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Hard to say specifically if you don't know exactly what the spot is made of, but offhand you could try some Wisk, or one of the newer laundry detergents and wash the mat in the sink with warm or hot water. In my experience hot water really helps clean up grease and oil.
If you have never tried S 100 motorcycle cleaner, it's a very powerful degreaser, good for many automotive applications, any good motorcycle supply store will have it. It *might* take some color out of your mat, but it almost certainly will take out the grease, if it's grease.
Yo my man. If its a removable floor mat why not just take it to a near by dry cleaners and pay them several bucks and have it cleaned right.They got the stuff to do it fast. Using all these strong cleaning chemicals may remove the spot but it may also remove the skin off your hands when you touch it and leave a strong odor in the carpet....The spot has to be 'extracted" if you want it done right. I used to work for a pro carpet cleaning company,I know my stuff.
Dawn is good on grease and unlikely to hurt anything. You could try using waterless hand cleaner (Goop) and then follow up with Dawn in warm/hot water.
Nativechief has a point, though, sometimes DIY attempts to remove a stain will set the stain such that a pro can't get it out, while they could have if given first crack at it.
Given that it's a removable floor mat and knowing that you are not exactly poor, Stan, I'd say get a spare floor mat for temp. use, and give this mat to a good pro cleaner would be the best use of your time.
Dawn is good on grease and unlikely to hurt anything. You could try using waterless hand cleaner (Goop) and then follow up with Dawn in warm/hot water.
Nativechief has a point, though, sometimes DIY attempts to remove a stain will set the stain such that a pro can't get it out, while they could have if given first crack at it.
Given that it's a removable floor mat and knowing that you are not exactly poor, Stan, I'd say get a spare floor mat for temp. use, and give this mat to a good pro cleaner would be the best use of your time.
You know, you make a good point, but the reason I want the spot out is to get rid of the car without losing money on a darn spot. Spending more than what the mat is worth (or what I'd be fined for it) to get it cleaned is not necessarily what I'm into.
The last time the car was detailed, I thought they'd get the spot when they shampooed the interior, but it's still there...so you think it's probably set, then? Crap. When the dealership did it the time before, they got all the spots out. Damn Car Spa.
Alot of people like to have special grease removing remedies but after trying them all I find that dawn dish soap (or equivalent) works best. I also have great luck with Simple Green, its only about $10 for a gallon at the big box store.
I got a bad grease spot on the back of one of my shirts one day under the truck. I guess I way laying on something and ground the stain in pretty good. I washed it several times in different detergents and spray on cleaners, all did not remove the stain. I went to the auto parts store and bought a can of hand cleaner, white gell type. I rubbed it all over the stain and washed it again. It took all the stain out.
The reason I recommended Wisk is when I worked oilfield, on one of the few oil-based mud jobs I worked on (if you don't know what oil-based mud is, it's pretty much Diesel oil with clay suspended in it, about the consistency of a thin milkshake, and I think it's pretty much the last word in "industrial strength dirt". Anyway I asked one of the roughnecks on that rig if he knew of anything that would take it out of clothes, and he recommended Wisk. Could have made a good commercial out of that...
The treatment with hand cleaner and then follow it up with Dawn is how I cleaned up one of my cats who managed to roll in used motor oil -
The S 100 cleaner is as far as I know the best degreaser on the planet, but it's more intended for metal, plastic, and rubber surfaces than fabrics.
One other possibility is WD-40, very good for taking tar off car paint, if you let it soak it's pretty gentle.
Given this is for a trade in, I think giving the mat to a professional cleaner makes the most sense. If you get a bigger increase in your trade-in than you pay the cleaner, there you go.
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