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Having a furry co-pilot ( Chocolate Lab ) it's the only thing
I know of besides sending the truck to the detail shop.
Vacuum as much as you can, get a bucket and add 5 big scoops
of Oxy Clean with HOT water. Get a stiff tire brush for floors and
a softer one for the upholstery and headliner. Duct Tape for heavy
hair areas.
I use a cotton towel to transfer the mix by basically ringing it out and
rubbing followed by the brush then suck it up with a wet dry vac
I got at Sears ( 2gal ) for like $20.00 years ago.
Repeat at least once, use any clean cotton towels you can find
to pat dry as much as you can then find a few fans to keep the
air moving.
The best thing is that the Oxy Clean removes the smell as well as
the stains and the next time will not be so bad
For dog hair the guy who's detailed my car swears by a finer grade pumice stone brushed lightly. They even sell them as hair/fur removers online. My cattledog's guard hair is amazingly hard to get out of any sort of upholstery. When I got the car back from detailing I couldn't find a hair on it anywhere! Really impressive!
Last edited by Parnassia; 12-03-2018 at 01:18 PM..
I love my two Great Danes endlessly, but my SUV stinks. Bad. It's because I drive them wherever they need to go in it, they shed like crazy, they have more doggie odor than other dogs, and my old girl developed hemorrhagic gastroenteritis and bloody diarrheaed in the vehicle on the way to the vet a year ago, and I had to clean and clean and clean the thing after that. There is no hope for the resale value, even though it's a Toyota At least I don't smoke anymore!
But never mind that. My wife and I will be driving around 3000 miles in it to visit family for Christmas and she has a sensitive nose. I have to clean the heck out of the thing, remove as much dog hair as possible, and deodorize. I'm on a limited budget so I don't want to get it detailed but I want to make it comfortable from me and my wife to ride in. How do I do that? What products should I use? The interior is COVERED in dog hair and vacuuming is ineffective in removing it. Please give me suggestions on hair removal, deodorizing, and general cleaning. It has fabric seats. Thanks!
Pull the interior and pull the carpet. Take it to a power wash and soak it in soapy water scrub rinse power wash and dry
You
Need to replace the pad under the carpet.
The seat upholstery simply slides off the foam. Atthe edge of the seats you’ll see plastic rails that snap to the metal framing. Pop those off and you s8mply pull the seat covers off. You. May need to remove the seat back adjustment handle or some plastic trim etc. throw those in the wash
I love my two Great Danes endlessly, but my SUV stinks. Bad. It's because I drive them wherever they need to go in it, they shed like crazy, they have more doggie odor than other dogs, and my old girl developed hemorrhagic gastroenteritis and bloody diarrheaed in the vehicle on the way to the vet a year ago, and I had to clean and clean and clean the thing after that. There is no hope for the resale value, even though it's a Toyota At least I don't smoke anymore!
But never mind that. My wife and I will be driving around 3000 miles in it to visit family for Christmas and she has a sensitive nose. I have to clean the heck out of the thing, remove as much dog hair as possible, and deodorize. I'm on a limited budget so I don't want to get it detailed but I want to make it comfortable from me and my wife to ride in. How do I do that? What products should I use? The interior is COVERED in dog hair and vacuuming is ineffective in removing it. Please give me suggestions on hair removal, deodorizing, and general cleaning. It has fabric seats. Thanks!
Vacuum as best you can then get those sticky rollers and roll the hell out of it. Next rent or borrow a rug cleaner with an upholstery attachment. Go out and purchase cleaning solution for it specifically for pet odors. Clean it and let dry. Smell test, clean it again with rug cleaner and let dry if necessary. Or just rent a car ;-)
Vacuum as best you can then get those sticky rollers and roll the hell out of it. Next rent or borrow a rug cleaner with an upholstery attachment. Go out and purchase cleaning solution for it specifically for pet odors. Clean it and let dry. Smell test, clean it again with rug cleaner and let dry if necessary. Or just rent a car ;-)
Or use lighter fluid. Properly paired with a match, it will clean anything.
By far the #1 tool I have ever used to reverse the odor of a car, is the Bissell spot-bot wand cleaning thingy. Easily will make a dramatic improvement to the car's odor by not masking the odor, but actually removing the offending odor causers from the fabric.
We once bought a used 4Runner that was cloth interior. A couple of days after owning it, the "masking" faded off and it was painfully apparent the previous owner was a smoker. We tried the odor killers here, there, everywhere. The coffee can in the back, the air filter replacements, all of it. Never really worked. Then I used the Bissell on the seats. The dirty water coming into the collection tank looked like mix between hot chocolate and coffee. Bucket after bucket, nasty smoke stain coming out of the fabric (and a few other stains apparently too). The interior did not look bad when we bought it, because we had no idea how bad it really was. Took me an afternoon and probably 10 gallons of nothing but hot water through the machine. Afterwards, the car was like brand spankin' new again. NO odor whatsoever! And it lasted for 5 more years of family duty (and doodie thanks to two in diapers). I cleaned it once more right before we traded it in, and once again, came back like brand spankin' new.
Y'know, the more I think about this the more I think I'd suggest having a pro do it. I know the subject is "myself," but with all the cost and effort and hassle, $100 might go a long way in the hands of a pro detailer with all the solutions, equipment, experience and stamina to do it all right.
I also have two Great Danes, who are not in the car as often as before but I know full well how their short spiky hair can embed itself in every surface. I have no solution on hand except repeated brushing with a stiff brush just ahead of a vacuum.
Funny, I find that they are much less smelly dogs than many I've had. My older girl, however, is half European and I joke that she has Euro body odor. But then again, she's had GI problems too, and I've needed a gas mask to clean up after her once or twice.
Frequently carrying dogs in an upholstered vehicle is just a no-win situation.
Love it! Someone in my Great Dane Facebook group told me to put fresh coffee grounds in the car. She said police officers put coffee in cars once occupied by decomposing bodies and it is pretty effective at removing the stench.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quietude
Big, shorthaired dogs have fur that is much stiffer than any smaller animal, or cat hair. Little half-inch nylon spikes that drive themselves into the weave and can only be plucked out with tweezers or endless brush/vacuuming.
And with Danes, you get them in the fraggin' headliner...
Yep. I can't tell you how many times I have vacuumed the carpet and the ceiling of the SUV to find that practically none of the hairs were removed. I don't have my own Shop-Vac, but I have gone to the car wash and used their industrial vacuums. They did not work. The hairs are hooked to the carpet and headliner.
Wifes car is the only one our bullmastiff rides in. Every couple of months, 3-4 times a year, I set a bowl of vinegar on the armrest and let it sit there for a few hours. Sure the smell of vinegar is bad for a day or two but the other odors are usually gone.
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At least I don't smoke anymore! 
