How to remove cigarette smoke and other bad odors from your car
If you have a car that reeks of cigarette smoke and you've tried everything to remove the odor then you need to read this!
Years ago I bought a used Nissan Maxima and I got a great deal on it. I got it for $5,000 less then it was worth at the time. Part of the reason I got such a great deal was that the thing literally reeked of cigarette smoke. It smelled like an ashtray on wheels. It was terrible. The guy I bought it from’s wife recently died from throat and lung cancer (just another reason not to smoke cigarettes – kids don’t even start!)
We tried everything from sprays and scents and nothing seemed to work. On hot days especially the car would smell worse then some of the filthiest and smoke filled bars I have been to in the Philadelphia area (we have lots of chain smokers here in Philly). It seemed that nothing was going to work and then I read about a few things on the internet.
One idea was an old wives tale that is used for smelly refrigerators – baking soda. For old, smelly refrigerators and freezers you tear off the top of a small box of baking soda ($.49 at WalMart) and let it sit in there on a back shelf or something. If it smells really bad you sprinkle the baking soda around in there on the shelves and such and then clean it up and replace every few months or as necessary.
Restore cloudy, yellow, dirty headlight lenses to new and save big money over replacements with the best in headlight restoration and cleaning kits at MDWholesale.com!
I used the baking soda in the car. Apparently the baking soda somehow neutralizes some of the odor but don’t ask me how. Anyway, I placed two small boxes in the car and it cut down on the smell a little. So, I sprinkled the baking soda on the carpets and seats and then vacuumed it up (you can’t leave it on there and drive the car around can you?) This also helped with reducing the cigarette smell and odor, but it wasn’t gone.
I could still smell the cigarette smoke, but it was more bearable. I wanted the smell gone or as close to gone as possible. I read online about ozone and its ability to rid the air of any odors. Then I saw that there were these little electrical boxes called ozone generators that car detailers were using to remove bad odors like cigarette and cigar smoke. I had to try one of these.
These portable ozone generators aren’t cheap I quickly found out as they can run $400 or more. That’s a little steep for someone that is only going to use it once or twice. But, however, I found a guy through Craigslist that let me use his for $20. We put my car in the garage and plugged the ozone generator in. The windows were all closed up and it was left to run for 24 hours.
After that I went out to the car and the cigarette smoke odor was gone. It had a smell, but not anything bad, kind of like new electronics smell, but weak – not unpleasant and definitely not anywhere as near as bad as the cigarette odor was. The Craigslist guy came back to pick up his ozone generator and then sprayed some new car scent in the car. It’s now as good as new.
Buy the #1 rated and best headlight restoration and cleaner kit on the market today!
You cannot tell or even catch the slightest scent of cigarette smoke in my car. The baking soda worked a little, but for serious odors like the cigarette smoke you need a ozone generator and a full day for it to completely remove the odors.
