Rain Water Soaked seat and floor
12-26-09, 04:02 PM
#1
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Rain Water Soaked seat and floor
Hi everyone,
I need your advice. I accidentally left the front passenger window open, some rain water wet front door panels, a portion of front passenger seat, and surrounding floor areas. I used microfiber towels/shammy to absorb as much water as I can. All-weather floor mats may have helped a bit too. Now, I am wondering how much damage the water would create. Would there be any water still in between the door panels or underneath the floor mat? Is there water in between the door panels, how can it be removed? Is there anyone who had this similar experience? What is the best thing to do in this situation?
Thank you,
RV
I need your advice. I accidentally left the front passenger window open, some rain water wet front door panels, a portion of front passenger seat, and surrounding floor areas. I used microfiber towels/shammy to absorb as much water as I can. All-weather floor mats may have helped a bit too. Now, I am wondering how much damage the water would create. Would there be any water still in between the door panels or underneath the floor mat? Is there water in between the door panels, how can it be removed? Is there anyone who had this similar experience? What is the best thing to do in this situation?
Thank you,
RV
Last edited by RoLux707; 12-30-09 at 07:13 AM.
12-26-09, 04:28 PM
#2
Welcome to CL!
I'm new here too! Nice bunch of people here!
Well, I do believe that most automotive carpeting (on the floor pan at least) has a a rubber backing, so I don't think that water has made it through to the body, which is a good thing. As far as the door panel is concerned, i would not be too concerned with water in there. Yes, water is bad to be in there, but I doubt you have enough water in there to be so much of an issue as if it were flood damaged. What you might want to do if possible, is to turn the car on and roll up the windows and turn the heat on for an hour or 2. Even better would be to get at it with a wet/dry shop vac and THEN run a little heat on them. This may keep you from getting that musty smell in there. Heck, you might even want to use your damp carpet as a spring board to use something like a woolite rugstick and shampoo the carpets, and then, once they are dry again, give it a good vacuming. Assuming your seats are leather, a good wiping down should do them just fine. Best of luck!
I'm new here too! Nice bunch of people here!
Well, I do believe that most automotive carpeting (on the floor pan at least) has a a rubber backing, so I don't think that water has made it through to the body, which is a good thing. As far as the door panel is concerned, i would not be too concerned with water in there. Yes, water is bad to be in there, but I doubt you have enough water in there to be so much of an issue as if it were flood damaged. What you might want to do if possible, is to turn the car on and roll up the windows and turn the heat on for an hour or 2. Even better would be to get at it with a wet/dry shop vac and THEN run a little heat on them. This may keep you from getting that musty smell in there. Heck, you might even want to use your damp carpet as a spring board to use something like a woolite rugstick and shampoo the carpets, and then, once they are dry again, give it a good vacuming. Assuming your seats are leather, a good wiping down should do them just fine. Best of luck!
12-26-09, 04:29 PM
#3
In my opinion i would use a high powered wet-vac(public carwash) to soak up as mush of the water as possible. I found that turning the heat on the hottest setting with it blowing on the floor will evaporate a great deal of dampness. Also try to park your car in the sun until it dries out. As far as the door, if it has a great amount of water that got in it should've drained out thru some type of drainage that most doors have. Lets just hope that your switches didn't get too much water in them. I would try to dry them out with a blow dryer if possible. Just my two cents! 
To the above quoter: we must have been replying at the same time. LOL
To the above quoter: we must have been replying at the same time. LOL
12-26-09, 04:32 PM
#4
In my opinion i would use a high powered wet-vac(public carwash) to soak up as mush of the water as possible. I found that turning the heat on the hottest setting with it blowing on the floor will evaporate a great deal of dampness. Also try to park your car in the sun until it dries out. As far as the door, if it has a great amount of water that got in it should've drained out thru some type of drainage that most doors have. Lets just hope that your switches didn't get too much water in them. I would try to dry them out with a blow dryer if possible. Just my two cents!
To the above quoter: we must have been replying at the same time. LOL
To the above quoter: we must have been replying at the same time. LOL
12-26-09, 04:39 PM
#5
Honestly, this is my biggest fear. I always check the windows and the sunroof before i leave the car. In your situation i would check if there is any water under the carpeting and if yes, try to get all the water from under the carpet as soon as possible before it starts to rust and stink. Take off the door sills and try to pull the carpet up and maybe lay something under it to absorb the water. I read something like this on one of the boards so if i find the link i'll let you know. In regards to the door panels, you can take them off and see whats going on inside
12-26-09, 04:55 PM
#6
This is from some other forum. No exactly the same but...
2nd S Flooded This week! S Owners Keep your Drains Clean!!!
