What vacuum do you recommend for the car?

[fan-of-fans]

I have tried a number of different vacuums in my car. Usually I'll use my Kenmore Progressive canister or an older Whispertone canister. These do okay but I don't want to risk scratching or damaging them or getting dirty. I have tried the Powermate JR attachment but it just scattered the sand from the floor mats. The Pet Powermate I have not tried.

In the past I used my older Eureka Mighty Mite canister which was easy to move around but didn't have enough suction.

I found my 5 gallon shop vac worked the best of these. It has great suction that cleans the carpet and floor mats well. I use my Eureka Mighty Mite attachments on it. However, it is a bit bulky to maneuver.

I'd like to have something more compact, and that I don't have to worry about getting dirty using outside. It would be nice if it was a small size so I could keep it in the trunk and just get out when I need it.

Are there any 12V car vacs that work? I've tried a few older ones and never found them to have enough power. The little tub shaped wet/dry ones look like they could be a little better maybe.

Walmart sells a Hyper Tough 2 gallon wet/dry vac which might work well. And I could get an attachment set to keep with it for dusting, etc. I could leave it in the car and just get out the extension cord whenever I need to use it. It doesn't come with bags but I could probably fit a small shop vac bag.

 

[relhall]

Oreck has some cool portable units that plug in to the wall. Small enough to fit in the trunk, should you choose.

BB1000 series (BB1100 or BB1200) is nice as long as you keep a good bag in it. It does have a HEPA filter on the exhaust for inside the house - not so necessary outside. It can also convert to a blower which is really handy, even for the inside of the car (sometimes).

Often you can find these used, sometimes at the store from trade-ins. If you're near a store, give them a call and ask if they carry that model.



12 volts will do very little ... sounds like you'll want about 10 times that ~

 

[compactc9guy]

Best thing for the car would be a Shopvac put a longuer hose on it that would help alot or a Tristar Comapct tons of power too.

 

[vacuumdevil]

Best thing is a central vac garage hose !

 

[royalfan]

The correct answer was Spencer turbine you faggets !

 

[huskyvacs]

What kind of car do you have? Some have a lot of narrow nooks and crannies or the floorpans are in odd shapes and sizes or you have the transmission tunnel bulging into the interior. Some cars you can only use a hose-based canister vacuum because any powerhead or what have you will never have a flat enough spot to work right.

For my '02 Durango I use a Shop Vac Hang-Up Mini and a Dirt Devil 103 Hand Vac. Don't use a full size shop vac because the hose is too gigantic and cumbersome. It's like trying to aim a firehose into a mop bucket. I go over the entire floor methodically in a pattern with the Shop Vac Hang Up Mini to get all the big stuff, then go over the areas again with the Dirt Devil with its agitation and brushroll twice to shake loose all the particulates and embedded junk. Then for shampoo I use the first model Bissell Little Green to get everything tidy, which also will wash out a lot more fine dirt that the Dirt Devil worked loose. Sounds like a lot of work, but it works for me and it looks amazing in the end.

Those little 12v car vacs only work for when you're on a road trip and need to get your car cleaned up so you're not sitting in filth, or you happen to spill some bags of chips or sand gets tracked in at the beach. I would never clean my entire car with one on a regular basis, the motor is just a puny little thing and it can't handle much at all.

 

[panasonicvac]

I'd second with Todd

I go to my local carwash and use their Spencer Turbine systems. Powerful, faster, and easier to use. I haven't used my central vacuum or my Shop Vac for YEARS to clean our vehicles with.

 

[huskyvacs]

That's fine if you have 75 cents a minute to spend $10+ vacuuming your car in only the large areas and not the nooks and crannies or under the seats, and a lot of times the nozzles on those vacuums are filthy and greasy and can stain your interior carpeting due to people sticking them where they shouldn't go. People don't just vacuum their car with those. One time I was out in the country at a gas station/car wash hybrid pumping gas and seen a farmer cleaning out his horse trailer with one of those...yuck!

I'd rather do it for free in my own driveway with vacuums I know and get a personally detailed job on my own time than to be racing against the clock for a timer that's rigged to get as much money from you as possible ($3 every 5 minutes is a common charge, but can be higher in busier cities).


