gearbox

iTrader: (95)

I know im getting tired of paying just to make my car smell like something other than wet carpet and mildew lol. in most cases, the air freshener barely lasts a few days, maybe a week, and smells like pina colada or cherries. who wants that?

heres how you can make your car smell nice again with little cost, and all natural ingredients.

for severe odor elimination:

if theres something nasty smelling in your car (dead body, animal, mold, food), you need to completely get rid of that odor first. there are several ways to do this. one way is to get a plate of baking soda and leave it in the car with the windows up for a couple days. this works okay, but not great. even better will be using a plate of activated carbon/charcoal, but its harder to find and might be expensive. one of the best ways ive found is to buy a special essential oil blend called whatodor, which is just water and a mixture of essential oils. check whatodor.com, its one of the few "as seen on tv" products that actually works. the oils will kill bacteria completely, and after a few days your car will smell like nothing (not even the spray). it removed strong manure smell from my trunk and carpet, so im a believer. you can also spray down your cabin filters with it. these filters are usually a very bad source of odor, because they often get wet and moldy (aside from being dirty from bugs and particulates) and then that air gets blown right inside the car.

how to make your car smell nice:

-essential oils are probably the easiest way to go, either placing a few drops on the cabin filters, or putting some in a small dish under the seat. and best of all, they are easy to make at home! all you need is your favorite plant/flower/fruit, some acetone, and a way to grind the plant material. lets say you like roses, so grab maybe 6-10 rose flowers and go dry them in the sun for 1-2 days. the more you dry, the easier the next step is. oils will stay with the plant, while water evaporates. take your dry plant, and add some acetone to it. mulch everything up either using a rock or a mortar/pestel type of setup. add enough acetone so that you are covering most of the flowers. keep mixing until you see the acetone start to change colors, than means it is extracting the plant oils. if you did not fully dry the plants, you may also have a lil water which is okay. once you are done grinding, pour off the acetone into a new container and throw away the plant leftovers (to the dirt, so they can be recycled). it helps to use a cloth or something to strain out the whole chunks. what you have now is essential oil dissolved in acetone. let the acetone evaporate, and you have a 100% pure essential oil! it can be done with almost any plant material like rose, lemon, orange, other flowers, friuts, etc. the more starting plant, the more oil you recover. and if you dont already know, essential oils have very powerful, natural smells. and it will take time for the oil to evaporate, so you now have a long lasting source of nice smells for your car

Hondaguy89

Wow, thats really cool! How long has it lasted for you?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

depends on the batch i guess. and if you keep it in a metal tray like for used teabags or something, you can hold a lighter flame under the oil for a while til it turns to liquid. the smell will get really strong again. you have to experiment, because some oils will turn solid at room temp. others may be slightly liquid. watch out how you store it in the car. the solids obviously no problem, but you dont want to spill it on the carpet if its moving.

you can also try "wet" items like lemons, and you will have an extra layer of water that separates from the acetone/oil. you can usually just suck off the water with an eye dropper.