It’s fast approaching, the holiday that will almost certainly see our cars littered with disaster. Halloween. Spooky ghouls and goblins, superheroes, monsters, and of course – sticky, sugary sweets. If you have children then you already know just how difficult it can be to keep your interiors clean. This is especially difficult when what they are dropping from their little mitts are seemingly tailor-made to destroy your upholstery and carpet.

Keeping your interiors fresh is obviously a particular interest of ours. We’ve talked about it numerous times elsewhere. In that spirit, we decided it was a perfect time to give a quick primer on how to care for your interiors or prevent the possible disaster of candies and carpet from occurring. Don’t fall victim to the cursed candy! Instead, follow these tips to keep your upholstery, interiors, and automotive carpets clean!

First and foremost! Don’t use hot water if the candy that has found its way into your carpet has caused a stain, otherwise, this will cause the stain to set and you will feel absolutely horrified by that misstep.

For Gum:

The first thing you will need to do is to grab some handfuls of ice and place it in a plastic or zip-lock bag. Put the ice on the gum to get it to harden. This will make for much easier removal than in its sticky form. Then use a scraping tool to pull away from the gum. Take a vacuum to the area to get at any loose particles of gum. Sponge at the area with soapy, warm water. Use a circular motion to pull anything clinging to the carpet.

For Hard Candies:

While the steps for gum can be used for a number of other kinds of candies, the process can be tailored a bit differently to fully clean your automotive carpets. For hard candies that have set into the carpet, start by making the candy moist with cold water. This will begin to break apart the candies hold on the carpet fibers. Once it is sufficiently loosened, pull it free, using a spoon as a lever if necessary. Then clean the carpet, as usual, using stain removers, vinegar, or your preferred method. Once the stain is fully removed, rinse the portion of the carpet and dry.

If you are having a tough time getting the candy to dissolve, you can put a citrus cleaner.

If it is too tough to tackle at home, don’t despair! We have a full staff of professionals who can get the job done. Contact us and we can get you a free estimate and get your car back to tip-top shape and not look like a haunted house.