I’ve noticed that everytime I wash my car and keep it in the garage it gets a weird smell. Like if you leave a wet towel in your trunk kind of smell. I don’t know if its the rotors or the fender guards.
Has anyone experience this as well?

GTTC wrote

I’ve noticed that everytime I wash my car and keep it in the garage it gets a weird smell. Like if you leave a wet towel in your trunk kind of smell. I don’t know if its the rotors or the fender guards.
Has anyone experience this as well?

Have you checked to see if you are getting water in the trunk or floorboard? That would be my suspicion.

Good luck,
Ralph

Or in the front cowl where the air vent is by the windshield. Try running the A/C and spray Lysol into it.

Ralph III wrote

Have you checked to see if you are getting water in the trunk or floorboard? That would be my suspicion.

Good luck,
Ralph

I have looked and nothing in the trunk. I haven’t check the battery well, but not likely since trunk is dry.

scubajim wrote

Or in the front cowl where the air vent is by the windshield. Try running the A/C and spray Lysol into it.

Interesting. I’ll have to try that. At least the A/C does not smell bad at all.

is there anything pooling under your car? smell just last a few days?

metrixBMW wrote

is there anything pooling under your car? smell just last a few days?

Nothing pooling under, no sings of water anywhere inside the car or trunk. Smell last about 2 days. The only water this car sees is during cleaning. Is a mistery 😳

If musty smell, you have water inside somewhere...if where you are in Texas (I assume) still get warms now..wash it and let it sit in the sun for a bit, see if water vapors start showing up around the glass. This happened to me in a previous vehicle I had...water was coming in, smelled a bit musty, left it in the sun for about 1 hr and then sat inside...it smelled a bit musty again and condensation was building inside the passenger side. The culprit? clogged drain tubes dripping slowly water along the A-Pillar making the carpet there humid, but not soaking wet.

MADBMWX5MC wrote

If musty smell, you have water inside somewhere...if where you are in Texas (I assume) still get warms now..wash it and let it sit in the sun for a bit, see if water vapors start showing up around the glass. This happened to me in a previous vehicle I had...water was coming in, smelled a bit musty, left it in the sun for about 1 hr and then sat inside...it smelled a bit musty again and condensation was building inside the passenger side. The culprit? clogged drain tubes dripping slowly water along the A-Pillar making the carpet there humid, but not soaking wet.

I will try that and update once it warms up.

Trust your sense of smell. If no visual signs of water condensation, does it feels as if you are walking into a sauna? In other words, can you feel some sort of humidity in he air? hot cars are just that hot. In the experience I described above I could feel the inside was more than just hot, I could sense there was something else was going on, that let me to prod around the floor mats and the carpets using one of those blue shop paper towels to detect dampness. Sorry, I am trying to be as descriptive as I can to help out. At the ends of the day, water may not even be the issue.

sunroof vent clogged? maybe water isn't venting properly and it's just enough to backflow into the car.

MADBMWX5MC wrote

Trust your sense of smell. If no visual signs of water condensation, does it feels as if you are walking into a sauna? In other words, can you feel some sort of humidity in he air? hot cars are just that hot. In the experience I described above I could feel the inside was more than just hot, I could sense there was something else was going on, that let me to prod around the floor mats and the carpets using one of those blue shop paper towels to detect dampness. Sorry, I am trying to be as descriptive as I can to help out. At the ends of the day, water may not even be the issue.

shimmy23 wrote

sunroof vent clogged? maybe water isn't venting properly and it's just enough to backflow into the car.

What is crazy smell goes away while in the garage with mild temps around 50-60 degrees and doesn't feel humid at all. But I'll do a couple more checks on warmer days

Don't have sunroof. That's one thing I don't have to worry.

Dont have a sunroof, now you peaked my interest even more.

Hey GTTC.

You could try to rinse/wash a few sections only to see if the odor appears. If water is getting in this could help isolate where it is getting in at. If the leak is minor, which it sounds like it is, you may not feel any dampness on the carpet. You'd have to pull it up to confirm the presence of water with a minor leak. Otherwise, the next best thing would be to check after a long rain shower. Maybe enough water collects to then feel it on the carpet. Does your windshield develop any moisture on the inside? I've never used them but they do make some moisture detection strips that you could try. Lastly, are you by chance running your ac or heater after washing the vehicle and/or parking it in the garage?

Ralph

Ralph III wrote

Hey GTTC.

You could try to rinse/wash a few sections only to see if the odor appears. If water is getting in this could help isolate where it is getting in at. If the leak is minor, which it sounds like it is, you may not feel any dampness on the carpet. You'd have to pull it up to confirm the presence of water with a minor leak. Otherwise, the next best thing would be to check after a long rain shower. Maybe enough water collects to then feel it on the carpet. Does your windshield develop any moisture on the inside? I've never used them but they do make some moisture detection strips that you could try. Lastly, are you by chance running your ac or heater after washing the vehicle and/or parking it in the garage?

Ralph

My windshield does not fog after a wash nor any other window. I normally wash the car and park it in the garage it right after, no a/c or heater. The moisture strips are great to detect small pockets of moisture (thanks for that idea) or I may leave a moisture trap in the car and see if its fills up.

Now. I do use a bit of decon spray on my wheels during wash to remove the break dust and it normally smells like crap so maybe somehow the smell finds its way in the car and all over the garage just long enough to be annoying.
I have read some people having moisture collect in the doors by water coming down in between the window and the protective seal damaging the speakers.

Everyone has given me great ideas so far the quick and easy signs have not turned up any problems. Will keep all in the loop on what I find.

Well... I don't know if y'all noticed the door sills have rubber around it. I'm sure is to prevent what I found. It turned out my rear passenger side door sill "rubber seal" was bent just enough (probably my kids getting in and hitting it) to let small amount of water sip and collect in there, with time it created it's own world of microorganisms and it was what giving off the smell. It was just enough to be annoying and explains why it only happened when I washed the car. All cleaned out and good but probably have to get a new one at some point. At least the M5 logo still lights up 😂

Thank you all for your inputs