When you have a car, there is big possibility that the scent inside the car become bad as you use it every day. Be it the smell of leftover foods, sweat, wet areas during heavy rain, and smoke. Especially if you are a heavy smoker. Of all the odors, the smell from smoke is one of the toughest to get rid of. This time we will give you 20 easy tricks to remove smoke smell from car permanently. If you think it is unnecessary to do these steps, maybe you are getting used to the smell. But it will be annoying things if you are non-smoker person and smell it the first time you enter the car. It will also be minus point when you are about to sell your car to other person.
Even if you are a smoker, you need to consider the negative impact of smoke smell to your health. Remember, smoke contains carcinogen element that is harmful. The smoke of cigarette will linger everywhere, even to the pores of your car’s leather seat. The level of contamination of every car is different. In fact, you need to clean your car thoroughly every 15000 miles or 24000 kilometer every year. That’s why you need to do 20 easy tricks to remove smoke smell from car permanently.
Do Car Perfume Works Well?
Many people decide to mask the smell instead of looking for the root cause. Put car perfume is not the best way to remove smoke smell from your car. The original smell persists, and mixed with the toxin odors. No matter how strong the fragrance of your car perfume, smoke odors can enter any porous surface in the car. Besides that, the tar stain can leave oil residue on your car’s interior surface, such as dashboard. No wonder that your perfume car sometimes can’t remove smoke smell from cars.
20 Tricks to Remove Smoke Smell from Car Permanently
Before speaking about tricks to free your car from smoke smell, you need to note three primary sources of smoke smell. There are driver’s seat, headliner, and the seat belt. The residue from cigarette will penetrate to the carpet and other hard surfaces in the car. It will be more difficult to remove the smell because it will stuck inside the air system. If you are tired to free your car from smoke smell, try one of these methods:
1. Ozone Machine Treatment
This is the most popular and strong trick to free your car from smoke smell. Yes the machine is not small and contain poisonous gas. So the first thing that you need to remember is do this on well-ventilated area. Never do this in your garage because it will harm your health due to the O3 residue. Before doing this, your car must be in completely dry condition. Once you turn on the machine, make a distance or cover your nose and mouth with mask. Ozone works by radiation to break O2 molecules and break it to be single oxygen atoms. As a result, the smoke smell and bacterial left inside your car will be gone for good.
2. Air Purifier
Often comes in small and portable size, air purifier will work effectively to filter the air. When you activate the air purifier inside the car, it will absorb the carbon and release fresh air by filtering the smoke layer by layer. When you’ve done the cycle, let the air circulate well by opening the windows.
3. Odor Bomb
This method is a bit tricky and you need to do it very carefully. First, park your car in well-ventilated or outdoor area. Make sure to do this method when your car’s engine is off. You can put the odor bomb machine in the driver’s seat, and close all the doors and windows. You should wait outside until the machine finishes its job. Once you’ve done the cycle, open the windows to circulate the air.
4. Hot Steam
Works the similar way like standing iron, hot steam will clean the hardliner and other surfaces in your car. How to do it? First cover the hose with fiber towel. Turn on the steam and let the hot air clean the place that you think need to be cleaned. Move it very gently. Make sure that the car condition is not too wet. The hot steam will clean smells stuck inside the fabric of your car. After you’ve done this treatment, lightly tap the area and wipe it with soft towel. You will see the result, not only the smell is gone, but also the area will be cleaner than before.
5. Clean the Cabin Filter
Like what we mentioned above, the cabin air filter needs to be cleaned every 24000 kilometer or 15000 miles. Or at least clean it once a year. Check your car manual book to know the specific location and how to open the cabin filter. After that, replace the previous filter with the new one. Reinstall cabin filter and turn the air conditioner for a few minutes. This will circulate the air in the car. Don’t forget to also open the windows to draw in fresh air from outside.
6. Clean Air Vents and AC Condenser
If you do notice, the air vents can be the breeding ground for mold. To clean it, first turn off your car machine. Spray all the vents and all related parts of air conditioner system with the tools you can buy easily at car reparation places. After doing this to all the parts, start the engine. Turn on the air conditioner. You can consider to repeat this step for complete air circulation. The cleaner your circulation, the more odor will be removed from your car.
7. Watch the Seat Belt
If you ever notice, the seat belt especially the one on the driver’s seat is one of areas most infected with smoke smell. The cigarette smoke most likely touch the seat belt when you smoke while driving. To clean it, spray with fabric cleanser. Wipe and press it gently with microfiber towel until it dry. You will see the difference before and after the seat belt being cleaned.
8. Fabric Cleaner
This is one of the elements that we mentioned many times in 20 tricks to remove smoke smell from your car permanently. No wonder, because fabric cleanser can work effectively to clean your car. Pick the cleaner suitable with your car’s fabric. To apply this method, you can simply tap lightly the dirty are with microfiber towel. Do it to all the areas. After that, pick a brush to clean small areas and headliners.
9. Laundry Detergent
Pick your favorite scented laundry detergent from the washing area in your home. You can make this as natural fragrance in your car. Just place in on a cup and put inside the car for some length of time. Doing this will help you to get rid of bad odors. We recommend you to use the natural rather than strong scented to avoid mix of smells.
10. Odor & Moisture Control
This usually comes in pack. You just simply need to put the pack under seat and back area of the car. This pack will catch the odors and smoke smells. How does this work? If you open the pack, it contains minerals from volcanic, in the form of small stones. These minerals can last for years.
11. Camphor
To add the power of odor and moisture control, you can place small bucket contains camphor. This will work to catch smoke smell in your car and replace it with fresher air.
12. Baking Soda
Pick a pack of baking soda and spread it on your car. You can do it anywhere, on the carpets or seats. The acid stain ingredient in baking soda will react to the smoke smell in the car. Leave it for a while. Later, you can easily clean it with vacuum cleaner. For maximum result, do this for 30 minutes every day.
13. Coffee Grounds
Another tricks to remove smoke smell from car permanently is place the coffee powder or coffee grounds inside the car. Put it on the small cup and place it anywhere safe in your car. This method is known effective to remove bad odors in refrigerator, and there is nothing wrong to do it to remove smoke smell in your car.
14. Activated Charcoal
Among the other 25 tricks to remove smoke smell from car permanently, using activated charcoal is one of the strongest methods. This usually comes in sachet. Place it inside the car. The charcoal will actively absorb the smoke smell. You can place more than one sachet in one time to have maximum result.
15. Apple Cider Vinegar
When we are talking about tips to clean everything, apple cider vinegar mostly always belong to the list. Put the apple cider vinegar or white vinegar in a cup. You can add a bit of water and put it on sprayer. Do manage to spray it on selected areas inside the car. You can also simply put the apple cider vinegar in a bowl and place it in your car to remove the nasty smell.
16. Cinnamon Sticks
Who doesn’t like the scent of cinnamon? And yes, cinnamon sticks also work as one of the tricks to remove smoke smell from car permanently. What you need to do is place boiled water on a bowl. Or you can also pour the hot water into a mug. Place the cinnamon sticks inside the boiled water. And then place it inside your car. Close all the windows and doors. Keep inside until the water cools down naturally. Later you will find out that the nasty smoke smell has turned into cinnamon fragrance!
17. Citrus Peels
Citrus, lemon, or orange. You can choose one of those fruits and keep the skin. Place the skin peel in a cup. Put it inside the car and close all the doors and windows. These peels will soak up the smoke smell from your car permanently.
18. Cat Litter
Do you have feline friends at home? Just borrow their litter powder and put it on a bowl. Place it inside the car. Leave it overnight or for a day. This will help you to absorb the smelly odors. As a bonus, you can keep your car windows from fogging.
19. Newspaper
There are many evidences that newspaper can take the role as odor absorbent. All you need to do is crumple up some pieces of newspaper. Leave it inside the car for a night or up to 48 hours. You can place as many newspapers as you want all over the car. This method will effectively remove the offensive odors in your car.
20. Dryer Sheets
You can buy dryer sheets everywhere over the counter. Place several sheets inside the car, mostly under your seat. Protect your car from the heat of sun exposure. Park your car in shady area. If your car is exposed to the sun, it will release fresh scent. Replace the dryer sheets regularly as the power may fade by the time goes by.
After applying these 25 tricks to remove smoke smell from car permanently, all you need to do is repeat these steps for complete removal. And there is no use to do this if you keep on smoking inside the car or while driving. That’s why you need to hold yourself to not smoke inside the car. However, you will stay inside the car for hours a day. If you keep on breathe the smoke smell, it will affect your health. The toxic content from the cigarette and tar stains contain carcinogenic elements that may be dangerous for you and your family member. To have a clean, clear, and odorless air inside the car is one great privilege for you. Also remember to keep your car clean by vacuuming it regularly and remove the trash as soon as possible.