Puke cleanup help

Skeeter McSkeet · February 2, 2015

On my way to driving some drunks home this last Saturday, I had one puke in my backseat. Covered the rear of my driver seat, the floor, and the back driver side door.

I've got a 2015 slt and had some questions on what route I need to go on getting it all cleaned up real good. The culprit already agreed to paying for a detail job and I don't plan on touching any of it. They cleaned it up real good and luckily my weather tech floor liner took most of the spillage in the floor. Its leather interior so most of that was easily cleaned as well.

First question is regarding the speaker cover in the door panel. It currently has bits of puke stuck in the holes of the cover. If I take it to the dealer to get it detailed I guess they will have knowledge of how to remove the door panel and clean behind the speaker grille?

Second, not sure if any got in there, but I have the vents on the back of my seat for the AC seats up front. Will these be able to be inspected to see if any puke got down in them?

I would take it to a regular detail place, but am afraid they won't have knowledge and/or won't try to remove the door to clean behind the speaker as well as check the vents on the seat back.

I'm assuming the dealership will have knowledge of how to check behind the speaker and the seat back if that's possible, but will they actually do that as part of a detail job? I've never had a vehicle detailed professionally that's why I'm asking all this. I really don't want to mess with any of the cleanup so I'm trying to pay to have it done and send the bill to the drunka$$.

Other than the vents and speaker grille, there is a small spot on the carpet that should be easily taken care of as well as some leftovers in the doorjam.

Any advice on how to proceed is appreciated. I'm really upset this happened as I have barely had the truck over a month. If a detail job won't entail cleaning behind the speaker and the seat vents I'm not sure I'm wanting to tackle it.

Edit- seems as if there are a couple places in the seat back leather that won't come clean. They used some leather armor all wipe type of things on the area, so there may be a more thorough way to easily clean this?

-Skeet

txab · February 2, 2015

Adam's has an excellent leather cleaner. Another product called "Lexol" works great as well and is available locally at Wally, etc.....

You can also post this question on Adam's forum and they will help you with ideas.

Skeeter McSkeet · February 2, 2015

Adam's has an excellent leather cleaner. Another product called "Lexol" works great as well and is available locally at Wally, etc.....

You can also post this question on Adam's forum and they will help you with ideas.

I appreciate the reply, I'll head over to the Adams forum and post as well. I called my cousin at the dealership and he referred me to a local guy who has been detailing vehicles for 20 some odd years. He said he would take off the door panels or anything else I needed to be satisfied. I'm going to call him and see what I can work out. I'm also going to stock up on some cleaning supplies as well. I've had that on my short list and now they are at the top lol.

-Skeet

AdamsPolishes · February 2, 2015

Thats a nasty situation to have to address - The bio-hazard aspect of dealing with stuff like this is one that a lot of pros will charge a substantial amount extra b/c it will require them to not only clean up the mess, but deal with the lingering biological aspects of it, including addressing the odor and anything that penetrated the foam under the leather or the liner under the carpets.

I'd suspect steam and a bio-enzyme might be the way to go. I would pull the door panel to get to the back side of the speaker grills, etc. Search out a reputable shop and make sure they're not just going to surface clean b/c the smell will return - specify you want them to extract carpets, steam clean surfaces and eliminate all traces of it. Since its on the other guys dime pay to have it done right!

LaserBlueZ71 · February 2, 2015

Not to pick this apart, but I would never drive home drunk friends, they would never be my friend again after that phone call. People need to take responsibility for their actions, which does not mean rely on a friend to get you out of the situation you put yourself into. Blows my mind, in the year 2015 people still think getting hammered is an acceptable pass-time.

AdamsPolishes · February 2, 2015

I'm gonna go the complete opposite on this LaserBlue -

I'd much rather have a friend puke in my car than have him end up dead in a drunk driving accident or worse, killing someone else. As I'm sure we can all probably understand drunk people typically aren't that reasonable, so telling them to be responsible for their actions in a state of intoxication would be a terrible idea. I've driven my friends who have had too much to drink before home (fortunately without vomit being involved) but at the very least call them a taxi, set up an Uber car, but getting them home is paramount. Whether we agree with their actions or not, we share the roads with them and I'd hope we'd all put the lives of our friends and our families in a higher priority than a truck interior.

I know a family that would take an interior full of puke every day for the rest of their lives to have their son back after he was killed by a drunk driver.

Skeeter McSkeet · February 3, 2015

Quick backstory: grew up with the guy, went to college with the guy too, one of my best friends. We'd both do about anything for each other. He felt horrible about it and still does I'm sure. A group of us went out to watch some live music and I said I'd be the DD. What makes it so bad is that the guy wasn't puking bc he was drunk per say; he puked bc he put a dip in and hiccuped, swallowed some dip, and there comes the puke instantly. To top it off, we were parked at a gas station when it happened, and I had just unlocked the truck for him to get back in while the rest of us were in the station checking out.

