How To Clean Car Floor Mats

As you drive around Salt Lake City, your car’s floor mats will pick up anything from dust to spills to debris. You’ll want to regularly wash and dry your floor mats, so they stay in top condition and keep your interior cabin clean and protected. Fortunately, if you want to DIY a cleaning, it’s pretty straightforward! Whether you’re cleaning rubber car floor mats or carpet floor mats, just follow a few key steps and you’ll be all set. The service team at National Auto Plaza has all the details on how to clean car floor mats in the guide below.

Supplies You’ll Need

Before starting the process of cleaning your floor mats, make sure you have the following supplies on hand for the type of mat your cat has:

• Rubber Car Floor Mats: Vacuum, rubber floor mat cleanser, stiff bristle brush, hose or bucket of water, microfiber towel or a place to hang your mats
• Carpet Car Floor Mats: Vacuum, carpet floor mat cleaner, brush, hose or bucket of water, wet vac if available, or a place to hang your mats

How to Clean Rubber Floor Mats

If you drive a vehicle designed for off-roading or inclement weather in the Draper area, chances are you have rubber car floor mats. These floor mats are designed to be tougher than carpet, but they also pick up a lot more dirt and debris. Follow these steps to clean them:

1. Remove the floor mats from your vehicle. This will avoid damaging the interior of your vehicle when you wash them.
2. Shake out the mats and vacuum up any leftover debris.
3. Rinse the mats with clean water.
4. Using a cleanser specially designed for rubber mats, gently scrub the mats with a stiff bristle brush to remove any additional grime and debris.
5. Rinse the mats again with clean water.
6. Hang the mats up to dry, or carefully dry with a microfiber towel.
7. When the mats are completely dry, replace them in your vehicle.

How to Clean Carpet Floor Mats

Carpet floor mats are more commonly found on luxury vehicles, and the process of cleaning them is a bit different than for rubber floor mats. Here’s what you should do:

1. Remove the floor mats from your vehicle.
2. Vacuum the floor mats to remove surface-level dirt.
3. Shake the floor mats out, and whack them against a hard surface to rid them of smaller dirt and dust particles.
4. Use a cleaner specially designed for carpet floor mats and apply it to your floor mats, taking care to follow the directions on the bottle.
5. Scrub the mats to remove any stains and ground-in debris.
6. Rinse the mats thoroughly with clean water.
7. If you have access to a wet vac, vacuum the floor mats again to remove additional dirt. This also cuts the drying time of your mats.
8. Hang up your mats to dry.
9. When the mats are completely dry, replace them in your vehicle.

Need Help Cleaning Your Floor Mats?

If you have any questions about how to clean rubber floor mats or carpet floor mats, our service team is here to help! Just contact our office or stop by our dealership, and we’re happy to answer any questions you may have. You can also schedule an appointment and bring your car by our service center if you don’t want to DIY carpet cleaning, and we’ll have you back on the Murray roads in no time.