Skunk smell on underside and outside of car

[perennial]

Country life is never boring!!!

While driving home last evening (it was dark), going at a normal clip around these roads and all of a sudden, there is a whole family of skunks in front of us - hubby screamed noooooo and as i was about to scream, i could "taste" the skunk smell, while one of my kids started laughing like a crazy kid and said "I love the stench of skunk". Hubby did manage to avoid them by centering the car over them, but they all got so scared, they sprayed my entire car underneath. Luckily, we didn't smoosh any of them.

Now, however, my smells so bad, standing next to it and in it and if the wind is blowing i can't open my dining room windows. I must leave all windows open and then the smell isn't "inside" the car .


What to do?

[bgak47]

Carwash & a lot of quarters?

[blue gecko]

Biz and Simple Green

[perennial]

What's biz and do i have to get under there????? - it hurts my eyes just to stand next to it.

Not sure why the kids weren't excited about riding to school today with it being 56 and having all the windows open wide -

Do i wash my car with it like i would normally or exactly how - sorry for my dumb questions.

[foxtrapper]

You may have a looser here as metal really holds skunk scent.

Got skunked on a bicycle of mine back in 1978. We got rid of that bike around year 1995 or so, and it still reeked of skunk in spite of several decades and god knows how many washing attempts.

Father-in-law has a box he used to store sealed containers of skunk oil in when he was a boy. About 40 years later and it still reeks.

Time will reduce the intensity.

[perennial]

Well, i must try to get rid of it, i'm going to try vinegar and a good rinsing with water that's what i used on my cat when she got skunked and then i'll start with pinesol.

I need to get it tolerable, because cooler weather it coming and i wouldn't mind being able to put the windows up.

I'll let you all know what worked.

[MERRYMEDIC]

Hey I did this also a month or so ago. "comfortbalynumb" sent me a recipe for skunk smell removal and I'll try to find it.

[perennial]

Oh please, i would be greatful

[MERRYMEDIC]

water, peroxide, and baking soda.

mix it up, and quickly wash the car with it.

1 bottle peroxide, 1/2 bottle of water, 1/2 cup of baking soda.

multiply for a bigger bucketfull

the peroxide and soda reaction will neutralize the sulfur in the skunk oil, thats the stink you smell.

works like magic for a dog.
i assume itll work on a car.
edit; I thought it was a sulfur thing but the post below says I was mistaken
__________________
Here is one receipe

[MERRYMEDIC]

here are some other similar mixes, different than the one I use;
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In the bathtub or a bucket, mix together:

1 gallon water
1 quart hydrogen peroxide ~3% solution
1 cup baking soda
1 good squirt of hand or dish soap
The mixture will fizz. Use a sponge and lather it into the fur/skin taking care to avoid the ears and eyes. Let it sit for 10 minutes, rinse and repeat.


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Mix 1 quart of Hydrogen peroxide with 1/4 cup of baking soda and 1 tablespoon of liquid dish soap such as Dawn which is a good degreaser. Wash dog immediately with this mixture, leave it on the dog for at least 5 minutes or until the odor is gone, then rinse. If the dog was heavily saturated with skunk spray, then you may need to repeat the wash.
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1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide
1/4 cup baking soda

Combine the above with enough Dawn dishwashing liquid into a gravy-thick substance. Shampoo as you normally would. Discard any leftover solution.
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here is a c&p of how it works..;
~~
Forget what you have heard about tomato juice--it doesn't work. Skunk spray is mainly composed of low molecular weight thiol compounds. ("Thiols" are compounds with the "-SH radical" attached to a carbon atom.) In industrial applications, alkaline hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is used for scrubbing similar compounds from waste gas streams.
Hydrogen peroxide and baking soda, when combined, become a "chemical engine" for churning out oxygen. That's why it has to be used immediately after mixing. The soap breaks up the oils in the skunk spray, allowing the other ingredients to do their work.
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Here is the other one...good luck!

[largentdepoche]

In high school my sister ran over a skunk and dragged into the parking lot, whoowee her car smelled terrible for about a week until the smell just dissapted. She also went mudbogging a couple days afterward, and as the clay dried up and fell off, the smell went away quicker.

Kat

[blue gecko]

Biz is an enzyme laundry additive. It breaks down organic matterial and works like a charm on skunk. Sometimes its hard to find, Kroger carries it here. The Simple Green is a good organic cleaner. I mix them together about a fourth to a half cup Biz and about a cup of Simple Green to a gallon of water (more or less depending on what I'm using it on). For your car a pump sprayer might be useful or you might be able to put it in one of those hose end garden sprayers. It really works well...and it makes a terrific general cleaner too.

[suburbanite]

Thiols contain sulfur.

Have you considered asking your car insurance company if they know of any way to deal with the problem? Don't tell them how your car got sprayed--they may pull some 'well if you were driving too fast to stop we'll raise your rates', but tell them you live in the country and your car got sprayed (maybe a dog chased a skunk underneath, after all) and you are wondering if they know how to get it out. Tell them you don't want to actually file a claim (which might raise your rates), but that you'd like to know if they have any advice as to how to proceed.

I suggest this because insurance companies deal with so many varieties of car mishap that they have a huge database of experience from which to draw solutions.

[perennial]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I'll get trying .