The hiccup was a byproduct of being drunk though, so you be the judge. Pissed me off so bad, I'm getting mad typing this right now actually. First brand new vehicle I've ever bought and by far the nicest, so that makes it even worse. If we were 18 still or even in college I may see it, but we are both 30 and graduated from college and working professionals at our crafts. I dip myself and swallow it all the time drinking coffee and what not, so that blows my mind as well.

As much as it made/makes me mad and as much as I am absolutely in love and protective of my truck; In the end I told him: "I can always replace a truck or clean it, but I can't replace a friend or clean his guts up after a car wreck."

Adam's Polishes, do you have any products you would recommend I get for this? I'm going to ask the detailer tomorrow if he can do what you mentioned above, but may end up going back over his work with my OCD about my truck with some of your stuff too.

-Skeet

Imcrazy · February 3, 2015

The door panel should come off easy but, like the fella from Adams said you gotta get that stuff cleaned chemically and or with steam. Once someone puked in my old mazda 3, which was pretty new at the time and it SUCKED it ran down the door panel behind the door panel, cleaned, cleaned and cleaned some more and it still stank on hot days I would get it done right. I'm with you on helping drunk friends get home, would rather goto the detail shop than to see a friend in jail or worse someones funeral. Cars, trucks, cars, etc are all possessions that can be replaced with that worthless paper we all make more of every day and pale in comparison to the value of family friends and human life.

j-ten-ner · February 3, 2015

I feel with you.

I've had my dog puking in my car. Poor bugger.

But I was lucky. She instantly ate it again...and even licked the stain before I was able to stop safely and get her out of the car.

so long

j-ten-ner

Skeeter McSkeet · February 3, 2015

I guess the silver lining in this is 2 things:

1. It's super cold so the smell doesn't get worked up if there is one.

2. Most all of it was cleaned up within 3-5 minutes of it happening, so it didn't have time to soak in under the leather for the most part. That's what I'm hoping at least.

-Skeet

Badbird2000 · February 4, 2015

That sucks. My wife (fiancee at the time) got plowed at a friends house one day watching college football. She drank whiskey and coke ALL DAY. Falling down drunk. I finally got the beverages away from her, too late. We were driving home in my old F150, had the window down for her. I told her, let me know if we need to stop. Too late...all down the passenger side door, inside and out. The window was down, so it went inside the door panel, down the outside..it was horrible. Finally get her home, upstairs and on her side on the couch with a bucket. I was 10 shades of pissed. Took me about two weeks of cleaning, but i managed to get everything clean, and no smell. You have to get it out of every nook and crany. I used a lit of enzyme killer. Took the door panel iff r times. Baking soda sprinkled on the carpet and let it sit for a few days. But when i was done, even in the middle of summer, with the truck closed up all day, no smell. It can be done, the truck will be good as new.

Abd yeah, i married her, we have a 2 1/2 year old and new house together. And she didn't touch a whiskey and coke for about 5 years after that..and has never been drunk since then. And if i could keep a drunk off the road by doing the same thing, i would do it all over again. I lost an uncle to a drunk driver right after i turned 21. The guy plowed thru a stop sign at 70 mph on an F350, hit my uncles car in the drivers door. Never had a chance. The guy was over 3x legal limit, abd driving on a suspended license due to, you guessed it, 3 DUIs.

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GMC21 · March 3, 2015

I'm gonna go the complete opposite on this LaserBlue -

I'd much rather have a friend puke in my car than have him end up dead in a drunk driving accident or worse, killing someone else. As I'm sure we can all probably understand drunk people typically aren't that reasonable, so telling them to be responsible for their actions in a state of intoxication would be a terrible idea. I've driven my friends who have had too much to drink before home (fortunately without vomit being involved) but at the very least call them a taxi, set up an Uber car, but getting them home is paramount. Whether we agree with their actions or not, we share the roads with them and I'd hope we'd all put the lives of our friends and our families in a higher priority than a truck interior.

I know a family that would take an interior full of puke every day for the rest of their lives to have their son back after he was killed by a drunk driver.

A very well written response. We are all on this forum becuase we love our vehicles, but when it comes right down to it, they are just vehicles and are made everyday - people are not replacable. I'm not saying I would not be upset, but it certainly would not ruin a friendship.

Skeeter McSkeet · March 4, 2015

Update on this. I've been told by several detailers that they won't pull the door panel off as they're afraid to break something. Most said they'd just use an air compressor to blow in the speaker. I thought that may do more harm than good, as it could blow other remnants into the speaker and get trapped.

Everything else has been cleaned super excellent. I've still got the speaker grille to fix. I'm guessing this will be done by me. The bio enzyme you referred to Adams Polishes, is that available to us normal folks? I'm heading to your site now to browse around. Any help/recommendations are appreciated for what to clean that with.

Thanks

-Skeet