SmartStrand Carpet VS Rhinoceros

[Ron Werner]

Hmmm, seems the youtube link didn't work.
There was a challenge with this carpet, they installed it in a rhino pen.

w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9VYBbIGT9sw]

w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OOeveNpxTkw]

w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJVKAanERF4w]

ALSO

This guy tried to clean mustard off Nylon and Smartstrand
watch at 1:49, suddenly the spot is almost gone.

w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhvDhFFAH4Uw]

 

[Shawn Forsythe]

The demonstration with the rhino, while impressive, is carefully choreographed to avoid circumstances that are the most problematic with types of polyester fibers. Mustard too, is a great demo if you are selling polyester. Let's see the same demos with a fried chicken eating rhino, or some motor oil spilled.

x]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9VYBbIGT9sx]

x]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OOeveNpxTkx]

x]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJVKAanERF4x]

x]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhvDhFFAH4Ux]

 

[Ron Werner]

a poly carpet would be solution dyed, wouldn't it?

Thanks Shawn for fixing the links

 

[Jim Pemberton]

Flat hoofs, feces, and urine are pretty simple stuff on this carpet.

Oil and grease are not. The piece I put in our service department (foot traffic area only, no truck or fork lift traffic) was difficult to clean after three months.Some spots required toluene after all other available dry cleaning solvents failed (and I have some "cancer in a can" stuff you'd not want to have in the same zip code as you), and there are still some shadows present from them.

People aren't likely to fix truck mounts in their living rooms. But they are more likely to track some of these oils in than the carpet manufacturers will admit to.

I also think the video might give consumers the impression that this carpet is resistant to pet odors.

Great marketing, but it reminds me of how the early stain resistant carpet ads made people think everything they could possibly do would clean with water, and the ill will that ultimately created for the carpet manufacturer.

 

[TimP]

Didn't Mikey put some of this carpet in somewhere to test it.....????

 

[sweendogg]

Yes.. .and so far its doing well for him. In a well maintained home that has occasional accidents this carpet will do great in. In a home that recieves a lot of abuse, not such a great piece.

Jim I'd be curious to know which division of Mohawk your particular piece of smarstrand came from. We tested a piece of the karstand Smarstrand and it responded manficently to regular spotters with permanent marker, furniture stain as well as heavy soil and cooking grease. (I didn't try automotie oil though.) The reason I ask is that often times Mohawk will advertize the same yarn over several brands, but the quality and treatments of the yarn vary greatly from brand to brand and often better quality yarn for the better brands. For example a Stainmaster Extra Life nylon in a Mohawk Floor scapes is the not the same quality as Stainmaster Extra Life in a Karastan. The Karastan always responds better to cleaning in our testing and experience as well as better appearance retention when subjected to the same traffic. I'd be intersted to see a side by side of the Mohawk Smarstrand across a few of its brands. As well as a few of its differnet styles as well. Karastan just released quite a few smarstand berbers and I'm looking foward to see how thee handle traffic and soils.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

I wish I could tell you David. It was some of the leftovers from an installation that a retailer gave me a year ago.

I know I'm cynical about the product, and should probably give it a more fair minded review; my service shop isn't a typical home.

Well, except for some of the people who rent houses from me.

From the perspective of the cleaning industry, it would be nice to see this product live up to its marketing hype and make our jobs easier, not harder.

 

[Bill Soukoreff]

So far I am impressed with the ones I have cleaned. However, I don't think it live up to hype Mohawk is generating for it.

 

[Contemporary Carpet Clean]

i dont care what manufactures say......polyester carpet is the shittiest carpet ever made!!!!!!! i cant tell you have how many polyester carpets ive gotten replaced under warranty for customers in the last few years. Most of the polyester carpets that have been warrantied for my customers were replacements for nylon and the custys are sorry they did that. The only reason the switched was because the carpet store told them that polyester "wears like nails" and is better than nylon. Thats the biggest BS! Polyester carpets are an absolute joke!!! They make an excellant carpet cleaner look like a rookie! Give me a 25 year old Nylon Karistan carpet and i will make it look better than any 2-3 year old polyester any day and I will clean the Nylon Karistan with cold water and no prespray!!!

 

[leesenter]

The quality of the fiber will vary from mill to mill.
Stainmaster provides the polymer. The fiber producer then makes the yarn. The mill then takes the yarn and has to draw it, bulk it, twist it and then heat set it. Then the yarn goes for the treatments. There is one mill that appears to get far more Stainmaster claims than any other. Almost all of them for untwisting. At this point its more than a coincidence.
I have done several Stainmaster warranty claims where Invista asks for tufts to be sent back for testing.

 

[sweendogg]

Hey spell the fricken name right.. not Karistan... Karastan.. :mrgreen: And while Nylon is always going to be the gold standard by which we judge all synthetic fibers... you have to realize that smarstrand is a lot differnet animal that a straight polyester. Which the exception of a slight affinity for oil, smarstrand's wear characteristics are a lot better than polyester and the neweer PET products on the market.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

Leaving aside my usual annoyance at carpet manufacturer hype and their happy willingness to throw the cleaning industry under the bus, despite public pronouncement to the contrary, I'd love to see Triexta live up to its resilience claims.

The fact is that we are going to see more of three fibers than we wish we would: Polyester, Triexta, and Olefin.

If I've got to deal with one of them, I'd like it to be Triexta. Chemistry and cleaner savvy can deal with (most) of the oil issues. That just makes it another way to separate the top cleaners from the "also rans"

But if it ends up not holding up well to traffic, then the consumer loses once more to hype, and we end up having to apologize for trying to......well polish feces.

I respect David Sweeney, and if he tells me Triexta is holding up to manufacturer claims, that's enough for me.

 

[sweendogg]

I think Time will be the ultimate judge Jim, I can only report to what we've seen so far. I know we as a company really do not like selling softer yarns, like smarstrand and even the soft nylons out on the market, but for the people who like the softer yarns and understand the drawbacks, it fits their needs. I agree that there are too many salesmen selling these style of carpets on hype and pricepoint and pushing customers to use it in a way that it will not perform well IF they do not stick to regular maintenance. Unforutunatly because of the lower price points on the three mentioned synthetic fibers, the usual customer who ends up opting for these style carpets.. particularly the olefin and lower grade polyesters, aren't interested in maintaining their carpet as often as necessary. And when they do, as you mentioned, they hired sub par price point cleaners as well.