Cleaning My Car Mats

I use a spray on carpet cleaner. Following the instructions, I spray them, scrub any heavily soil areas with a brush, let them dry and vacuum. I do this in the driveway or the basement, depending on the weather.

I take them to the car wash and spray then with the high pressure water...they should have big clamps on the wall for just this purpose. Then I take an ice scraper and scrape the water out to put them in the van. When I get them home I lay them outside to dry.

I put the ones that fit in the wash. And they turn out great. Then just air dry. For the ones that are long or too wide I take to the laundry mat and put in front loader. They wont fall apart.

What are they dirty with?

I've found that hitting them really hard against something hard (we had a stone wall next to the driveway that was super handy!) took all the 'stuff' off -- then hosing them off and letting them dry upside down or hanging (let the water run off)... but I didn't have anything like oil or food or anything, so I'm not sure it will work for you.

Car wash, but they are going to be very wet, you must lay them at a slight angle to get the excess water to drip off while they air dry. Mine usually take at least one really nice day to be fully dry.

I start at the top and use the highest spray possible with soap. Then spray top to bottom, move over a bit ans top to bottom again, etc... all the way across then go back and go from left to right, sideways, then back to the top and top to bottom again, then rinse the same way. This causes the fibers in the mat to be hit at different angles every time and the deep dirt comes out this way. Some car washes use hot water and other all cold. I prefer the hot, it gets out stains and really yucky stuff like spilled pop better.

If they're the 'carpet' type, I just use Spot Shot on them (do not 'saturate' or 'soak' the area, just spray like normal) wait abt 5 min then vacuum. I take my car to a do-it-yourself carwash w/good vacuums in them to vacuum the stain & moisture up although I know that's not good for the vacuum but I feel they're more powerful than a home vac. If you have a shop vac that should work just as good. If they're the rubber type I would think any type of cleaner would work. Glass cleaner or AWESOME! works great on most stains for me/us. Hope this helps!

I do what Marda P does. I use Resolve carpet cleaner and a scrub brush to scrub away the spots, then spray lightly all over the mat and scrub again in a pattern. The car smells fresh and the mats look like they were cleaned by a pro. The only drying I really need is a few hours with the windows open, as I don't soak the mats.

I like the laundry idea.

My car mats are pretty stiff. I don't see how mine would ever fit into a washer. When I clean them I shake them out, then put them on a line and hit them with a old tennis racket (think old time carpet beating). If they are badly stained, I'll spray them with a carpet cleaner (Shout works well, too) before I hose them off and let them dry on the line. If I want them to dry faster I'll use the wet/dry vac on them then put them back on the line. If you haven't got a line, you can drape them over a saw horse.

I have a yukon with 2 longer front mats and 2 square back mats and I put them in the washer on gentle and put them outside to dry. I've also used the soap setting on the sprayer at the carwash then rinsed them and let them air dry.

What I will recommend is that you try steam cleaning the mats, You can try professional steam cleaning experts DetailXperts they do provide some of the best services. They use hand car wash using steam cleaning methods http://www.detailxperts.net/hand_car_wash_exterior_steam_...