Now that Spring is coming upon us and it's time to be extra vigilant cleaning the carpets in the family car.. Even though we have rubber floor mats , they still don't keep all the road salt from caking on the left side kick panel or the right side Transmission hump.. Any DIY remedies out there , endless scrubbing isn't enough.. I'd almost want to use a wire brush attachment on the electric drill but that would completely destroy the rugs... After the fact I'd like to install a rubber floor liner on top of the rugs once their cleaned in the hopes that this would curtail any future salt staining... Thanks

You face a lot of obstacles of winter driving, in and out of your car, that we all do in the northern climate, NorPlan. We do the best we can with vacuuming first, I don't bother with shampooing and my car is spotless, come spring. So get some rubber mats to protect the carpet if you didn't already have them, and do the best as we all do.

Oh, by the way, I am in and out of my car in the winter through slush and ice cause I work in the community, but it is still manageable.

So, after all of this, what exactly is your question?

I clean cars as part of what I do for a living now. I used to detail cars 25 years ago... what worked back then and still seems to work now is first vacuum the rug as best as you can. You need a decent vacuum for this. Then you use a car carpet cleaner from a parts store, such as ArmorAll or Turtlewax carpet cleaner (no need for fancy expensive cleaners). Follow the directions, use a brush and scrub a little if needed while the carpet is still damp. Vacuum it up and it should be good.

After I do what odinn7 says, I then put down color-coordinated rubber floor mats that cover much of the carpeting. My husband uses old remnants of our living room carpeting that he cuts to fit on his van floor -- right now he's in a red-and-black shag mood.