How to best dry a wet interior?

Technical Area Body, Interior & Styling
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  1. My model of MX-5 is: 2006 NC
  2. I’m based near: Worthing
  3. I’m looking for technical help or recommendations on: Drying a damp interior

Hi kids!

I have a 2006 NC Sport that got rather wet a month or so back when we had some unusually intense rain. The roof drain on the passengers side couldn’t keep up and so there was a couple of inches of water under the passengers seat when it was all said and done. I have cleared the drains. I have hoovered up all the water that I can, and sponged up the rest, that I could. Now i have water on the inside of the roof as the car heats up in the sun, and today due to the cold weather, had ice on the inside of the windscreen, and the inside of the roof(!)

I have tried putting a couple of those low tech dehumidifiers that have polystyrene ■■■■■ in them and work like a silica pack, but they’ve not collected anything - maybe its too cold for them to work?

Any other ideas? The car was proudly very dry until this happened, and its just been difficult to get dry again. I don’t have a warm garage to put it in, or a cold one either!

I know i’m not the only one who’s had a wet interior, but this is my first time and am struggling in this weather.

Thanks in advance.

Julian

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Wet & dry vac to remove as much of the moisture as possible, from mats and the carpet underneath.

Then a proper powered dehumidifier, e.g. Dehumidifiers | Home & Industrial Dehumidifiers | Toolstation that will draw the water out of the air. If you were nearer by, you could have borrowed mine!

I think of these as a proactive solution - the small packs don’t do much in my opinion, as you’re waiting for the moisture to be drawn to them.

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I went the whole 9 yards and pulled all of the interior out of the car.
The rockwool type soundproofing under the carpets was completely soaked and came away in chunks.

Car is now completely dry inside and shows hardly any misting up even after a good rain session.

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Paper. Whatever you have to hand, newspapers, magazines etc. Lay it down with a weight on it and it’ll soak it up.

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That looks thorough! Maybe when it’s warmer out I can try that :cold_face:

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Thanks, will try that.

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I had the same problem when i got my first mx5 8 weeks a’go on the n/s rear. That’s a 06 model took out the seat then replaced alll the felt that was so wet it fell apart.