Steam-clean the top?

[socratic]

Will it hurt the top to steam-clean the inside? I'm trying to get rid of a smoke smell that may be buried in the inside of the top.

[wetstuff]

A number of the top fabrics are laminated. I'd be concerned that heat would release the adhesive. I'd suggest you call one of the franchise companies that do smoke/water damage. Servicepro (sp?) comes to mind. ...or keep a bar of SexWax in the storage compartment.

Jim

[tqtran]

Go to Sharper Image and buy a car ionizer or room ionizer, Plug it in and let it run for an hour with windows up and top up (not driving of course).

[wetstuff]

....'zat REALLY work?! I heard Consumers Union said it was a scam and Sharper Image spent a large pile of money on their lawyers before the judge blew them off.

Jim

[Brucelee]

What does work to de-odorize is baking soda. For carpets, this is easy, spread it around overnight and then vacuum.

I am not sure how this would work on the inside of the top though?

Fabreeze is also supposed to be good at that chore.

[tqtran]

well I have the large one and I know it works. It cleaned out a room that was just killing of gasoline in an hour on max power. I've cleaned out my 944 once when a friend of mine rode with me and he stunk it up with his cigaret smoke(he didn't smoke in it but had before he got in). I plugged it into an extension cord and put it on max. Left it on in my car for an hour and everything was good.

edit: depending on how bad it is, a full proof way is to find someone or a dealer that has an "o-zone machine". What that will do is create O-Zone(not zero zone). Its a rare device but some really good detailers(the people you pay $1000 to detail your car) and labs have them.

[Pilot2519j]

Wouldn't it be simpler to get the air freshners they sell for the cars at the car wash before you go crazy spending money?
Get the powder used on rugs and vacuum it off. The car should smell real nice.

[Sy Vee]

Hey gents... dont use fabreeze on your hood... it rots them... i know my... had an expensive bill from saab some years ago!!...
Am i the only person in the world with orient red boxster??

[teacher]

Originally Posted by tqtran

Go to Sharper Image and buy a car ionizer or room ionizer, Plug it in and let it run for an hour with windows up and top up (not driving of course).

Just want to say that the Sharper Image Car Ionizer was in litigation with Consumer Reports because their product had a low rating in effectiveness. The Ionizer only seems good because of the emission of ozone, which is pleasant to smell but not effective...Sharper Image did eventually drop the lawsuit against Consumer Reports but the bottom line is: try other air freshening products...and also breathing ozone is damaging to your health in high quantities

[Ronzi]

Go to Pet Smart and get one of those dog stink remover contraptions. Looks kind of like a little hand vacuum cleaner. I think it's an ionizer, and probably costs less than anything from Sharper Image.
Didn't do much for the dog, but who knows what it might do for a convertible top.

[jwc]

Watch out for ozone machines, a restorer I know that uses them says that it "dizzolves rubber". They have a special room they fill with ozone to "de-stink" items and a portable ozone machine for location work, but say to make sure you never do it to anything with rubber in it. He also said it can have a bleaching effect on some materials (they lose color). I can't verify but this is what he told me.

[tqtran]

Originally Posted by teacher

The Ionizer only seems good because of the emission of ozone

That makes sense why it works now....I was told by a car detailer that the only thing that will get cigaret smoke out is an ozone machine.

[socratic]

I'm the original thread starter and I just want to say that I had the car detailed and when they did that, they steamcleaned the interior. I made a special mention that I wanted to get a smell out. Whatever they did, and I think it was just a standard steam clean (and I don't think they steam cleaned the top), the smell is now gone.

I should have been more clear when I made the original post. I was objecting to what I think was a smoke smell. But more correctly, I was objecting to the industrial strength DEODORIZER that a previous detailer used to mask the smoke smell. They probably used a ton of that stuff and the smell stayed in the carpeting. My detailer's steam-clean probably cleaned out or flushed out the old deodorizer.

[Brucelee]

Good tip for the future. Thanks.