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About this time of the year... leaves fall off trees with other debris... Clog the drains in the wiper cowl and flood the entire passenger side floor... from front to back... Rear Sam (fuse box) under the rear seat is sitting in 3in of water.... carpets are Soaked and stinky, the back half of the car is inop... Interior has to be gutted and cleaned/dried.... what a costly pain in the ***...
You can see the rust marks already forming on the silver floor....
2nd S Flooded This week! S Owners Keep your Drains Clean!!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About this time of the year... leaves fall off trees with other debris... Clog the drains in the wiper cowl and flood the entire passenger side floor... from front to back... Rear Sam (fuse box) under the rear seat is sitting in 3in of water.... carpets are Soaked and stinky, the back half of the car is inop... Interior has to be gutted and cleaned/dried.... what a costly pain in the ***...
You can see the rust marks already forming on the silver floor....
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12-26-09, 05:15 PM
#9
Lexus Champion
If it were me I'd get profession help. When you get flooding in your home the insurance company will send professionals to rip up the carpet, set up blowers to dry everything, etc. Surely there are car people who do the same for flooded cars. Drying a wet car seat doesn't sound real simple. A lot of thickness that is wet and it will take a lot of dry warm air to get through and dry it out, IMO.
If you value your car, I wouldn't take the chance of doing it myself.
If you value your car, I wouldn't take the chance of doing it myself.
12-26-09, 05:42 PM
#10
Not knowing just how bad it is, as in not seeing the car first hand, I don't think the OP has come accross as being to frantic about it. I mean, I would imagine you could tell with a little bit common sense if this was catastrophic or not, and not need CL to alert you. I think the OP, from what I can tell from his post, has some moderate rain into his car, but not something like that benz that xuser posted. If when he opened the car and he had actual puddles in the wells, then yes professional help may be a better answer. I hope he is wet vacuming the car as we speak.
12-26-09, 07:01 PM
#11
I think you'll have to pull out the seats, pull up the carpet, open the side door panels, and allow everything to dry for days. Otherwise, if you don't pull up the carpet, it will mildew before drying, and the car will be an unsellable stinky mess.
12-26-09, 07:19 PM
#12
Not knowing just how bad it is, as in not seeing the car first hand, I don't think the OP has come accross as being to frantic about it. I mean, I would imagine you could tell with a little bit common sense if this was catastrophic or not, and not need CL to alert you. I think the OP, from what I can tell from his post, has some moderate rain into his car, but not something like that benz that xuser posted. If when he opened the car and he had actual puddles in the wells, then yes professional help may be a better answer. I hope he is wet vacuming the car as we speak.
12-28-09, 06:00 PM
#13
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You guys are all amazing and thank you all for your kind responses.
I tried the ShopVac etc but didn't help much because of the lack of flexibility with the connectors and etc.
After drying the floor and seats with microfiber towels/German shammy, I used two hair dryers to completely dry the car. I didn't do much effort on the door and the seat because they got dried up quite fast. Floor is completely dry. No smell or wetness.
Now my concerns are:
1) Will there be any water still stuck on the floor beneath the carpet?
2) even though, everything on the door seems working normal, is there any thing I should be concerned about (ie: speaker etc.)?
I tried the ShopVac etc but didn't help much because of the lack of flexibility with the connectors and etc.
After drying the floor and seats with microfiber towels/German shammy, I used two hair dryers to completely dry the car. I didn't do much effort on the door and the seat because they got dried up quite fast. Floor is completely dry. No smell or wetness.
Now my concerns are:
1) Will there be any water still stuck on the floor beneath the carpet?
2) even though, everything on the door seems working normal, is there any thing I should be concerned about (ie: speaker etc.)?
Last edited by RoLux707; 12-30-09 at 07:21 AM.
12-29-09, 08:35 AM
#14
Anytime you deal with situations like this and there was a fix involved then then there always gonna be some type of residual concern. IMO, the only wh to be 100 percent sure is to check behind the panels and floor. I know sounds laborious but it may be worth in the long run. Not to scare you but they're a lot of small ecu's placed all over these cars and you may not want to take a chance on letting one them and the floor for that matter begin to rust. One day of making sure may save you $$$ in the long run my friend plus it allows you to get to know your car intimately. 
12-29-09, 09:25 AM
#15
Recovering Lexus Addict
About 15 years ago, I was on a trip to the west coast to visit clients. I flew from John Wayne to Oakland, rented another car (I still had one parked with Avis at SNA), and attended a meeting in Berkeley. I left the car with a valet who, for some reason, put the window down when he parked the car. It poured rain during the day and I returned to find a soaked drivers seat. I used my coat and tried to sit in the middle of the bench seat, but still got soaked driving back to the airport. Since I was already running late, I flew in a wet suit to Seattle before changing.