Also an update for OP - I found an article that seems to have a really good detail on what the best types of vacuums are for car cleaning, check it out: https://autowise.com/car-vacuum/

 

[ocscott3085]

I'd say 95% of the time I just use the garage hose on my central vac. It's super easy to get around the garage rather than dragging a canister around. I always laugh when I see my neighbors struggle with their Dyson upright hoses cleaning out their cars. The machine is sliding around everywhere and very few of them seem to realize you can detach the hose from the wand so they look like they're trying to do acrobatic feats in their driveways. Very rarely I'll bring out the Dyson V8 with its brushroll to do the trunk if my dog has been back there.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

"you faggets" !!!!!!!!!!!

While I appreciate all kinds of suggestions on cleaning cars, homes, etc.......... I'm nor sure that comment was needed. And, the correct spelling of that bad word is faggOts. Perhaps we can use nicer vocabulary.
Personally, I use a Hoover Connie OR my Hoover GUV.... that's what they were really made for.

 

[pr-21]

Look at Garagevac.com I have one with a 40ft stretch hose, plus an additional extension hose.


Has cloth hepa bags. Worth the cost. $249 plus......With the extra extension hose I can leave the car in the


drive and vacuum both the car and garage at same time.


 


PR-21


Bud

 

[panasonicvac]

Reply #7 & Reply #9

Actually, my local carwash is usually different compare to most. The vacuums I use over there are free and they're open to anyone as long as they are a regular customer. In that section, they also have some things that I really find useful. They have mat clamps to where it would not move around as you vacuum, and they have air compressors to blow out any dust that's in the vehicle like the dashboard for example. Since I was a former employee over there, one of the things that we would do like once a day, we would grab some damp towels and a bottle of window cleaner to wipe down the nozzles and the hoses. I do agree with you on those gas station vacuums, I never used one before and I wouldn't ever use one either because as you said before they're really disgusting to clean with.

I also agree with you John, not sure why he posted that on here. I should've said "Speaking of Spencer" on the drift but what's been said is said and I apologize about that. This has been a great website overall. So many nice members and I'm still looking forward to hear more from all of you.

 

[justjunque]

GUV

Hey John,

I had never heard of the GUV until I read your post. I had to look it up.
I was all set to order one for the garage, and then I read the reviews.
People just have awful things to say about it...especially the filter.
Do you find that the filter clogs up extremely fast, and is a pain to clean?
One reviewer described it as "not worthy of the Hoover name."
And "don't waste your money" came up a time or two.
Scared me off.

Barry

 

[ocscott3085]

Re: GUV

I had one at my last house that didn't have a central vac so I could clean out my car without taking the Miele outside. It worked good at first but the filter clogs VERY quickly and my unit tended to spark when I turned it on. Personally, I wouldn't purchase one. Vacumaid makes a garage vac I've seen on Amazon that takes bags and has much better reviews.

 

[eurekaprince]

I wonder if the new Black and Decker 20 Volt Flex handvac would be a good solution if your car is parked too far from an electrical outlet - as is the case if you rent an apartment in a high rise building.

The B&D Flex is top-rated by Consumer Reports and features a hose and attachments just like a mini canister vacuum. But you better be fast: you only get 15 minutes of run time per charge.

 

[eurekaprince]

The other cordless possibility is one of the DeWalt cordless yellow shop vacs - these may be noisier and have heavier batteries, but they may provide more power and longer run times. Does anyone have experience with these DeWalt cordless vacs?

 

[henrydreyfuss]

I usually use my Dyson V8 (with optional extension hose), or my Numatic Henry. Both feature lots of attachments and good reach to thoroughly clean out a car.

 

[eurekaprince]

Actually, there seem to be 4 companies offering powerful cordless shop vacuums that could be used to clean a car that is not near a power outlet: Ridgid, Milwaukee, Ryobi and DeWalt. The DeWalt 20 volt vac runs for an amazing 28 minutes on a charge. With any of these cordless shop vacs, you can always have a second battery charged up and ready to swap out to double your cleaning time. All of them can also handle wet messes if you have to clean your car in the winter.

Would be great to hear from anyone who uses one of these to clean their cars.

 

[human]

I usually just grab my Dayton shop vac. For open areas, I also sometimes use one of my Royal Prince 501 handhelds as its rotating brush roll will fluff the carpet a bit. Although I've never done it, I may have to try one of my Electrolux canisters with a Sidekick attached or maybe the Electrolux (not Aerus) turbo brush that I use with my Eureka canister. It's fun to have lots of tools to play with.