Disinfecting a Vibe

[RanKether]

Arrg! I live in a two story house with the garage beneath the first story. The sewer line in our house overflowed, leaking through the floor boards and onto my Vibe, coating it in, essentially, raw sewage. I've taken the Vibe to an auto car wash at the local Chevron but there's still, literally, crap everywhere. What's the best way to disinfect and remove all this crap without damaging the paint? Bleach? Simple Green?

[joatmon]

that's terrible. A Frosty Vibe toobleach might be a good disinfectant, but it might do terrible things to the car. First thing I'd do would be hose it off for an hour or two, after that, I don't know. good luck cleaning it, and the house too

[zionzr2]

Wont your insurance (home or auto) pay someone to clean it up for you?

[Whelan]

You need to contact your insurance and explain the situation and get them to pay for this cause that needs a lot of professional work.Your not talking about just cleaning off the car, all that gross stuff can seep into all the crevices and inside little openings and can seep into things like the rubber window surrounds, making sure that the stench will never leave and may need replacing. So I would contact insurance first before I did anything! I wouldn't even drive the car and leave it where it is take pics for proof as well!Oh and P.S. - DO NOT USE BLEACH OR SIMPLE GREEN ON THE PAINT!!!!

[Raven]

Pressure washer.

[Whelan]

Coming from a detailing person (I won't say expert, too cocky). But I would not do a job like that myself. The time, materials, and procedures needed go even beyond what I own in my garage. This is something that NEEDS to be undertaken by a professional cleanup service, and they do have them. They specialize in dealing with things like this. A company like Servpro even because like I said, there are going to be special tools and equipment needed to really ensure that the car is brought back to its former state, then you can do a detail on it after. Not something you can spray off, rinse with a mop, wax and call a day.Call your insurance as I said before, it may be covered. If not call someone for an estimate on cleaning, your auto insurance can point you to someone, and if they charge more than what your deductible is to clean it, then put in a claim on your auto policy.

[lovemyraffe]

Quote, originally posted by zionzr2 »Wont your insurance (home or auto) pay someone to clean it up for you?+1 for the home insurance

[wyatt89]

Quote, originally posted by Whelan »Coming from a detailing person (I won't say expert, too cocky). Liar! you are the expert on this forum!!!

[Blanco_Diablo]

That needs some place that specializes in Enzyme cleaning to really eat up all the waste and properly disinfect. Kind of like the stuff you use to clean up after pets but on a much larger scale. Professional job for sure.

[Whelan]

Quote, originally posted by wyatt89 »Liar! you are the expert on this forum!!! Clean your Avatar! LOL

[wyatt89]

haha, no thanks, my car looked better dirty since the paint was so horrible

[RanKether]

Thanks all for the advice-- my car insurance (Progressive) was slightly difficult at first but eventually I got a rental car for a day and they took my car to some sort of deep cleaning car wash/power washer/professional detailer. I think between that and all the rain we've been having here in LA for the last 3 days has managed to soak/clean all the crap away. For once, I will not curse the money that leaves my wallet and goes to my insurance company this month.

[Whelan]

Good call on the insurance. I have Progressive and they are pretty good about their stuff. Been with them for over 4 years now.

[chris777]

Insurance can be a good thing every once in a while. I have allstate, and 5 years ago, I pulled a bizarre cross between the dukes of hazard, and tony hawk with my civic, totaling it. Being the cheapskate I am I paid around loan value for it (I only had it a few months and probably should have replaced the tires As I suspect they had something to do with the accident)and lets just say I have no love for double wishbone suspension, as it made me feel like a skipping stone back and fourth across (and off) the road.well they gave me full retail replacement cost, so I Basically "made" $3500 on a wreck that was my fault. (I was running late for work and it had rained earlier)I no longer get in a hurry, needless to say, as I know how blessed I am that I didn't hit the 2 mack trucks that witnessed my accident.

[Whelan]

DWS suspensions are horrid. Luckily the AWD Trix/Vibe came with IRS (independent rear suspension) whoop!