Interior Cleaning/ Restoration

[Brian Minkin]

OK time to chirp in.  What is in the car is mildew. Both mold and mildew grow from airborne spores but mold tends to grow mostly on foods and mildew on other surfaces.  Mildew comes in 2 forms.  If you are lucky the mildew is a dusty type which can be wiped away as was the case with Chris. I think if I remember correctly that the spores for this type come from flowers. If not the mildew is the type that roots deeply into the surface and is not powdery. Even when wiped off this type will continue to grow and in general can not be wiped off totally but rather leaves what appears to be a residue. Think about mildew in boat cushions.  Without special chemicals that kill the spores you can not get rid of it.

For cars with this type of mildew we clean all visible surfaces with a chemical designed to specifically kill and remove mildew.  Of course if there is mildew in visible areas there is also mildew in impossible to reach areas. For this we use a gas to kill the mildew so it does not continue to grow.

Let's keep our fingers crossed that the car Eric is interested in has the powdery type of mildew. Still would suggest a gassing of the car even if this is the case.