Cigarette Stench

[Matt CLC#18621]

Cigarette Stench

Best way to get rid of six years of Cigarette Stench?

Thanks,
Matt
CLC# 18621

[TJ Hopland]

The professional detailers seem to be able to do a decent job but its not cheap unless you needed a complete detail job anyway. 

Other than that the only success I have had was lots of time with windows open.   

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

I was involved with getting the Cigarette smell out of one vehicle, and the only way was to replace the headliner.

And, when comparing the old and the new, you could see the overall staining from the cigarette smoke that had permeated the old one.  A bit hard to steam clean the ceiling without causing serious damage.

Bruce.

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

Ammoniated glass cleaner is excellent for cleaning headliner material. Key is to lightly mist on without saturating headliner. If the interior was subjected to heavy smoking with windows kept shut, there's no easy fix unfortunately. It will simply take periodic cleaning and lots o' time...  The odor will eventually dissapate but not quickly. Sprinkling some baking soda about can't hurt either.

[Glen]

There was a discussion on another forum about using a bag of charcoal to remove odors.  You slit the bag top to bottom on one side, unfold it to make a tray to hold the charcoal.  Leave it in the car for a few days and the smell will be gone.  Obviously you don’t want it to get on the carpet or upholstery.   

I never tried it but it seems to be an easy and cheap thing to try. 

[Dan LeBlanc]

You'll want to take it to a detailing shop that has an ionizing machine.  Had a new Grand Am that caught fire, got rebuilt, and the insurance company had it done.  Voila, no smoke smell.

[caddychap]

At Pep Boys, you can buy a deionizer (or is it an ionizer?) that plugs right into the cigar lighter socket. It's small and not too expensive.  I read somewhere where someone had great success with one of these, although it took several days for it to get rid of all of the cigarette smell.  But he said it worked well.  Good luck!

[TJ Hopland]

The lighter ones are pretty tiny and are for continuous maintenance.   The ones the shops have are big monsters they sit on the seat and plug into a cord. 

[olechesterfleetwood]

Buy a gallon size tin can of cheap coffee, set it in the floorboard after you have opened it.  Leave it for a week.   If it doesn't take all the smell away, leave it another week.

[Jim Beard]

My shop has treated many vehicles with the smoke odor in them. We use an ozone generator. I have not had success with anything other than this machine. They are about $1000 for a good one so you will need to go to a shop that has one. A treatment usually lasts 4-6 hours and I charge $75 for the service. I have never had anybody say the smell came back.

[ninosdad]

After 30+ years in the car biz the best product I have ever used is McGuires Odor Remover...stuff really works use it several times if needed...

[CHARLES COMMERFORD]

HELLO, YOU WILL NEED TO FIND A SHOP WITH AN OZONE GENERATOR AND IT WILL COMPLETELY REMOVE ANY SMOKE ODOR.
AN EXCELLENT  DO IT YOURSELF PRODUCT SOLD AT MOST ACE HARDWARE STORES IS CALLED "FRESH WAVE ODOR NEUTRALIZER" IT COME IN A GEL OR A SPRAY. I HAVE USED BOTH SEVERAL TIMES AND I CAN TELL YOU THAT IT ALWAYS SEEMS TO SOLVE THE ODOR PROBLEMS. IT IS NOT A SCENTED PRODUCT, IT ACTUALLY REMOVES THE ODORS.
I WOULD TRY IT BEFORE SPENDING THE MONEY FOR THE OZONE APPLICATION.
CHUCK
40 LASALLE HEARSE

[49caddyman]

I've had good luck with spray "Fabreze", available at any grocery store.  Joe Culter