These guys are pretty persistent to get their vehicle out of the snow. I thought they were going to stop once a “little” damage had been done. I think not! They pressed on oblivious to the fact that the car is no good without half its body attached. A

Today I came across some floor mats that had definitely seen some better days.  They had dirt and various other stains ground into them.  Well I got to thinking, and decided this would be a great set to get some pictures of.  I am going to walk through what it takes to get the stains out the first time.  So for you to get an idea of what I was working with this is what the before picture looked like.

You can tell these mats are very, very dirty.  Some people would probably throw them out, but I feel that is a waste of money.  If these stains take two scrubbings to come out of the floor mats then so be it.  Maybe the one mat that is starting to wear thin from the heel could use replacing.  I still feel that getting the stains out of the floor mats will be best decision.

First I vacuumed the floor mats to get all loose dirt out of them.  After vacuuming the floor mats I banged them on the side of the wall to get any other loose debris out of them.  Another vacuum was done.  Once the floor mats had been vacuumed I began to tackle the stains.

Second I sprayed a degreaser onto them.  The degreaser was a 20-1 concentrate and it said to use it at a ratio of 5-1 for heavy stains.  Remember that each chemical you use will have different strengths depending on the type of application.  Remember to follow the directions for what type of stain you are trying to get rid of.  Least aggressive to start with is the only policy.  You can always add more, but if you have too much and the carpet fades your in trouble.  The last piece of advice I will give you for treating stains is to test in an inconspicuous area first.  Once again these will all be in the directions on your degreaser of choice.  Now that the floor mats had an even thin coating of degrease on them I let it do its thing for few minutes to break up the stain.

I prepared a bucket of fresh water and got my upholstery brush ready.  After about three minutes I dipped the upholstery brush in the wash bucket and then shook it out.  After shaking out the brush I began to work a back and forth motion vigorously.  The carpet began to foam up and I could see the stain beginning to come up.  After scrubbing the floor mat for a about a minute I dipped my brush in the wash bucket again.  I am now done with the first part of cleaning the stains off.

My next step was to get a clean terry cloth towel and blot the mat.  After blotting the carpet for the first time and finishing with a vacuum this is what they looked like.

Today we were presented with a vehicle that had heavy oxidation on the paintjob.   One of the skills we have is removing oxidation from a car.  Yes the kind where your hand looks like you just wiped down a chalkboard after touching the car.

The car in question was a four door Mazda Protege.  The customer had been advised that this could not be done with detailing alone and that they may need to get a new paintjob!  No way this can definitely be taken care of.

We spoke with the customer and explained the process that would be needed to bring the paint back on the car. First we washed the entire car head to tow using a soft microfiber wash mitt. Special attention was given to the front end to make sure all bugs were properly removed.  Bugs you ask?  But its cold why are there so many bugs on the car.  Well in Florida the temperature is still in the eighties with no sign of slowing down anytime soon.

Now on to removing the oxidation from the car.

We did a clay bar treatment to the automotives paint to remove any contaminants that may have bonded to the surface and beyond.  The work was performed in small square sections to ensure no spot was left untouched.  Next after a complete clay bar the car was polished.  We used a medium grade polishing compound with only minor abrasives.

This procedure is one of the most important in removing oxidation from a cars paint.

Special attention was paid to the top surfaces of the car.  Car hood, car trunk, car roof.   The excess is removed with a soft microfiber before it dries.   Make sure you remove the excess compound to ensure you are removing oxidation from the vehicle and not leaving residue behind.  After this we washed the car again to remove any last remaining bits of cleaner that may have been missed.  After thoroughly drying the car we began the waxing process.   A nice application of pure caranuba wax was applied.  The wax was applied in sections and buffed off with a microfiber making sure to use the same motion and direction that was used while applying the wax.  After this the windows were polished and the tires and trim were dressed.  The customer was satisfied and the best part was she did not have to get a new paint job.  We hope you enjoyed our article on removing oxidation from a car.  This is not the only way to do it nor the preferred method for each situation.  Remember that each car and situation may require different methods or chemicals.