Like a dumbass, I went out of town without my rear side or back windows (soft top) and on the my 3 hour return drive, the sky opened up and and stormed every f***king mile back home. Floor, carpet and sides are absolutely soaked. I pulled out the drainplugs and I know its a Jeep and it'll dry, but it is supposed to rain here for the next few days with no sun! Am I screwed as far as mildew and smell or do you think it'll be alright until the sun comes back out or do you think I should take it somewhere and have it shampooed and dried professionally? How long have you left your Jeep soggy??

Pull out the carpet, and if you have a shop vac, use it on the seats to dry them out as best you can. The carpet will be fine, once it dries, it's got no backing to hold water and mildew like regular auto carpet, it's more astroturf kinda carpet. If you can't pull the carpet use the shopvac on it too, and pull out as much water as you can. Then the next sunny day, park it in the sun topless for as long as possible...

mine remains soggy with no smell or mildew

I got 6 inches of rain in mine unexpectedly about 2 weeks ago. I freaked out to begin with--because this one had not gotten rained in yet. Pulled under a gas station awning and sat it out, but it was raining sideways. 2 towels soaked later--gave up and just had to sit there and smile. Jeep Karma. Ain't is a bitty? I guess my Jeep initiated ME that day. Now we are both broke in good.

Pulled my carpet, sucked the water out of the seats (mostly vinyl, so not so bad). Took the top down, doors off, let her dry. Threw some heavy duty floor mats in the front and have not looked back since. Carpet is laying in my front foyer floor. Guess it will be there indefinitely! Gonna roll in a bedliner. Maybe put carpet back in for the winter, but in the summer--it is a losing battle it seems.

Always wondered what would happen if I got stuck in the rain without a top - well, I no longer have to wonder about it because it happened. Just like everyone told me, it was fine. I would not want to be in a blinding rain storm without at least the top but it will dry and as long as you let it air dry once the bulk of the water is gone it should be OK. I rarely have the sides and back on anymore and the top is down most of the time. If it rains I get a little wet but just try to manage that by watching the weather. Biggest lesson for me was to keep a small towel to dry off the inside of the windshield. Other than that, glad you got that under your belt and I would bet that the rain is not a big issue from here forward.

I feel your pain.....been there and done that!!

leave the carpet out and line the tub with Herc-U-Line.

happened to me, pulled drain plugs, and vaccumed out the floors as good as I could. it kept raining here for two weeks (one of which I was out of town, so the jeep just sat.) It didn't smell any worse when I got back...its all better now. (my seats have vinyl seat covers so they didn't have any issues.)

I know you do! Nothing like a Texas storm from out of nowhere! Damn weatherman told me it would be clear skies for days......

keep a fan running on it as well, if you park it outside or in the garage you can prop a small fan in the window blowing out... it will really help keep the air moving so it does not mold up.

It's so funny that this is a hot topic right now because my friend & I JUST got caught in a downpour with no top whatsoever 2 days ago..that was fun.

We rushed home to put the top on, luckily we only drove in about 10 minutes of rain. I wasn't too worried and it turns out I didn't have to be, we just wiped down the seats and and the inside of the soft top once we had it back on (yeah, it was on the front lawn WHILE it poured..smart!) as best we could and cracked the windows (I have heavy duty rubber mats in the front which were really nice at this point) and left it for the night..
it wasn't until the next day that I took the top off again to let it dry out in the sun and everything was fine by then. Gotta love a Jeep!

Yeah I had it happen in a miata once, now that sucked. I had to strip the interior out....it sucked....badly.

In the Jeep, not so bad.

Well, the past couple of days, its been more sun than clouds at around 90 degrees. Took the doors off and pulled the top down and just let it bake but its still a little wet in some spots. I dont think I'll be pulling out the carpet. Its supposed to be dry and hot here in the DFW come friday so hopefully that'll do it. My neighbors think I'm nuts because I keep going out to move it to different agles to catch the sun on spots every few hours.

Walmart sells rolls of replacement carpet for $8.99, not sure how many it would take to replace it all but it's surely cheaper then $178+ most places want online. Herculine the tub and cut some fresh carpet using the old stuff as a template.

That is a very good idea! If mildew gets to be a problem, I'll do just that!

I've been wondering about the rain myself. (Haven't got hit yet) I was wondering about the dash. I have an automatic with the counsel. And the radio and stuff, I'm a little scared just to let that stuff get wet. Haha

There only two kids of jeepers: one that has been caught in the rain with out the top and one that will be caught in the rain without the top.

Most definitely.

Ya, I've got caught a couple of times. The first time I tried to put the top up as the sky let loose...all it did was get me wet and the neighbor kids something to laugh at. As soon as I got the top on the sun came back out. The second time it happened I had the top up, and was just finishing putting the windows in when the deluge hit. Again I got soaked. Just one of the prices of ownership, and I have learned to keep a big beach towel under my seat just in case and it has come in handy a number of times. The towel also works great to lay over the back seat so that my kids don't burn their backsides when they climb in on a sunny day.

When I was a kid I was in my uncle's Jeep when we got caught at a red light in a downpour with no top whatsoever. I remember him telling me to "smile like you like it".
We probably should have been embarrassed but the funny thing is, I did like it and I knew I'd have a Jeep one day.