A Complete Guide Of How to get smoke smell out of a car

Are you looking for guidance on how to get smoke smell out of the car?

This article can help you remove smoke smell. This one is one of the most complicated smells to eliminate from a car; the smell regardless of whether it originates from cigarettes, cigars, or marijuana.

Smoke always finds its way through it and to get out you have to make a lot of endeavors. It may not be enough to just be equipped with just some soap and water.

You should be ready to use a lot of such supplies. Here are measures to follow in a bid to try and contain any obnoxious smells that persist.

How to get smoke smell out of a car?

Here are some steps you should follow to remove smoke smell from the car.

Step 1: Remove Trash and Other Items

The first thing that you’ll want to start with going as far as clearing out the interior would be to simply take out any contents such as trash or other items you might be able to find on the floor, including between the seats or under them or even the door pockets, map pockets, and even the glove box.

When the driver and the passengers of the car have smoked for quite some time then all the items inside the car including the owner’s manual, magazines, shopping bags, and paper maps among others have the smell of smoke.

Removing everything also makes it easy for the interior of the house to be cleaned well without having to rearrange stuff.

Step 2: Remove and Clean the Car Mats

Take off car mats, no matter if they are made of carpet or rubber, and wash them separately.

 After vacuuming, use a brush and warm water combined with soap to clean any smoke-stained pallets.

If the smell remains after they have been dried, sprinkle baking soda over the area and let it sit for about 20 minutes before vacuuming.

Approve using easier-to-clean all-weather floor mats from next time. If you have car seat covers, then those should also be removed and washed (and dried) under the same instructions.

Some cloth ones are for washing in the washing machine, others require hand washing.

Step 3: Vacuum the Interior

Vacuum the car completely from the front to the back sides and seats and side panels as well. Also please make sure to vacuum the carpet including between all the seats.

You should be aware that smoke will always find its way into every corner of the automobile and settle on every fiber of the carpets and upholstery, therefore each carpet and upholstery should be thoroughly vacuumed.

Step 4: Add Baking Soda

Following that, spread baking soda on the upholstery and carpet that you have vacuumed and let it sit for some time (at least fifteen minutes).

The last type of household chemical that people often use is baking soda which can suck in odors.

Since most bad smells are often acidic, baking soda works well to remove these smells due to its alkaline makeup.

When the baking soda has absorbed the smells, vacuum over all the surfaces as you did in Step 1.

If at this point you can still perceive the smell, put more baking soda on the area and let it stay, then vacuum again thoroughly.

Step 5: Wash and Dry

If you find the smell persistently strong, you can buy a carpet cleaning machine from nearby hardware or the grocery store and use the handheld applicator to spray soapy water into your upholstery and carpeting before sucking the soapy water up instantaneously.

After washing the interiors, you should park your car (in a secure location), with the windows rolled down for as long as it takes for the car to dry.

Step 6: Clean the Leather Surfaces

Leather seats shouldn’t be cleaned with a soapy water spray, although carpet and upholstery can be cleaned with it.

Use a cleaner designed especially for leather furniture if your sofa has leather upholstery.

You might need to apply the cleaner multiple times because the smoke has penetrated the leather so thoroughly.

You’d think that the more pungent the smell, the less work it would take for the odor to reach out.

Step 7: Clean Windows and Hard Surfaces

Smoke is greasy and it deposits a film on any surface some of the areas that would be affected include the interior of your windows, gear shift, dashboard, center console, steering wheel, sun visors, instrument cluster, cup holders any other hidden area.

You can wipe clean these surfaces with soapy water but make sure not to have the electronics coming into contact with water.

A good spray-on window cleaner also comes in handy. Remember that depending on how greasy the smoke inside the windows is, you may have to clean the windows quite a few times before the windows are as clean as you want them to be.

Oh yes, this even applies to cleaning the rearview mirror.

While washing every conspicuous hard surface you can think of, don’t forget the less conspicuous ones like the interior of the glove compartment, the center console, the cubby between the driver and front passenger seat, or any other storage space.

You may have to clean them properly, which will not be a problem since you had removed their contents at the start.

Step 8: Clean the Seat Belts

Extension: Pull all the seat belts out as far as it would go and wash with soapy water then rinse with a damp cloth.

Place them out as far as you can until they dry up, and re-extend if needed to clear deep-set smoke odors.

Yes, everything within the car even the seat belts retains the smell.

Step 9: Maintenance of the Air Vents and intake of the new Cabin Air Filter

Almost every car manufactured today has a filter that is commonly referred to as the cabin air filter.

It is typically located somewhere inside the dash and may be located right behind the glove box.

I guarantee you’ll need to replace this filter with a new one because surely, it is loaded with smoke.

However, before you install the new one, you will need to wash the housing of the filter – soapy water will do this job.

If there is a lot of smoke buildup inside the air ducts of your car then it will be even more difficult to clean them because they are virtually inaccessible.

The air vents (on the dashboard, beneath the seats) are much easier to reach and can be vacuumed or washed with soapy water or a steam cleaner.

The ducts for example might lure you into buying the duct cleaning solution, which is made for the car’s air ducts. Use as directed on the label for optimum quality of your hair.

Step 10: Clean the Headliner

considering that smoke rises, adjustments are the headliner—that’s the cloth on the car ceiling—is filled with smoke residue and can also be yellow or brown from years of publicity to smoke.

In this case, a steam cleaner or a sponge soaked in a cleaning solution can be used to add water to make dirt softly thereafter using the wet/dry vacuum to remove water.

As you would do with the upholstery seats and carpeting, you shouldn’t soak the headliner too much.

It is advisable to clean a small section starting with dusting the floor and applying the dust then use the wet/dry vacuum on the dust and any additional moisture.

conclusion: How to get smoke smell out of a car?

Finally, it is important to come back to the main idea of this article: if one wants to get rid of the smoke smell in a car, it is necessary to cover all the steps described above.

This you can do step by step starting by amounting to the trash then vacuuming, washing carpets and upholstery, applying baking soda, cleaning the air vents, replacing the cabin air filter, and washing all the hard and soft surfaces.

Patience and thoroughness are necessary here because traces of smoke may remain in several sections of a building.

To get to work removing that nasty smell from the car interior it is advisable to do it with a lot of patience, and proper supplies.