My BMW smells like smoke! YUK!

[AV325i]

Hi!
I just bought a 1991 325i. Does anyone know how to get the smell of cigarette smoke out of a car? The seats are fabric. Do I need to swap out the seats/carpet, or can they be cleaned to remove the smell?

[FredK]

Congrats on the pickup.

You can lessen the smell by shampooing the carpet and seats. It's probably easiest to remove the carpet to shampoo it thoroughly.

To do so, you'll have to remove the front seats (four bolts each, plus the seatbelt lower loop bolt on each side of the car), the center console, and most likely cut the carpet near the heater box.

At the same time you can inspect the floorboards for rust and also the interior for signs of water ingress.

[george graves]

You'll need to air it out over a long while. If you can park it in a grage with the windows down for a week or two - that would help a lot. In teh mean time - get some fabreze(spelling?)

[VAPORBLADE]

Get a steamer/upholstery cleaner. - let dry windows down inside - done.

[DCColegrove]

Blow the car out with pressuerized air, ash collects in the nooks and crannies. (I know this because I smoke...like a freight train)

shampoo the carpets I you can pull them out and and wash it your self with a hose a brush and some carpet detergent...Rinse the hell out of it....take a day or 2 to dry out.

Wipe down the innards of the car while the carpet is out with a mild cleaner...I dig windex for removing the stickies.

Or you could start smoking....

[StereoInstaller1]

Blow the car out with pressuerized air, ash collects in the nooks and crannies. (I know this because I smoke...like a freight train)

shampoo the carpets I you can pull them out and and wash it your self with a hose a brush and some carpet detergent...Rinse the hell out of it....take a day or 2 to dry out.

Wipe down the innards of the car while the carpet is out with a mild cleaner...I dig windex for removing the stickies.

Or you could start smoking....

and don't forget the dashboard vents get full of smoke crap too.

I pulled my carpet out and pressure washed it, then painted it. At the same time, I had my seats re-upholstered. I too smoke heavily (American Spirit Menthol, hooray I am a black hippie!) and have not smoked in my car since.

I am amazed at the difference in smell of my car.

[DCColegrove]

..... I too smoke heavily (American Spirit Menthol, hooray I am a black hippie!) and have not smoked in my car since.

American Spirit Blues...

If I'm dieing from cancer at least it was caused by organic carcinogens.

[scabzzzz]

I love cigarettes (I'm quiting)

Also, when doing my expansion valve, found a ton of stored ashes and what not under hte panels. Just gotta start taking the interior apart and cleaning it man. Lots of work, but it can be done. Have seen it done before....

[monty23psk]

Ozium every other day. Will help eliminate odors until car can be shampoo/cleaned.

[Sean5294]

you can also place dryer sheets underneath you seats, it helps a lot

[VacMan]

Don't forget to clean your headliner, too.

[atomic]

you can also place dryer sheets underneath you seats, it helps a lot

x1000000000000000


I should add that everything mentioned above needs to be done as well. Not only clean cloth/carpet/headliner but clean every square inch of the inside. You will also need to try and run something to help eliminate the odor in the HVAC venting in the dash. Also remember if you have cloth seats that the smoke odor has likely gotten into the padding of the seats and maybe even the carpet padding as well or any other material the smoke will permeate through. These are the reasons why it is so hard to get rid of entirely.

Good Luck

[AV325i]

Thanks for the advice everyone! A few more ???'s

Lots of great ideas!

I decided to have my carpets cleaned next week and the guy is going to do the car as well. I will take out the seats and carpet so he can get every square inch. He says he can do the carpeted parts of the door panels too. I'm not sure about the headliner, i will ask him about that. He has a high pressure, heated water system--it's a huge truck with a "300 pound compressor" or something like that. He says if there is still a smell after that, then he has an ozone generator! I'm a little uncomfortable with that--will it start to dull the plastic dash. Ozone is pretty reactive stuff.

Speaking of the dash and the HAV system. Any tricks to getting to the venting system? I need to go in there to fix the fan anyway. Do I have to take the dash off to get at the fan? Right now the fan sounds like it is hitting somewhere--it makes a ticking noise that increases as you turn the fan speed up.

Thanks for the help everyone!

[92 mtechnic cabrio]

crumble up like three sundays worth of newspaper and throw them in the backseat. newspaper does a great job of absorbing smell

[deutschman]

bavarian auto sports sells these little ionizers that plug into your liter plug. try one of those and just keep it pluged in all night. also make sure you clean the whole car including the inside of the windows! i got a smoker car and the windows were black inside!