Mold and mildew inside the car

[Charles Cook]

Hi everyone, I went out in the shop today to look at something for @davek and opened the door on the 68 Roadrunner and there was mold or mildew on the bottom area of the seats. The material is vinyl covers from Legendary. I’ve never put anything on them like Armor all. Has anyone else had this problem?
If so what do you use to prevent this? The shop does not have air conditioning. Could this be the problem? I’m going to clean everything good tomorrow and was wondering if there’s something that I could do to keep this from happening again. Thanks in advance guys.

 

[68BabyBlue]

I’ve used packets of moisture absorbing beads, and I store the GTX with the windows open. Seems to work. I don’t have a great sense of smell. My wife does, and she says the odor is not great, but acceptable.

 

[Floyd]

I’ve had similar issues in the past. I started running a dehumidifier and added a couple hygrometers so I could monitor the humidity levels. I added a mimisplit a couple years ago and run the dehumidifier mode frequently during the summer months.

When I had issues in the past, I used a mixture of vinegar and water and wiped down all the areas that had signs of mold/mildew.

 

[Sixpactogo]

I noticed some spots like you described on the seats of my Charger this year. I used Mothers vinyl cleaner on them and they cleaned up nicely. My upholstery shop owner told me years ago to never use Armor All on anything because it tends to dry vinyl products out when the sun bakes on it so I either use Mothers or Meguires products on my interiors. I doubt the lack of AC has anything to do with it. More than likely the lack of activity and just sitting in the shop too much.

 

[dadsbee]

Spray with Lysol, let sit a few minutes and wipe clean.

 

[69Bee]

Damp-Rid

 

[mpgmike]

Whether a vehicle or a room in the house, we use an ozone generator. We recently found a light on Amazon that screws into a normal 120 VAC light outlet and radiates UV light and ozone. We use that for a myriad of applications, including what you're describing.

 

[440 4 speed]

Whether a vehicle or a room in the house, we use an ozone generator. We recently found a light on Amazon that screws into a normal 120 VAC light outlet and radiates UV light and ozone. We use that for a myriad of applications, including what you're describing.

At one time we had a second owner 1968 300. Apparently it had a major packages of a moose meat stored in the trunk after the dealer took it back in trade. This was in 1974. Awhile later he stored the moose into it. Forgot to get it out soon enough in the spring. 1995 we bought the car, might have had 3000 miles put on it in those 21 years.
It still had a slight rotten meat smell.
I rented an ozone machine.
It eliminated the smell, but all of the shoulder belts lost their elasticity.

 

[DeltaV]

Hi everyone, I went out in the shop today to look at something for @davek and opened the door on the 68 Roadrunner and there was mold or mildew on the bottom area of the seats. The material is vinyl covers from Legendary. I’ve never put anything on them like Armor all. Has anyone else had this problem?
If so what do you use to prevent this? The shop does not have air conditioning. Could this be the problem? I’m going to clean everything good tomorrow and was wondering if there’s something that I could do to keep this from happening again. Thanks in advance guys.

I thought you liked green?

Not mine!

 

[GTXDAN]

It's just the humidity here in the south. Damp-Rid as 69Bee said. Get one of these to leave in the car, will take care of it after you clean the seats.

Robot or human?

 

[Charles Cook]

I thought you liked green?

View attachment 1925085View attachment 1925086
Not mine!

Dang, not that color green, what I see looks grey on the black upholstery. I’ll pass on that green.
I guess I asked for that one. Thanks Wayne.

 

[RR Fan Dan]

Damp-Rid

This will help but if the humidity is to high than you need to get dehumidifiers. I live in Virginia and the humidity in SC is just as bad if not worse than up here. I tried damp rid first but it wasn’t enough.I bought two 50 pint a day dehumidifiers with pumps and that solved my mold problems. I can get the humidity levels to 30%-40%, even with the outside humidity at 95%. This is what I have.

Robot or human?

 

[Charles Cook]

This will help but if the humidity is to high than you need to get dehumidifiers. I live in Virginia and the humidity in SC is just as bad if not worse than up here. I tried damp rid first but it wasn’t enough.I bought two 50 pint a day dehumidifiers with pumps and that solved my mold problems. I can get the humidity levels to 30%-40%, even with the outside humidity at 95%. This is what I have.

http://[URL]https://www.walmart.com...Featuring-Auto-Defrost-Timer-Func/16788850463

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Yeah the humidity has been bad for several months here. I should have checked on the cars. I will be looking into one of them. Thanks

 

[DeltaV]

 

[RR Fan Dan]

Yeah the humidity has been bad for several months here. I should have checked on the cars. I will be looking into one of them. Thanks

Make sure you get it with the pump. You can then run the drain hose any way you want to the outside. Mine is ran out the window. If you don’t have a pump it will still manually drain but the hose has to be oriented just so to get it to drain. I have one in my other garage that is manual drain and that’s how I know the pump is much better. If it doesn’t drain then it fills up the reservoir bucket on the unit and shuts off when full, and you have to manually empty the bucket to restart it. It only takes less than a day to fill the reservoir. You will be amazed at the amount of water it pulls out of the air. 5 to 8 gallons a day with one unit running. In contrast the damp rid pulls out maybe a cup of water a week. Don’t bother with the damp rid. Oh and my garage is 18x25 for comparison and I am running two units. I originally started with one and it helped immensely and got the humidity between 50%-60%, but I wanted it lower so I got the second one. Now it is 30%-40%

 

[Charles Cook]

A friend just called and said he has one I can have if I will come and get it.

 

[RR Fan Dan]

A friend just called and said he has one I can have if I will come and get it.

View attachment 1925095

View attachment 1925096

View attachment 1925097

That looks like it will do the trick. Get you a hydrometer so you can see how good it’s doing. If it doesn’t pull enough you can augment it with the $230 Walmart one I showed you above.

 

[Charles Cook]

@RR Fan Dan is your shop air tight?
Mine is insulated and pretty tight.
But the humidity has been awful lately.

 

[RR Fan Dan]

@RR Fan Dan is your shop air tight?
Mine is insulated and pretty tight.
But the humidity has been awful lately.

Yes. It’s insulated, I just installed additional seals on the 10 foot garage door to seal that off really tight. The humidity is bad enough my car sweats in the garage without the humidifier.

 

[Charles Cook]

Mine sweats enough to wet the concrete sometimes during a rain storm.