I have an issue with my Ford focus 2015 titanium X. My car was partly flooded about 1inch above carpet during a rain storm. I have dried the carpet and got rid of most of the smell. My problem is the foam under the carpet is wet. What should I do?  The electrics and car are driving fine. Don't want to go through insurance claim, can a body shop dry it out? Thanks if you can help!

It would take several hours to strip and dry out the underlay so it won't be cheap even if a bodyshop would do it, and I doubt they'd want it taking up floor space.

How long ago was the flood?  In this heat it should dry itself over a week or so.  If you park near enough a socket you could also leave a dehumidifier in there.

7 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

How long ago was the flood?  In this heat it should dry itself over a week or so.  If you park near enough a socket you could also leave a dehumidifier in there.

I agree - in this heat, if you can have the car secured, I'd just leave all doors/boot open and let nature do it's thing! (You shouldn't run the battery down as courtesy light should extinguish after a pre set time...)

Use a wet and dry carpet cleaner you can rent them from Tesco for example and it will put a nice smell into it and sook out as much water as possible. Then leave the windows slightly open for about 48 hours.

On 7/23/2021 at 9:18 AM, TomsFocus said:

It would take several hours to strip and dry out the underlay so it won't be cheap even if a bodyshop would do it, and I doubt they'd want it taking up floor space.

How long ago was the flood?  In this heat it should dry itself over a week or so.  If you park near enough a socket you could also leave a dehumidifier in there.

Thank you! I'm not going to get it dried out at fords as they want £400/£500  to strip it down, dry it and put it back together again. I'm not going to claim on the insurance as it's a complicated case and could cost me a lot of $! I've been using the car heater(feet), opening all doors for a period of time and I've now ordered some cheap dehumidifiers for the car. Fingers crossed! Thanks again,

Alex

On 7/23/2021 at 9:24 PM, F0CUE said:

Use a wet and dry carpet cleaner you can rent them from Tesco for example and it will put a nice smell into it and sook out as much water as possible. Then leave the windows slightly open for about 48 hours.

Thank you!

On 7/23/2021 at 4:34 PM, StephenFord said:

I agree - in this heat, if you can have the car secured, I'd just leave all doors/boot open and let nature do it's thing! (You shouldn't run the battery down as courtesy light should extinguish after a pre set time...)

Thank you! Good advise, Tom also endorsed this. Much appreciated, was just worried about future issues I may have later down the line. There is some wiring under the foam but no fault is showing so fingers crossed! Thank you

Only sure way to dry out the car is seats and carpets out and hire a compressor with a blower nozzle and lots of contact cleaner.

The water will contain all sorts of chemicals and nasties, these will, over time, start to corrode any metal it has come in contact with.

Fan heater in the stripped interior until dry. Blow out All the electrical connectors, then spray with contact cleaner to drive out any last moisture.

Allow a weekend and pray it don't rain!