This soda stain has me stumped.

6

602rwtq

New member
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I tried red stain remover:



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After brushing the stain remover into the stain and allowing it to sit for 5 minutes, I dropped a damp towel on the area and followed with a heating iron. The stain came out 80%, but not enough that I could rightly bill the customer for my work.



Should I be heating through a dry towel?
 
is that stuff a dedicated carpet cleaner....i have found that stain removers in general are only so good, but dedicated carpet cleaners are much better....



also, hit up your local 99 cent store and try some of the cheap crap....for some reason, one stain in a friends truck wouldnt come up, but we tried some old stuff i had lying around and it lifted with two dressings....IDK, cheap is good in some cases...lol
 
You could always pick up some Folex from a local store and try pre treating with that. I've got some, but haven't had a chance to use it yet. A lot of people swear by it.
 
Sometimes you just come across stains that can't be removed. Often the customer has already tried to remove it themselves and end up setting the stain.
 
Make a potent Oxi-Clean mix.





If that doesn't work, try a light dilution of bleach.





Be sure to rinse when done.
 
I got a gallon of folex today at HD for $16. Man this stuff works great on carpets. Not sure if it will work on your stain.
 
It’s the season for soda cans to explode in cars. I got a call the other day about this very thing and explained to the lady, it would be $95.00. Basically you have to treat and steam the entire car. Folex or 303 and steam!!!
 
Scottwax said:
Sometimes you just come across stains that can't be removed.
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The experience that Scottwax has gained through years of detailing shows that he knows what he is talking about. Some stains such as grape or orange soda just cannot be removed once the stain is set.



It is simply amazing how something like a coffee stain can be completely removed with plain water, while other stains just set into the material and there is basically nothing that can be done to completely remove the stain once it is set.
 
I've taken out some very bad stains (coke, tea, tomato, red wine, blood, emesis, other miscellaneous bodily fluids) with Tide HE laundry detergent. Clean it with water first to remove loose stuff and all other chemicals that can kill the enzymes, then pat dry. Apply the Tide full strength and let set for at least an hour, more is better, overnight is perfect, covered with a piece of plastic wrap to keep it moist. In addiiton to having some advanced detergents, the Tide has "enzymes" that have the ability to "eat" all manner of stains, including stains that chlorine bleach won't touch. Use an extractor with clean cool water to pull out the Tide. The only downside to using the Tide is that in many cases with old carpeting it will leave a clean spot that makes the rest of it look bad. Depending on the state of the carpeting, you might have to plan ahead for that and treat a larger area. Alternatively if you have time, you could test on a small spot to see whether it's going to work or not. Make sure you find the "HE" type detergent because it has the most enzymes and it's very low sudsing, making extraction quicker.
 
Most orange and red pop stains are permanent, if they set-up. The pop being acid and containing dye, etch the fibres. This is the same way they dye most carpets +heat.



If you can clean it before it is set, it should come out.



A friend of mine's son spilled orange pop on a seat in his Caravan. He brought the seat to me after a couple months. I told him that it wouldn't come out, but shampooed it and it came right out. The difference was it was winter and he had taken it out and put it in his cold garage. The stain was dry but not set.
 
in a business situation, how do you deal with this?



obviously your time is worth $, but if you can't get the stain out, you aren't providing anything to the customer.. so do you still charge for spending 2 hours trying to get the stain out, or eat the loss?
 
Generally stains will come out very quickly, if they are to come out. Ground in dirt is more of a problem.
 
autobahn said:
in a business situation, how do you deal with this?



obviously your time is worth $, but if you can't get the stain out, you aren't providing anything to the customer.. so do you still charge for spending 2 hours trying to get the stain out, or eat the loss?
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If it doesn't come out in a few minutes, it isn't coming out in most cases-inform the customer the stain cannot be removed (assuming you've tried all your known methods to remove it). I wouldn't charge extra on an interior with a problem stain that cannot be removed but I won't spend 2 hours on it either. Just like a test, if you can't answer a question quickly, move on. That is why you should go over the car with the customer and point out areas that you might not be able to get 100%. You don't want to suprise them at the end of the detail with a lot of uncorrectable defects they assumed you could remove.
 
GeneralEclectic said:
I've taken out some very bad stains (coke, tea, tomato, red wine, blood, emesis, other miscellaneous bodily fluids) with Tide HE laundry detergent. Clean it with water first to remove loose stuff and all other chemicals that can kill the enzymes, then pat dry. Apply the Tide full strength and let set for at least an hour, more is better, overnight is perfect, covered with a piece of plastic wrap to keep it moist. In addiiton to having some advanced detergents, the Tide has "enzymes" that have the ability to "eat" all manner of stains, including stains that chlorine bleach won't touch. Use an extractor with clean cool water to pull out the Tide. The only downside to using the Tide is that in many cases with old carpeting it will leave a clean spot that makes the rest of it look bad. Depending on the state of the carpeting, you might have to plan ahead for that and treat a larger area. Alternatively if you have time, you could test on a small spot to see whether it's going to work or not. Make sure you find the "HE" type detergent because it has the most enzymes and it's very low sudsing, making extraction quicker.
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Frankly, this post is naive; posted by someone who missed a few days from his/her high school chemistry class... He/She says Tide enzymes will kill the enzymes ???



Maybe we're confusing enzymes with bacteria? Sorta like acrylic versus polymer... there is no comparison.



Books. Books are good. Read more...



So, a grain of salt?



Jim
 
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