Coffee beans on a paper plate. Let sit overnight and then pitch and replace. It's amazing how much those little beans can do to cigarette smell.
Coffee beans on a paper plate. Let sit overnight and then pitch and replace. It's amazing how much those little beans can do to cigarette smell.
What do we think the legality is of like... taking out the cabin air filter, putting it in a plastic baggie, popping in a fresh one, and then swapping back to the original when I return the car so they don't suspect anything?
To be clear, I'm only contemplating spending my own time and money mitigating the smell for two reasons:
1. Given the rental car inventory situation right now and the location of the rental lot, it's unlikely I'll end up with a better/less smelly car if I roll the dice again. So I'm considering myself stuck with this one for at least a month, probably closer to 3 months.
2. When I finally do return the car, I don't want to be the one stuck paying the smoking fee.
I can HIGHLY recommend this product for the smoke smell remediation. I've used it on a few cars and have been amazed each time. It should eliminate it completely for you.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00B3XUAQ2?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title
In reply to dyintorace :
Cool, I'd actually had that sitting in my cart but was on the fence about actually buying it. Thanks for the recommendation!
Nicole Suddard said:What do we think the legality is of like... taking out the cabin air filter, putting it in a plastic baggie, popping in a fresh one, and then swapping back to the original when I return the car so they don't suspect anything?
To be clear, I'm only contemplating spending my own time and money mitigating the smell for two reasons:
1. Given the rental car inventory situation right now and the location of the rental lot, it's unlikely I'll end up with a better/less smelly car if I roll the dice again. So I'm considering myself stuck with this one for at least a month, probably closer to 3 months.
2. When I finally do return the car, I don't want to be the one stuck paying the smoking fee.
I mean, unless you've got another car that takes that same cabin air filter, just replace it for the sake of your olfactory receptors and call it done. Why go to the trouble of putting the old one back?
Yeah I doubt whatever value you can get out of a used filter is worth the effort of swapping it a second time. Try the Auto Shocker first and then change the filter.
Tangentially related: I finally asked my neighbor why he's had a blue Model 3 rather than a black one for the past month. Turns out the black car was rear ended and they got a rental 3 (through Hertz, I assume, tho I didn't ask).
For the smell problem.
Why go to the trouble of putting the old one back?
The thought was that I might get in trouble for berkeleying with the rental car parts, but TBH you're right, I doubt they'd ever see it. Do we think they even bother to ever change the cabin air filters in rental cars?
Also dryer sheets help a little. Just change them daily. Outside of a complete shampoo and ozone clean it'll still be there .With the dryer sheets it'll at least feel a little like sitting in clean clothes.
Speaking of, you might price ozone generators. It wouldn't take many tubs of the Vehicle Shocker to pay for one. I mean, with your proximity to GRM, what are the odds this is the last olfactorally-challenged vehicle you're going to wind up near?
Tangent... I bought a salvage/theft recovery Chevy Sonic to rebuild and sell. I ultra cleaned the interior with a spray called Tough Stuff (a sent that I like) but it still smelled of smoke.
It had an easy to reach cabin filter behind glove box. Before every showing, I'd go out and spray/soak the cabin filter in Tough Stuff. That way, when the driver turned on the hvac it filled the interior with a fresh smell for a little while.
Humorously, it sold to a smoker.
In reply to Jesse Ransom :
Tom is actually pretty good about smell-testing the cars he drags home, and usually I don't have to spend much time in them because I tend to do my own thing and drive my own car around.
Now seems like as good a time as any to confess that the car smells that irritate me the most BY FAR are the new car smells from the press cars the manufacturers send out for us to test drive. They give me a headache every time. I try to spend as little time in new cars as possible.
The rental place won't ever notice if you change the cabin filter. I've been deep inside the workings of ERAC. Nobody ever looks at them.
I'd really push back on the rental place rather than try to spend your own money to fix their problem.
In reply to tuna55 :
Our rental place is in Daytona, which is especially adept at attracting visitors who smoke. Doubt they have a single vehicle that has not been smoked in. Most we can hope is that only the parents were lighting up.
Nicole, biocide auto shocker is what took the mold smell out of the once-abandoned 318. Highly recommend.
Margie
tuna55 said:I'd really push back on the rental place rather than try to spend your own money to fix their problem.
Definitely raise it with them to reduce the chance of getting stuck with paying for pre-existing damage - they probably won't do anything about it but they should at least put it on record. Realistically the DIY fix might be the only way to not be stuck driving a smelly car, and completely eliminate the risk of taking the fall for the smoker.
I'd be leaving the windows cracked or fully down while parked whenever possible too. Air flow can only help.
In reply to STM317 :
Ehh, unfortunately parking with windows open is not an option this time of year. Any time I park the car, I have to assume it's going to get rained on.
Marjorie Suddard said:In reply to tuna55 :
Our rental place is in Daytona, which is especially adept at attracting visitors who smoke. Doubt they have a single vehicle that has not been smoked in. Most we can hope is that only the parents were lighting up.
Nicole, biocide auto shocker is what took the mold smell out of the once-abandoned 318. Highly recommend.
Margie
Isn't it a chain? Drive to another location. I did that exact thing here.
tuna55 said:Marjorie Suddard said:In reply to tuna55 :
Our rental place is in Daytona, which is especially adept at attracting visitors who smoke. Doubt they have a single vehicle that has not been smoked in. Most we can hope is that only the parents were lighting up.
Nicole, biocide auto shocker is what took the mold smell out of the once-abandoned 318. Highly recommend.
Margie
Isn't it a chain? Drive to another location. I did that exact thing here.
It's all going through the other guy's insurance, so I have to go to that location.
Nicole Suddard said:tuna55 said:Marjorie Suddard said:In reply to tuna55 :
Our rental place is in Daytona, which is especially adept at attracting visitors who smoke. Doubt they have a single vehicle that has not been smoked in. Most we can hope is that only the parents were lighting up.
Nicole, biocide auto shocker is what took the mold smell out of the once-abandoned 318. Highly recommend.
Margie
Isn't it a chain? Drive to another location. I did that exact thing here.
It's all going through the other guy's insurance, so I have to go to that location.
I don't mean to belabor the point, but the other guy insurance company, let's say Hertz, has other locations. So you call the Hertz national line and say "Hey I've got this smokey car that's giving me migraines and I need to switch, and really I'm closer to location XYZ anyway and can they help me out" or just call location XYZ and say "Hey I got this smokey car from your other location and it's all they have but I can't deal, can you swap?" Both of those have worked for me.
Based on this video, which features GRM forum member Ultraclyde, who has sadly since passed on, i have used this product with great results.
also, i suggest parking in the back yard maybe and just letting it run for a while with the HEAT on FULL STANKY HOT for an hour or 3. Have it in the sun too, do it on a hot day. You want to heat up that cancer soup that has imbedded itself in the cloth. Heck, run it super hot inside, then periodically go hose it down with Ultraclyde's Odoban.
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