When you make purchases through links on this site, The Track Ahead may earn an affiliate commission. Also, these posts are based off my own experiences. I am not responsible for any action you take as a result of reading this. Learn More
Whenever gum gets stuck on your car’s carpet, it is usually best if you can remove it right away. It’s easier to clean right away because the gum is still largely intact and you can still pull it off of the carpet without it getting too stuck in the carpet fibers. However, the longer you wait, the more likely it will get stepped on, further embedding it into the fibers of the carpet. This results in the gum being harder to remove later on.
If the gum is still fresh, you can usually pick it off in pieces off the carpet. Another method is to freeze it so that it solidifies so you can pick it off more easily. However, if the gum has been there for quite some time, it can be extremely hard to remove to remove by hand. I’ll go over the methods for removing gum that has dried into your car’s carpet.
Tools & Materials
Goo Gone Adhesive Remover
Plastic Razor Blades
Microfiber Towels
All Purpose Cleaner
How to Get Gum Off Carpet In Your Car
The first and obvious thing to do to remove gum off the carpet of your car is to simply pull it off or pick it off as much as possible. This usually works just fine if the gum is fresh. However, once it gets stepped on and is really stuck into the fibers of the carpet, it can be more difficult to clean.
You can try using an ice pack or even a compressed air canister to freeze the gum. Basically what you’re trying to do is cool the gum down since it will be too malleable, so that when you pull it off, it can come off in larger solid chunks. If the gum is old and/or really stuck in the carpet, this method probably won’t do you any good.
If the gum is old or really stuck in the carpet, the best way to remove it in my experience is to use a combination of adhesive remover, a plastic razor blade, and a rag or microfiber towel. Spray some adhesive remover onto the gum, and scrape against the gum with a plastic razor blade. If you use a regular metal razor blade, it can really damage your carpet leaving you with a path in the carpet that is more fuzzy and loose than the surrounding areas.
Using a plastic razor blade is safer and it can still be effective at stripping the gum away from the carpet fibers. Scrape the carpet with the flat side of the blade over and over until you can see bits of the gum coming off of the carpet. Continue using the adhesiver remover as it is doing a lot of the heavy lifting with loosening up the gum from the carpet fibers. As you can see below, this method does work, but requires a little bit of elbow grease.
Continue doing this until you’ve gotten most or all of the gum out. At this point, I like to use some additional adhesive remover on a rag or microfiber towel, and scrub the area where the gum was, really well and moving in different directions. This will get the last bits of gum that might be still stuck. Try to keep the adhesive remover right at the gum location because it does leave an oily residue behind that you need to clean off. If you get too messy with the adhesive remover, it just means more work for you to clean up at the end.
Finally, use an all purpose cleaner along with a new section of the rag or microfiber towel to really scrub the whole area of the carpet. Wipe in all directions: left to right, up and down, diagonally, etc. This will clean off that oily residue off the carpet fibers that is left behind from the adhesive remover. If you don’t remove the adhesive remover, it may leave an oily stain behind.
After cleaning with all purpose cleaner, leave the entire area to dry completely. Once it dries, you can verify that the gum is removed and that any oily residue left behind from the adhesive remover is fully gone. Taking these steps to cleaning and removing gum from your car’s carpet will in most cases remove the gum completely from your car and leave you with a fresh and clean looking carpet behind.
