How to get rust out of a carpet or rug

At some point in everyones life they are confronted with the impossible to overcome obstacle of removing rust from carpet. It seems like a task that requires taking up the carpet and replacing it. If anything, it is going to take days to get it out and it will still leave a noticeable stain.

In reality it only takes a few minutes to leave your carpet perfectly clean. I've personally used this technique hundreds of times in the auto detailing industry. Many times a car owner will leave a tire tool in the floor of a trunk or or back floor board. Unbelievably they have even left them in the back seat as well.

Items you will need:

• A good stiff brush like the one shown above.
  
• A bucket of water with a little shampooing soap of any kind in it (I sometimes use dish-washing liquid).
• Rubber gloves.
• Carpet shampooer or wet vac.
  

• A spray bottle of automotive brake dust cleaner.
  

You can find brake dust cleaner at any automotive store in many different brands. It is an acid that cleans the black brake dust off of chrome or aluminum wheels to keep them from pitting. This is usually a hydrofluoric acid and can burn your skin so please be careful and use the gloves. You will need to follow the directions for safety on the bottle.

I know what you are thinking," isn't that too harsh of a cleaner for my carpets?". Actually in rare situations it could be. But most of the time the active ingredients in the cleaner reacts strongly to metal based materials and not so strongly to organic or petroleum based materials.

Disclaimer: I am not a scientist, chemist, attorney, doctor, contractor or fortuneteller so use any of this information at your own risk.

How to remove rust from carpet:

1. Put on the gloves (very important)
2. Find a patch of the carpet that you are not worried about getting damaged and using the brake dust cleaner spray bottle, spray a small portion of the carpet to do a test to make sure it doesn't hurt the area you are trying to repair. Lets face it, if this technique doesn't work on your carpet it is ruined anyway.
   
3. If all is good with test carpet, get the area you want to repair wet with the brush and the bucket. You want to try to get the fiber portion of the carpet saturated but not so much that is soaks the flooring under the carpet ( a little water won't hurt).
   
4. After saturating the fibers you will want to spray the rust encrusted area with the brake dust cleaner. Immediately start scrubbing it with the brush and braking down the rust particles. You may need to add more water to your brush to keep it saturated.
   
5. When all of the rust has been displaced, go over it again with plenty of water with the brush in an attempt to begin nutrilizing the acid.
   
6. Run a shampooer over the area completely and let dry.
   
7. Most likely the rust will completely disappear, but if not you may repeat the process.

There has been a few over the counter cleaners on tv that show cleaning slow spraying showers and faucets. More than likely these are hydrofluoric based products also and can be used. Also, in a pinch a few bowl cleaners have the same chemicals. But the best results have been from the products listed above.

I just read in another article that you can use lemon juice. Wow, that's never gonna work! Tried it, sorry no substantial reaction.

I have had great success with this process for many years and hopefully you will to. But again remember not all products are designed to be used for any other purpose than they were intentionally designed for. So, hopefully that is enough of a disclaimer for you to make your own intelligent decision. Good luck!