Mornin' all,
Has anyone washed their floor mats in thier home washing machine? Mine are pretty grubby and rather than try the spray stuff, thought a thorough washing may do the trick. Any thoughts? I think I'd just air dry them.
Thanks
Barry

nmi

VVPETE is doing it the correct way, but I get lazy. I just lay the floor mats on the driveway, make them damp, spray with 409 all purpose cleaner, and use a bristle floor scrub brush. Then I use the hose to rinse them off completely. Let the sun dry them and put them in the car the next day.

For the carpets inside the car, I have bought Oxyxclean at Target automitive section, sprayed it on the carpeting, scrubbed with same scrub brush, and towled dried, using multiple towels - they get dirty very fast. One bottle does one car.

Klaus
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95 854T, 88 780, 88 245

No I wouldn't use the washing machine. You'll find out it shreds the weave at the edges. I would get some Blue Majaic Upholstery spot remover and a soft upholstery brush and gently work the spray cleaner into the fabric a little at a time without getting it really wet, let set for 5 min. Towl up the wet mat with a clean white cotton cloth, then vacuum with a shop vac which can be used for wet applications. Repeat until the clean cloth blotts up without showing any dirt, then vacuum thoroughly until dry.
If you start on mat #1, by the time you get to #4 then #1 is ready to repeat. I did this on my 9 yr old 960 mats and carpets, took three cans, got every coffee stain and spill, having never cleaned them before. The mats and carpets looked brand new when I was done. I did this for increasing the trade-in value, which got me another $2k for 4 hrs work. I works great on my fabric upholstery on the '89 wagon which looks like a new interior now.
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'89 245 Sportwagon, '04 V70 2.5T Sportwagon

Barry:
When I rent a carpet cleaner for the house carpets I allow time for cleaning all the Volvo floor mats too.

Has worked fine for years on the same mats. Once in a blue moon I'll replace the mats in one of our cars...but it's rare. Cleaning with a commercial carpet cleaner (plus appropriate solutions) works well.

I have no response to the washing machine idea...(???)

Clive (Southern CA)