How To Get Rid Of Car Smoke Smell

Riding a car with car smoke smell can make your driving experience not the best. Running around with car smoke smell can make your breathing much harder which is not good for the driver or the passengers. If you want to know how to get rid of car smoke smell on your car we have got 3 easy steps for you. 

Reasons why you want the car smelling good are higher resale value, better driving experience for yourself and the passengers and longevity of your car interior. This is a complete DIY you can do at home with no need for special tools. Whether you are looking on how to get smoke smell out of car permanently or temporarily  we have got the solution for you.

Before We Get Started On How to Get Rid Of Car Smoke Smell

Before starting to remove the car smoke smell on your vehicle you need to prepare in order to remove smoke smell from car.

Basic Safety Tools

• Gloves
• Mask
• Long Sleeve Shirt

Make sure to protect yourself from harmful chemicals you might use. Using gloves will help your hands safe from chemical solutions. Use a mask to protect your breathing while working inside the interior. I found Colbiz Dust Mask great for my car detail kit as it is dust-proof and I can reuse it many times, plus it’s easy to breathe compared to other masks. With all the basic safety tools you can start to get smoke smell out of car.

Clean The Interior

You first need to start off by cleaning the car thoroughly and make sure there are no contaminates like cigarette ash or dirt. You can use an air compressor to blow out the hidden and trapped dirt and then vacuum clean it. You can use the vacuum cleaner of your house, if you don’t have an air compressor check this out as it has served me in all aspects of household duties and car detailing projects.

Make sure to take your time and vacuum clean the car as best as you can. You can start off by taking out the floor mats and then vacuum the floor and seats. Remove the ashtray compartment and let it sit in soap water for a few hours.

Chemical Of Choice: Which One To Use For Car Smoke Removal?

• Quick And Easy Option: Car Scent
• Will It Remove The Car Smoke: Partially
• Best Car Scent To Use: Meguiar’s Car Air Re-Fresher
• Cost: $9.99 – $11.99

This is a quick and easy method anyone can do and it costs very little. Using a scent of your choice you can spray the car so it will overdose the interior with it’s scent and you will not smell the odor anymore. This is a temporary solution, not the best way to get smoke smell out of car.

It works well if someone smoked once on your car and you want to remove the smoke odor. Keep in mind as using products like this can cause stains on your headliner or seats. This is because the canister will spray upwards to the headliner and sometimes drop to the seats as well. You might consider using other scents like hanging air refresher.

• DIY Option: Chemical Solutions
• Will It Remove The Car Smoke: Partially
• Best Chemical Solution To Use: Smoke Eater
• Cost: $14.99 – $19.99

The other way to remove car smoke smell is using chemical solutions. There are plenty online but all they will do is mask the smoke smell rather than delete it. Using these products is an efficient way if you are looking for a quick and easy way to remove smoke smell. This chemical solution will break the smoke smell for a week or two but not completely remove it.

In order to remove smoke smell from car using this product you will need to spray the chemical solution to the areas with the most smoke smell. Spray the seats, headliner, dashboard and ashtray. You can also spray inside the interior but make sure not to dilute the Smoke Eater with water. The Smoke Eater is formulated using TEA TREE OIL and you will feel a very natural smell inside your car.

Other Honorable Mentions

If you are looking for the odor removal on your car, including car smoke smell you can also use Zero Odor. Zero Odor is the best odor remover that will leave zero scent after application. Some people do not like smelling any scent inside their car as it cause heavier breathing. Zero Scent claims to remove all the car smoke scent and it is safe to use, non-allergic, non-toxic and biodegradable.

Adam’s Odor Neutralizer also works well for returning the natural smell of your interior. The Adam’s Odor Neutralizer. You can spray directly onto your car interior and close the windows with the sprayed odor neutralizer or choose to use the AC. With the car on and AC at full blast you need to use recirculation and spray 3-4 mists of the Adams Odor Neutralizer into the AC intake. If that is too complicated for you you can spray underneath the passengers footrests.

• Best Way To Get Smoke Smell Out Of Car: Ozone
• Will It Remove The Car Smoke: Permanently
• Best Ozone Generator To Use: Enerzen Ozone Generator
• Cost:$59.99

The best way to get smoke smell out of car is to use an ozone generator. This is the dealership solution and most car detailing shops use it. In simple terms Ozone is 3 parts of Oxygen. Oxygen already contains 2 molecules of oxygen(O2). An ozone generator will generate a third that will catch with the 2 molecules(O2) and transform it to an Ozone(O3).

In simple words using a Ozone Generator to remove the car smoke smell is as easy as plugging it in and let it do it’s magic. Before you do that the car needs to be clean and you should leave one of your windows ⅕ opened to let new air breath in. In 1 hour this ozone generator will remove any odor smells, any scent and restore the natural smell of the car just like it came from the dealership.

Do not misunderstand Ozone generators with air purifiers. You can use these ozone generators in small areas of the house, for larger areas you will need more professional Ozone Generators as the one we recommend is for small areas only. Last but not least this ozone generator will kill bacterias inside your car.

Why Should I Remove Smoke Smell From My Car?

It is important for you to keep your car smelling fresh, this works out the same for smokers too. The resale value of a smokers car is lower than a smoke-free car. This might sound like not very true to most car drivers but it really is.

Secondly your driving will be more pleasurable. Driving a smokers car can sometimes be heavy-breathing and masking it with more scent is even worse. Also we use the car to pick up different passengers, friends, relatives and many others. You don’t want your passengers to smell the smoke odor.

How Often To Clean The Car From Smoke Odor?

If you are looking to sell your car and leave no traces of smoking odor behind it is best recommended to clean the car twice using the ozone generator. If you are using something else like Zero Scent you can go over this process 3 times for best outcomes. 

On the other hand if you are looking forward to your car maintenance cleaning the car every 3 months to restore the fabric natural scent is recommended. Use this ozone generator as part of your car detailing kit to keep your car in a mint condition.

How To Remove Smoke Smell From Car: Hacks

The last honorable mentions we had to include in this DIY guide on how to get rid of car smoke smell includes some life-hacks very popular among detailers. These items can be found in each household and are worth the try. These methods are found very popular online and might take out very little instances of car smoke smell.

Coffee Beans

One way to get rid of car smoke smell is coffee beans. If you fill small compartments of your car with coffe beans it will mask off and absorb the smoke smell. This is not the most efficient way to get rid of car smoke smell but it is worth a try.

Baking Soda

Baking soda is used to remove odor from carpets.The way to use baking soda to get rid of smoke smell on your car is by throwing it at the contaminated area, let it sit for a few seconds and vacuum it off. 

Charcoal

You might be thinking this is a bad idea and make your car smell even worse. Charcoal can be used to absorb the smoke smell if it sits on your car for a few days. Not the most efficient or fast way to get rid of car smoke smell but definitely worth a try. Make sure to put the charcoal in a bowl and minimize the amount of dirt that you can cause to your interior.

Ozium

Ozium is an air-refresher. It claims to remove odors and cigarette smell from your car. The downside of using this product is that you will need multiple of these in order to get smoke smell out of car permanently.