sadly, ive become a pack-a-day smoker and i love driving my maxima. irresponsibly, ive done both at the same time. although i do not have a smokey smell in the car, the leather smell, the least the same smell it had when i got it new, has departed me. i miss it. is there anything i can do to get it back, short of buying new leather seats?

for those that have had their cars shampoo'd and professionally detailed inside, any changes in the smell?

 

I only smoke SUVs in my Maxima Try some Febreeze or someting on the carpenting and headliner. Perhaps some strong smelling leather conditioner and a good air freshener. I don't smoke, so I don't know if any of these will help

 

try frebreeze it can be found in any grocery store or kmart in the cleaning section...you will have to do REPEATED sprays to get rid of the smell

also look for a cleaning spray with lemon....lemon is good for removing nasty smells


if that doesn't work

STOP SMOKING you'll live longer and healthier!!

 

No I don't smoke in my Max...only cause I quit. Smoked in my other car and I know how you feel. The above sugesstions are good ones, but I will give you a few more.

1) Vinegar-yes vinegar-put it in a small container (do not put lid on container) and place it in your car overnight. Vinegar absorbs smoke. Also if you have and use an ashtry in your car-pull it out clean it out and rinse it with warm soapy water. Then put vinegar in it and let soak for awhile.
2)Look in your grocery store cleaning aisle where the air freshners are. I found a product that was called Smoke End, Smoke Kill something like that (can't remember the name exactly and it worked great.)
3) Fabric softner dryer sheets work great for freshing. Pick one you like and stick it under seats etc.
4) having car professionly shampooed and cleaned will help, but sadly from experience I can tell you that the "new car fresh smell" is gone after you smoke in it.
But doing these suggestions and others that have been posted should get your car smelling fresh again. Good Luck!

Joann

 

I don't smoke but my mom does... all too much.

I'm not sure about leather but on her old car, we tried everything in your grocery aisle and automobile detailing shop - but nothing worked.

The amazing part about it though is, to my mom there was no difference. "It doesn't smell like anything, smells like a clean car if anything".

But to me and several others, "It still smells like cigarettes"

I could've sworn all that smoking jacked her smelling as well.

Stop smoking dude. It's for your own good and the people around you.

 

this sounds like a very bad practical joke!!!! haha.

seriously though, if in fact the liquid is absorbing an odor, it would require a lot of liquid because the volume of air in the cabin and trunk is so large. so, like a bucket of vinegar should work?

thanks for the tip!

 

A bucket--Whoa dude! Seriously what i did was filled small plastic cups with vinegar and put on in the front seat and one in the back seat and two (on each side) of the trunk. FYI it also works in your home-if you smoke inside or a guest at your home comes in and smokes set small cups of vinegar throughout the room (behind curtains, in corners ) to absorb the smell. It really works. Your welcome for the tip-just call me the org's answer to Martha Stewart!

 

And for how long (light up and leave the car soon, or smoke it in tehre until finished)?

I mean one or two a day in the car with the window cracked a bit and roof tilted should not have built that much odor up...but if 5-10 a day, everyday...hmmmmmm....

If you want to try a leather conditioner that might help...try Eagle One. Has a cocoa butter kind of smell which may cloak the odors...personally, I think the issue is far more the fabric parts of the interior...

 

I know Vinegar can get rid of certain odors but this one i never heard of. Might work though.

If you're scared to do that, i'm sure Baking Soda would do the same thing.

Or you could also do it the natural way. Open all your windows/doors/trunk and let it aerate.

Be sure to clean not only your seats (odor absorbers) but the ceiling carpeting as well (where most of the smell/tar sticks to)

 

true, what you suggest with the multiple cups is more practical, hehe. however, i was thinking it would increase efficiency by increasing the area which is in contact with the air inside the cabin and trunk. i'll give it a try, but argh, if my car smells like vinegar for a week theres going to be a reckoning!

 

I quit a pack-a-day, 12-year habit on 1 Jan of this year. I'm still smoke free, but the voices in my head are starting to make some disturbing suggestions.

I bought my Max the third week of December of last year (when I still smoked) and decided that since it was a new car, I wasn't gonna smoke in it for a great while.

Well, the 1st of January rolls around and I still haven't smoked in my Max, and the girlfriend is threatening to cut me off if I don't quit.

Now, I like smoking. A lot. But I like getting laid a lot more.

So. The only cigarette that has been smoked in my car was by an extremely drunk buddy in my back seat who "thought" I'd rolled down all my windows and opened my sunroof so he could smoke-all of four drags-before I noticed. My reply?

"No, you dumbass. It's a nice night out. Throw it out before I'm forced to come after you with my MagLite."

