Floor mats in washing machine

[bepperb]

Hey,

On the advice of a guy at work I ran my factory carpet floor mats through a washing machine. It worked fantastic. Laid them out to dry on garage floor for two days, they look like new.

Any horror stories, better ways to do this, or other comments?

It definitely worked better than hanging them on the wall at the self service carwash, and was cheaper. It was a top loader on delicate, fwiw.

 

[cougargnw]

I dont think I would do that in my case becouse mine are very rigid and I would be afraid of beating up the drum and bearings in my front loader.

 

[kkreit01]

^ That's why you take them to a "laundry mat". My wife wouldn't "allow" me to use our washer for such things. I've done this in the past, and it did work excellent. Some of the new mats are pretty "beefy" though.

 

[bepperb]

Yes, I definitely took them to the laundromat.

 

[daves87rs]

That's why it's nice to have rubber floormats..just soap and hose and you're done!

 

[Ryan]

Just put them on the "gentle" cycle setting... it won't bash it around like a regular cycle would... I think I will try this for the car I just got for free from my parents. 8)

 

[ViragoBry]

I just soak mine in Simple Green, scrub with a stiff nylon brush, use the JET setting on the hose nozzle to rinse, and drape them over the fence.

 

[XS650]

Originally Posted By: bepperb
Hey,

On the advice of a guy at work I ran my factory carpet floor mats through a washing machine. It worked fantastic. Laid them out to dry on garage floor for two days, they look like new.

Any horror stories, better ways to do this, or other comments?



I did that once. They came out looking great. They are big and stiff and make the washing machine sound abused. I won't do it again.

 

[moribundman]

Just put them in the dishwasher.

 

[rszappa1]

Hey i used the dish washer on the hupcaps on my 1980 Chrysler Cordoba. It had the fake wire wheels and the dish washer worked great...

 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

A lot of clean up shops use an APC to scrub and then a pressure washer to get them nice and clean. Extract with your shop vac, lay in the sun to dry and you are done.

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: XS650

I did that once. They came out looking great. They are big and stiff and make the washing machine sound abused. I won't do it again.


+1

I did it once 4-5 years ago, there was so much sands left in washer and dryer. I won't do it again at home, if I need to clean the floor mats, I would take it to laundry mat.

 

[mstrjon32]

I've always thought to try this but was worried it would destroy the mats. Now that I hear it seems to work pretty well I might just have to give it a go! Did you use any detergent?

How did you avoid getting thrown out of the laundromat?

 

[XS650]

Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
Originally Posted By: XS650

I did that once. They came out looking great. They are big and stiff and make the washing machine sound abused. I won't do it again.


+1

I did it once 4-5 years ago, there was so much sands left in washer and dryer. I won't do it again at home, if I need to clean the floor mats, I would take it to laundry mat.


I forgot to mention the sand, I could have built a beach with it. It's absolutely amazing how much sand can hide in a carpet.