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As winter arrives and salt trucks start making their rounds through your neighborhood, you’ll have to deal with road salt on the ground. It’s nearly impossible to avoid tracking into your car from your shoes. To reduce the powdery, crusty remnants left behind in the carpet flooring, here is how you can remove road salt stains quickly.
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Step 1: Remove the floor mats and shake them out
If any chunks of salt or dirt are still sitting atop the floor mats, you don’t want to let those fall into the carpet underneath. Carefully lift each of the mats out of the car and shake them vigorously to loosen contaminants. It doesn’t hurt to give it a good beating to loosen the dust and dirt.
Any particles that have fallen through and are nestled within the carpet fibers need to be removed before you start scrubbing. It’s more than just salt hiding — dirt, gravel, and other debris collect over time, too. Grab a vacuum (preferably a wet-dry vacuum) with a hose attachment and suck thoroughly.
Step 3: Prepare the cleaning solution
Now you can focus on the actual impurities that have soaked into the fabric. To remove these, you’ll need a liquid cleaning solution — but certain ones are more effective than others, so the best approach is to mix your own.
New York-based company J&R’s Carpet Cleaning recommends using a solution of 50 percent hot water and 50 percent distilled white vinegar. Pour both in equal amounts into a spray bottle and shake it.
Step 4: Spray and dab the carpet & mats
Some people recommend scrubbing the area with a bristled brush, but that should only be done as a last resort. Scrubbing the fabric violently could force the contaminants deeper into the carpet as they dissolve.
Instead, spray the cleaning solution on the stained area and then gingerly pat it with an absorbent cloth or paper towel. Gently blotting the soaked spot with help draw the salt out instead of rubbing it in deeper.
With a different, clean cloth, you’ll wash the area. Dip it in some warm water and continue blotting.
Repeat this tactic to clean the floor mats you removed earlier.
Step 5: Let the surfaces dry
Before putting the soggy mats back on the damp carpet, let everything air dry until it’s not wet to the touch. You can help move this along if you can let the car air out in a closed garage, where you can run a dehumidifier nearby.
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Photo: The News Wheel
Why does this method work?
Because road salt is typically a mixture of sodium chloride (table salt) and calcium carbonate or magnesium carbonate, it needs some extra coaxing to dissolve in water. The chemical reaction caused by its interaction with the vinegar allows the minerals to become water-soluble. Then, all you have to do is absorb the water into a cloth, and the salt should lift right out with it.
Alternate solutions if vinegar doesn’t work
Unfortunately, distilled vinegar might not be enough to remove that road salt entirely. You might need to step up your game and use a tougher cleaning solution. A backup is using soap, which is most effective if you stir two teaspoons of dish soap into two cups of lukewarm water and apply it with a brush to the carpet and cr mats. Just make sure you rinse away all those bubbles.
It’s important to remove road salt as quickly as possible from your car, both inside and outside of it. While it is a useful tool for clearing asphalt of ice, it can also leave lasting damage to your vehicle.
Aaron is unashamed to be a native Clevelander and the proud driver of a Hyundai Veloster Turbo (which recently replaced his 1995 Saturn SC-2). He gleefully utilizes his background in theater, literature, and communication to dramatically recite his own articles to nearby youth. Mr. Widmar happily resides in Dayton, Ohio with his magnificent wife, Vicki, but is often on the road with her exploring new destinations. Aaron has high aspirations for his writing career but often gets distracted pondering the profound nature of the human condition and forgets what he was writing… See more articles by Aaron.
