should! :smug: