any way of getting rid of cigarette smoke smell from interior?
 

there is a used car that i'm considering that has one big problem... previous owner was a smoker. the interior just reeks of cigarettes. is there any hope of getting rid of the smell?

yah.. there is a way.. you can bring it to a shop and they can use an ionizer to get rid of the smoke smell.. as well as a carpet cleaner....

ionizer... i didn't know about that.

will this also work for nicotine stains? it's a grey headliner, but it's stained yellow :(

and there is this massive buildup of ciggy ash in the vents...

I'd get the carpets shampoo'd, as well as the seats if they are cloth...maybe get the other stuff steam cleaned?

Ionizer doesn't get rid of stains, just smells. Like Marky Mark suggested, get a good carpet and upholstry cleaning. Not much you can do about the vents though...unless you can find someone who can do a vent clean.

If the smoke smell really bothers you, then I'd suggest not buying that car because I doubt you can get the smell 100% out of the car.

a few days with an ozonator, shampooing of everything, tornado-ing all vents, cracks, etc

you might only notice a small amount after that.

squash air freshen it up :rofl:

smoothie is right. Get the interior completely detailed and have an ozone machine run in it overnight. Have the shop run the car with the recirculation button on for awhile. That will pull the ozone fog through your heating ductwork.

thanks for the advice everyone. i've decided to take a pass on this car... hoping there will be another without these issues on the market soon.

^ good choice

I had an air freshener I bought couple weeks ago that was suppose to take cigarette smell out of the car. I just needed the casing, so you could've just taken it

If you use Febreeze 'Anti-bacterial'. Including in the vent intakes with the heater/defroster fan on high it works. You have to use the anti-bacterial though....kills the germs!(thats what causes the smell)

here's a quick and easy way to get rid of smoke smell. works in leather not sure about cloth but hey its free why not give it a try.

fill a cup half full with vinegar and leave it in your car for the night with all your windows up:thumbsup:

if they won't discount for the cost of steam cleaning, I wouldn't buy the car. The smell is in the interior, seats , carpets and headliner. I would look for another car.

i didn't buy the car.

however i did drive by the lot today... and it's still there (note my original post is dated 10-01-08).

seriously i kid you not... whoever owned the car must have been a chain smoker because it was like walking into a bingo hall from pre-smoking ban days :eek: