Got salt stains on your car floor mats and want to remove them? If so, you’ve landed at the right place. This blog post is about removing salt from car floor mats.
Winter brings a bit of a headache for car owners, from the jammed batteries to salt stains on the floor liners. Plus, deicing will be handy for the roads but not for the car mats that become salty from your shoes.
Winter and deicing cannot be stopped, but the stains they caused could be cleaned up.
So without further ado, let’s remove the salt stains from the mats.
Home Solutions for Removing Salt from the Car floor mats
Things You Will Need
- A sprayer
- A brush
- Hot or boiled water
- Vinegar
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How to Remove Salt Stains from the Car Mats Using Vinegar
You must have gathered all the requirements for the task. Follow the steps below and get your mats free of stains.
- Remove the floor mats from your car, and put them where you’re going to clean them. The mats should be removed with care so that no salt gets spilled off the mats onto the carpet. If you have a vacuum cleaner, clean the rugs inside so that it sucks the loose salt.
- Further, cleaning the mats with a brush or shaking them will also help spill the salt. Make sure this is done outside.
- Make a solution of hot water and white vinegar, fifty by fifty. This can be done on a bucket or bottle spray.
- Stir the bucket or shake the sprayer to mix up the solution further.
- Now spray on the stains and leave the mats for a few minutes – not longer.
- Scrub the stains with a brush for deep cleaning.
- After finishing the job, let the mats dry. Better to expose them to the sun so that the vinegar smell also goes away.
- A dry vacuum can be handy as well.
- If you don’t have vinegar, you can remove the dried salt by scrubbing and vacuum cleaning it further. After that, wash them with water or a hose.
Remove Salt Stains from Car Mats Using Baking Soda
The salt stains can be removed with hot water and baking soda solution if you don’t have vinegar. Follow the same process as above; just replace vinegar with baking soda, and spray the mixture onto the stains.
Purchasing Floor Mat Cleaning Products
If you don’t want to make vinegar and hot water solution or baking soda with water, you can have ready-made products, which is a more accessible, cleaner way of removing the salt. This would cost you a few bucks but is well worth it.
Carpet Shampoo and Floor Liners Cleaners are the items that are ready for the solution on a bottle spray. Find a good brand – Weathertech TechCare Products – and follow the process for cleaning the car mats.
Related: How To Remove Floor Mat Clips or Anchors?
FAQs
What Causes Salt Stains on Car Floor Mats?
Salt stains usually occur in winter during the snow. The roads become icy and covered with snow, which is removed through deicing. It melts the ice and snow on the road, which becomes ready for traffic without slippage issues.
Deicing has a chemical composition of sodium chloride – salt – which remains on the roads. Your shoes take the salt to your car, leaving stains on the liners. That’s how your car mats have salt stains in winter.
Does Vinegar Remove Salt Deposits?
Yes, Vinegar, when mixed with hot water, can deposit salt. The solution should be mixed 50/50 for effective performance. This mixture removes salt stains from the floor mats. Plus, this is not the only way of eliminating salt deposits.
Related: How To Get Gum Off Car Floor Mats