Which he promptly did.

It's funny, though. Since I quit, when a buddy of mine (who smokes) gets in my car, I can really smell it after he gets out.

Anyway...my point. To minimize the "90-year old lady who smokes with the windows up Towncar smell."

Smoke...with the windows down-at slower speeds...DO NOT run the A/C or heater, especially on RECIRC! That happens, people will get in your car and assume that you work for RJ Reynolds.

Shampoo your mats, if you have cloth seats, shampoo those too. And heed pretty much everything Joee1 said.

Won't smell new, but it won't smell like a used iron lung, either.

"Well, I smoke. <clears throat> If this bothers anyone, I'd recommend you to look around the world in which we live in. ...And shuttin' your f**kin' mouth..."
-Bill Hicks

 

Well, here's some good old moral support for ya. Keep up the good work! You're doing very well

Don't make those pro-smoke voices get the best of you. Let your mod voices take over

 

Okay two key things here-
1) MODERATION is the key here...
2) If you put vinegar in small cups placed throughout the car and leave overnight with car closed up IT will smell when you first open it up. But take out the cups pour them out and then follow other suggestions (i.e. the febreeze etc.) Roll down the windows and let fresh air in. Once you remove the vingear cups the vinegar smell will dissipate. But be warned it WILL smell when you first open up car after the vinegar has sat there for a few hours (or overnight if you like)A friend of mine told me this suggestion and I tried it. I too was very skeptical but it did work for me. Let me know!

 

joee1, curious.. dya think this'll work with cat odors as well?

 

is there a specific vinegar needed? i only have wine vinegar and garlic vinegar at home.

 

White vinegar is the best LOL please don't use the garlic! I don't want to get into trouble here! Just go to the grocery and get plain old white vinegar-it less than a buck.

 

lol, roger that.

 

Let me know how it goes!

 

will do. thanks again!

 

Remember that the smell is only part of the problem
Over time, the smoke will discolor the headliner and any other fabric in the car. And there is that nasty film that forms on the glass and everything else. It will also seep in behind the face of your gauges and potentially yellow those.

 

BLASPHEMER!

 

I think a nice cigar shaped vinegar pickle under each seat will do the trick nicely. And, if your cat eats the pickles (thinking all the while, of course, that it is sucking on a cigar) you solve all your odor problems at once!

 

No smoking here please.

 

your right on that bro!!!! Not even my dad or mom smoke in my ride

 

i smoke in my car too but i have cloth seats. i honestly don't know how to get ur original smell back() but i just added some air fresheners and circulate air alot...that way my car doesn't smell like i've smoked in my car...

 

No smoking allowed in either Max, even if you hold the Cig out of the window. My ashtrays are full of change anyways!

 

But not in my //M3. You can easily get rid of the cigarette smell in a car by putting baking powder containers in the car overnights and in the ash trays for a few days (a little over a week). You also have to not smoke in the car for those few days as well.
-Evangelo2

 

I am a smoker.....but my rule no. 1 is......no burning cig in my car, any of them....but rentals...hmmm that's another story

 

I quit the nassty habit two years ago. Did it cold turkey on top of that was working full time at a bar. Think....will power! Short of quitting try the leather cleaning product and conditioner from Zaino. It not only cleans the leather but conditions it at the same time enhancing the new leather smell in your car.

lol

 

The worst part about smoking in your car is the unavoidable fact that you are going to eventually drop your cigarette. I can only imagine what kind of damage a burning cigarette would do to a nice leather seat. Or worse you could just catch your floorboard on fire. I've heard of it happening. A girl thought she threw it out the window but it actually went behind her into the back floorboard. Thats not something I would want to deal with going down the road at 70 mph.

 

I'm on my third Maxima in 3 years.. first one I bought 2 years ago.. was a base model SE with cloth interior.. I deemed it a no smoking vehicle (that didn't last long, but it was only on occasion and we smoked with the windows down and didn't use the ashtray in the car, we had a seperate one that I removed and washed after use. I didn't keep the car long, so no smell problem in it)

Maxima #2 was a 98 GLE with leather.. owned it less than a year and never smoked in it. I liked the leather smell to much

A week ago I bought an 02 SE with cloth seats.. shoes aren't even allowed in it.. let alone cigarettes

 

I spend all day in my car (2000 SE with 77,000 miles on it) and smoke in it. When I put it in the garage at the end of the day I ALWAYS crack the sunroof so it airs out. My wife doesn't smoke - and hates it when I do -no smoking in the house - she says my car still smells somewhat "new". I always crack the window while smoking, ash out the window, and don't use the ashtrays.