I have inherited a car which has been lying dormant since like Christmas, so it's slightly moldy now. I need to do something about it immediately but I don't have money to pay to get it cleaned so I have to deep clean the thing myself. Does anyone have any resources I could look at or any advice on how to deep clean a moldy car interior?

How did it get moldy

>>28515369

I don't even know. all I know is it's been sitting around doing nothing and now it has an almost unmistakable mold smell. It actually smells very similar to another time it had been left unused for a while and some mold grew in it. I'm wondering if it's had mold in it the whole time but that would be weird since the thing got detailed somewhat regularly.

spray lysol over the entire interior and wipe it all down then open the windows and get it in the sun as much as you can. get in all the nooks and cranny like the seatback pockets, door compartments, under the seats, etc. it's not a big deal and easily remedied. people will take moldy cars sitting in damp garages for decades and clean them up doing this in a couple hours. if you have an hour or two to kill and want to get autistic about it go watch a bunch of 'ammo nyc' youtube vids. search for some of the barn finds he's detailed.

>>28515404
Once it's full of spores you will never ever get rid of all of them unlrss you completely strip it to bare metal and replace all upholstery.

Best you can do now is get it cleaned out, detailed again, and then for the love of God get dried out as much as possible and keep it that way.

>>28515355 (OP)
from my experience
anything porous/absorbant is now contaminated, you either need to remove it or somehow purify it
so any cloth, foam, fiber, some rubbers, and some plastics need treatment
the easiest is to simply remove it, so stripping everything is really the first step
if you can remove all the carpet, seats, headliner and sit in the car and not smell anything count yourself lucky

if you can't do that, rent a commercial steam cleaner and a gallon of ZEP or CLR
spray everything down with a heavy layer of mold killer, then the next day steamclean the fuck out of everything

>>28515355 (OP)
put it in a car bubble

>>28515451
toss a bunch of these in the car

>>28515425
>>28515428

if I were to take these suggestions short of reupholstering the car, would I have to worry about mold toxicity for the time being? I'm thinking I'm gonna have this car for like a year or so.

>>28515457
I dunno, probably
maybe only drive with the windows down? who cares if it's raining you already have a fucked interior

if you feel weird after driving it maybe stop?

>>28515457
You're going to have to worry about mold toxicity anyway. BUT, cleaning it will lessen the toxicity by a huge amount and make you and the car look, smell, and feel less like a moldy disgusting piece of shit. Make sure to hit up youtube for advice on removing mold while you're at it.

it's just some musty outdoor mold ffs, buncha pussies "oh my gawd! imma inhale mold spores n die!"
You needdo like the one guy said, spray the fuck out of it with lysol, wipe all the vinyl surfaces down real well and then get some desicant/dehumidifer bags in there. You can get rid of the active mold by keeping the relative humidity too low for it to grow.
But you should probably just sell the car or give it away since this is such a trivial "problem" and you're already struggling with it. Just get out from under the "gift" and move on. good luck

>>28515425
>>28515428

Alright, I might end up just stripping and cleaning everything. I know someone who has an ozone generator and I'm thinking of running that for a bit in the car before getting to work. How retarded is that idea?

Ozone generator

Watch that ChrisFix video about abandoned project cars

>>28515355 (OP)
$30 ozone generator from aliexpress?
I had mold in 4x4 but I just wiped everything down and now when car is in garage I throw one of those dehumidifier things in, mold never came back.

>>28515957
>>28518351
>ozone generator
This might work if there's still some odors or signs of mold after a thorough cleaning, but careful with those things.
Ozone can damage rubber, foam and some solid plastics and synthetic fabrics, and may produce all sorts of nasty byproducts if it starts eating through the interior. Don't let the ozone level stay high for long.
Also, don't breathe anywhere near the car if it's gotten heavily ozonated, not before ventilating it thoroughly. It will kill molds, sure, but at the level where it does that, it also causes lung damage and may give you asthma.

>>28518362
>>ozone generator
idk I never tried it but I've seen detailers are offering "ozone treatments" that are more expensive than unit itself on aliexpress.
I personally don't care about bit of mold just not the one that is actively growing. Even like the smell of my 4x4, smells like forest which I'm certain is smell of mold.

Google says an ozone machine can kill surface mold if you need something quick. Just don't be in the car with it running supposedly it isn't safe when the machine is running.