Cleaning Products Review: Do It Yourself Carpet/Upholstery Shampooing

The Vitals:

I'm not going to base this review on any brand of machine in particular, rather I'm going to review the process of shampooing upholstery/carpet as a whole.

The machine I used was the Rug Doctor Widetrack Steam Carpet Cleaning Machine. What a long name, yes I know. Although I don't have anything else to compare it to, it worked great, was very easy to use, and did an excellent job getting most of the crap out of my car upholstery. For what little information I have on these machines, I'd definitely recommend this machine.

The Sorty:

It was a cold and smelly...car. Yes, my car stank. I bought a 1991 Honda Accord for $2800CDN, so you know it's gonna stink. It is also covered in rust, but that is another Sorty (upcoming review on rust removal anyone??).

So, after owning the car for 2 weeks, I realized that the seats were disgusting, the trunk smelled like a dead rat exploded inside a garbage truck full of socks worn by that Numa Numa kid, and the carpets actually had little tiny smelly giraffes, tigers and hyenas farting all over them. Ok, well not the last part, but it was really horrible.

I started looking around for a car upholstery shampooing company. I found lots. Everyone wanted between $150 and $200 just for the seats and the trunk, not including the floor carpets.

I almost gave in to paying the $150, when my hot woman suggested that we rent a shampooing machine from the grocery store. My response was "What the frick?" (in my head of course...I don't want to be beaten up by an angry hot woman). I never knew that grocery stores rented shampooers. I looked into this insane proposition, and what do you know?? My hot woman isn't insane! It's true...and cheap!

I rented the machine (3 day rental) and bought the bottle of soap all for around $50 (+$25 refundable deposit). That is a bargain.

I took my new toy home, and prepared my car for the task. I vaccumed the whole car out, took all the crap out, and opened all the doors. I then added my soap and water to the machine, plugged it into an extension cord connected to my condo, and kablamo! My car exploded..........into a cleaning party!

The hardest part of the whole thing is bending over, pressing the handle firmly (to let the soap out), and pulling slooooowly across the material, while pressing as deep as you can. Man, it was tiring. I finished the whole trunk, the rear seats, rear carpets, and front carpets in about 2 hours. I left the two front seats for the next day, since I was meeting a friend that evening and didn't want to force him (and myself) to sit on wet seats.

.

All in all, it took me about 3 hours to finish the whole car. The water in the shampoo machine was almost black from the horrid sludge that was removed from my upholstery. It was such a beautiful sight.

The machine is due back tonight, so Im going to do the whole car over again before I take it back, just to make sure the whole car is as clean as I can get it.

.

I must say, it is such a wonderful feeling to get into a previously filthy car and know that you are now sitting in a deep-cleaned environment. I also polished all plastics and (fake) leathers with Lysol Disinfecting Wipes, and then sprayed every inch of the car down with Febreeze Anti-Bacterial. Did someone say overkill?

In conclusion, I strongly recommend that anyone who wants to have the interior of their car deep cleaned due to a stain they spilled, or because their car is old and gross, should go rent a machine from a grocery store and do it yourself. You will save a pile of of money, you will know that you did a thorough job, and you will realize that, if you were the one charging someone to shampoo their whole car, you too would charge $150+. Man, my arms were tired.

.

I would have liked to try shampooing my condo's carpets as well, but my condo is brand new and the carpets don't need it.

.

The Score:

Why Do It Yourself: If you are on a budget (or just prefer to save your money for better things), or don't trust some kid cleaning your car, or like to do things hands-on, or don't like waiting for an hour or two while your car is cleaned, or maybe you have a thing for renting mechanical objects.

Why Take It To The Professionals: If you are lazy, have lots of money, like to read magazines at car detailing shops, have a bad back (or no one with a good back), are prone to flooding cars from the inside, or are petrified of trying something different.

- Consumer #1337