Soap spill in car! Can detailer fix??

[trickycoolj]

Just helped my mom move. She gave me some extra Softsoap refills, the 80oz size that you get at Costco. Well 2 hours later I find one sideways, no cap spilled and almost entirely soaked into my front passenger seat!! (It was folded flat, I was hauling a ton of garden tools and a cooler. I just wiped up what I could. It’s after 10pm, I don’t have a shop vac or Bissell, I have to go to work early in the morning and can’t deal with it until tomorrow afternoon after it bakes in the sun parked at work. Would a detailer have a better steam cleaner to get the soap out? It’s covering the entire seat and back of the front passenger seat! I was planning on trading in next winter so I want to make sure this doesn’t turn into a sticky gross mess! Thankfully it’s black cloth interior. Argh. It’s been a whirlwind weekend moving my mom to Oregon only to get home this late and find this. Any detailer recommendations in West Seattle or South Park?

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[miws]

tricky, I’ve never used them, (haven’t had a car for nearly 19 years), but Rico’s Auto Buff always gets high praise among WSB Readers:

(206)937-1127

http://www.ricosautobuff.com/

If you get a chance today at work, give them a call. Maybe they’ll be able to set your mind at ease once they hear your situation, and make the rest of your Monday a bit less crappy. Of course, they might not be able to determine exactly how they can help until/unless they actually see what they’ll be dealing with.

I’ve never used any detailer, but folks in the trades such as that, usually have….ummmm….tricks up their sleeves, to tackle many situations.

Good Luck!

Mike

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[trickycoolj]

Thanks Mike! Gave them a call, they think they can get it out. Fingers crossed! It’s a sticky mess and my whole car and garage smell pungently like Softsoap. Not a bad smell but that much kind of starts to burn off the nose hairs!!

Always check the bottle caps on liquid soap everyone! Especially when friends and family offer up their extra Costco stuff when they’re moving. Wow.

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[miws]

Glad to help, and hope Auto Buff is able to help you! Sometimes “good” smells can be as bothersome as “bad” smells. when they are too intense, and pretty constant.

I’ve learned to always check caps on soaps, etc, when buying at the store. Also, recently, to check the quantity of the product in the bottle, when there are obvious signs on the outside, that either it, or one of it’s box mates leaked, and there are no other unaffected bottles on the shelf.

Mike

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[trickycoolj]

Well the crew at Rico’s flushed 5 gallons of water with the extractor and there’s still soap in the seat! Who knew Softsoap was so concentrated? They might have to disassemble my seat and pressure wash the foam for the next step. Totally crazy how difficult it is to get soap out!

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[miws]

Thanks for the update, tricky!

Continued positive thoughts that they will be able to totally get rid of the Softsoap.

Mike

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[metrognome]

trickycoolj – sorry about the mess … and the smell. I am highly allergic to most body washes and would be headed to the ER, not the detailer.

I tried looking up an ingredients list to see if it might help Rico figure out how to clean it:

http://www.colgate.com/app/Softsoap/US/EN/Ingredients.cvsp

There is also a customer service function that might be able to help: 1-800-468-6502.

When I’ve dealt with problems like is, the best approach has been warm water with a mild citrus-based soap like BioKleen. Soak the foam and then pile towels, etc. on top. Put something flat on the towels and then pile weights on top, forcing the towels to absorb the water. Given the configuration of the car seat, this might be pretty tough to do. You may want to have Rico keep an eye out for a replacement seat … or buy seat covers.)

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