Some moron threw chewing gum on a sidewalk in Galveston and it's now on my driver's side OEM black carpet.

I scraped off as much as I could, and the beach sand mixed in with the rest. I'm down to the fibers now--anything I can use to get the rest out?

 

That's so frustrating!

I would try rubbing ice on the fibers to try to freeze the remaining gum, then scrape at it with a hard edge. You'll probably have to keep re-freezing it as best as you can and the scrape some more and repeat. Ice has always worked the best for me with gum problems.

Good luck!

-Heather

 

Ditto what Heather said about the ice, be patient as you should be able to pluck the chilled gum out from between the carpet fibers with a sharp edge exacto or tweezers...

 

if you have a air duster can spray it upside down.

or even CO2/nitrous will work as well.

 

Nothing chemical?

 

Unfortunately, your carpet fibers are generally more chemically sensitive than the gum. Therefore, most strong chemicals that will dissolve the gum will likely also dissolve (or at least warp) your carpet fibers!

I've heard that Goof Off or Goo Gone can help loosen gum but either of these might remove the color in your carpet... hard to say for sure.

Citrus-based cleaners are usually safe on carpet/carpet dye and might help loosen gum.

My all-time favorite carpet cleaner, 303 Carpet and Upholstery Cleaner, can clean just about anything. I've never tried it on gum but my guess is that it won't help a whole lot.

Gum is just a whole different ballgame!

I still think the most efficient and ultimately effective way to go is ice. Then maybe one of the above mentioned cleaners to clean up any teeny-tiny fragments left.

-Heather

 

You could try Peanut butter.... that's what we used to get gum out of hair when we were kids. it might work enough to loosen the gum from your carpet fibers, and it sure as heck will be easier to remove peanut butter than cover up a chemical stain...

 

I knew it was something like that, but just couldn't put my finger on it. I think I'll try it, and then try one of Heather's remedies to remove the PB. Good thing it's black--at least I don't have to worry about an oil stain. Right? And I'm hoping I can get done out before the heat (already here) turns the oils rancid.