How to get smoke smell out of car

I got my legacy 4 months ago and I have used every air freshener and ordor sucker i can find. I still have a faint smell of cigarette smoke. Any suggestions on how to get rid of it?

throw some non scented or scented dryer sheets under the seats. and a few in the vents were the floor vents come out.

Pull seats and use an extractor to shampoo every surface. Then after dry, rent an ozonator and let it run in the car over night. Make sure all interior glass has been cleaned.

OK here is a few things I did when I had someone spill milk in my car and they didn't clean it. Sat for 2 weeks rotting in my car.

 

1. Replace cabin filter(behind glovebox)

2. Take a wet spunge with soap and clean every piece of fabric on the car. If you want to go extreme take all the seats out and do it that way.

3. use a vacuum to suck up any access soapy water.

4. Like stated before use dryer sheet(Fabric Softner) and place all around the car. Under all seats/trunk/glovebox/center counsel box/upper storage above radio/ as well as clip them to vents. After about a month it should smell great!

Get an Ozone machine! The high power ones kill odors in an hour!

 

http://www.jenesco.com/ozone-machine.html

Pull seats and use an extractor to shampoo every surface. Then after dry, rent an ozonator and let it run in the car over night. Make sure all interior glass has been cleaned.

 

^this. if you can't pull the seats, a good seat cleaning + glass/surface scrub should do it most of the way.

 

int glass is the big one people tend to overlook -- it's very hard to get the tar off, will take a few times.

Hell, just get it profesionaly cleaned in one day and be done with it. All the time you spend and money buying this stuff will be the same to get the inside done right. Most places it cost $35-50.

you can try these products:

 

http://www.autogeek.net/auto-air-fresheners.html

Febreze!!!!!

Baking soda on the carpets and fabric seat covers works well... leave it overnight and vacuum off the next day.

 

What were you thinking buying a smoker's car?? Ugh!

I bet the smell is mostly in the headliner and possibly what ashes dropped beneath the center console.

I bet the smell is mostly in the headliner and possibly what ashes dropped beneath the center console.

I cleaned a smoker's car once and it was disgusting. It was a newer 328i coupe and he smoked cigars in it. Totally disgusting and I wouldn't do it again. Most of his ashes ended up back in the car when he ashed out the window while driving (brainiac). All of his leather was smoke stained and he always used the driver seat warmer due to a bad back. You were able to see the heating elements "stain" the leather. I've never seen anything like that.

 

Smokers in cars just don't mix well. He was driving a really nice car and crapped it up by smoking in it.

i wouldn't use the cover up method. what i did when i purchased my only used vehicle from smoker ever..

 

completely removed all seats

 

removed console

 

steam cleaned (with a little soap added) all carpets and headliners, seat belts

 

triple cleaned all hard services with small dilution of pine sol (not enough to leave pine smell, but enough to clean old stains and smells).important to dry each time, and use clean damp cloth as final rinse and dry

 

took out vent covers, and inserted damp cloth with cleaner as far as i could down the vents, then dried.

 

of course double clean all windows thoroughly

 

as much as i thought that the smell would always be there, this actually worked pretty good, you cannot tell it was a smokers car and i am VERY picky about smoke

OxyClean FTW.

i had a old bravada that stunk like smoke and this helped

 

http://www.superiorcarcare.net/dakota-odor-bomb-neutral-scent.html

Don't forget about the seat belts. Especially in the rear, since most have their windows down while smoking. It's amazing how much stink those straps soak up. Steam clean them when you do the rest of the interior, and leave them extended if you rent an ozonator.

 

As mentioned, clean the windows really well. Then clean them one more time.

 

After steaming/shampooing the carpeting (with seats out, console out too is even better) and headliner, make sure that you extract as much of the moisture as possible. Really go overboard with it, especially if you live in a humid area. It can start to rust the body pan if it stays damp for long. It shouldn’t be a problem once or twice, but I’ve seen it happen.

 

Def replace the cabin air filter.

its not a strong smoke smell nothing even stained in the car as with the yellow tinge you get with someone smoking. Its an after smell realy not strong at all, have a new cabin filter in the car too.

If you want to try an OTC product, I have had good luck with Meguiars Odor Eliminator. It may take a couple treatments, but it works well, and doesn't have a bad smell to it.

Ozium spray. Get it at walmart. This should eliminate your smoke smell. Saved me in college a few times

This works great. Place a bowl of vinegar on the floor in your car overnight. It sucks up the smoke smell and no it will no leave a vinegar smell in the car. Just don't spill it or forget its on the floor. I do this with loaners from the dealer.

After all that you might as well finish it off properly with BG Frigi-Clean(more thorough), or BG Frigi-Fresh(still good but not as hardcore). If the smoker has ever put the HVAC system on recirculate, which I'm sure he/she has, then it will smell again. These treatments will kill any and all mold and mildew spores as well, not just cloak a stench like other products. http://www.bgprod.com/products/climatecontrol.html

Ozium spray. Get it at walmart. This should eliminate your smoke smell. Saved me in college a few times

 

+1! ozium will do the trick

Smoke smells are a PITA to get out of a car, using Ozium type sprays will only mask the issue. You're best solution is to pull the seats and give everything a deep cleaning; seats, carpets, headliner, pillars, dash, vents, etc.