SilverSaloon
MB Enthusiast
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2004
- Messages
- 7,758
- Car
- 1994 W124 E300D Estate, 1985 R107 280SL
Cleaning interior and carpets! - W124 estate
Hi
over the bank holiday weekend I decided to sort out my dirty 124 estate interior by giving the interior a "deep clean". The car was mint when I purchased it but due to several family holidays and not cleaning properly afterwards, the mushroom interior needed some TLC.
I also had a water leak that I have (hopefully!) fixed but had a lot of water in the rear footwells, so this needed drying out aswell.
First, I removed the centre console cubby box and wood trim. This revealed the screw that needs to be removed in order for the carpet to slide away.
I then removed all the seats from the car:
Then after removing the seatbelt fastenings I was able to withdraw the carpet from the car. This was done by pulling it toward the rear of the car:
Due to the leak you can now see all the water in the footwell (this was actually after a lot had been soaked up):
I then went to work on cleaning the carpet. I covered it in the interior foam carpet cleaning stuff and scrubbed with a brush. This got it pretty clean.
I then took it outside and hosed it down with the garden hose, being very careful not to get the foam part wet (it was wet anyway from the leak though!)
This is the result:
Pretty pleased. Its as clean as I can get it. There were several very small stains that were there when I purchased the car that are hidden by the rear seat bench. I think these are probably liquid stains. They didnt come off even with stain removal products. There was also a couple of small red stains (think caused by rust or spilt liquid again) around by the seats bolt down. These cannot be seen once the seat is bolted on top so not really a problem.
After allowing to dry in the sun most of the day, the carpet and foam backing was 100% dry. I then fitted it back into the car, reverse of removal. Quite a lot of tugging is needed to get it under the centre console again. The pic below shows it back in place with the seat wiring popping through, ready for the seats to be re-installed:
In addition to the carpet, I also cleaned everything I had removed like trim and the seats themselves. I also took the opportunity to replace the broken passenger seatbelt buckle pretentioner wire with a new one and fit a new piece of B pillar trim I had purchased.
Unfortunatly, my cleaning has had to halt half way through as the car was booked into the garage for work to be done. I will be continuing to clean the boot area and the front footwell areas in the same way. Also the material-coated door seal trim. I will probably leave the carpet in the boot though and clean it in situ. Its not that dirty compared to the main section of carpet I did as i've always has a protector sheet down.
I also gave the wood trim a good clean when it was removed and hoovered and cleaned behind the trim itself to get rid of fluff etc.
Hi
over the bank holiday weekend I decided to sort out my dirty 124 estate interior by giving the interior a "deep clean". The car was mint when I purchased it but due to several family holidays and not cleaning properly afterwards, the mushroom interior needed some TLC.
I also had a water leak that I have (hopefully!) fixed but had a lot of water in the rear footwells, so this needed drying out aswell.
First, I removed the centre console cubby box and wood trim. This revealed the screw that needs to be removed in order for the carpet to slide away.
I then removed all the seats from the car:
Then after removing the seatbelt fastenings I was able to withdraw the carpet from the car. This was done by pulling it toward the rear of the car:
Due to the leak you can now see all the water in the footwell (this was actually after a lot had been soaked up):
I then went to work on cleaning the carpet. I covered it in the interior foam carpet cleaning stuff and scrubbed with a brush. This got it pretty clean.
I then took it outside and hosed it down with the garden hose, being very careful not to get the foam part wet (it was wet anyway from the leak though!)
This is the result:
Pretty pleased. Its as clean as I can get it. There were several very small stains that were there when I purchased the car that are hidden by the rear seat bench. I think these are probably liquid stains. They didnt come off even with stain removal products. There was also a couple of small red stains (think caused by rust or spilt liquid again) around by the seats bolt down. These cannot be seen once the seat is bolted on top so not really a problem.
After allowing to dry in the sun most of the day, the carpet and foam backing was 100% dry. I then fitted it back into the car, reverse of removal. Quite a lot of tugging is needed to get it under the centre console again. The pic below shows it back in place with the seat wiring popping through, ready for the seats to be re-installed:
In addition to the carpet, I also cleaned everything I had removed like trim and the seats themselves. I also took the opportunity to replace the broken passenger seatbelt buckle pretentioner wire with a new one and fit a new piece of B pillar trim I had purchased.
Unfortunatly, my cleaning has had to halt half way through as the car was booked into the garage for work to be done. I will be continuing to clean the boot area and the front footwell areas in the same way. Also the material-coated door seal trim. I will probably leave the carpet in the boot though and clean it in situ. Its not that dirty compared to the main section of carpet I did as i've always has a protector sheet down.
I also gave the wood trim a good clean when it was removed and hoovered and cleaned behind the trim itself to get rid of fluff etc.
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