Mold - in helmet? Anyone deal with this before?
 

So the last race I did was Daytona back in May, 14 hour race, raining, gear got soaked. Packed it away and forgot about it (oops!!).

Now everything is covered in mold, the suit, balaclava, gloves, socks and shoes are easy, I'll just wash them a few times repeatedly.

But what about the helmet? Outside is easy enough, might take out the liner and wash the inside but looking to see if anyone else has ever had to deal with it and might have some tips?

Never dealt with it personally, but the only thing I can think of is a steam cleaner.

use mold cleaning disenfectant and wipe down your helmet inside and out is what I prefer.

Heard of this with pro drivers, but we don't have the problem in the southwest. Found this though:

http://blackmold.awardspace.com/black-mold-clothes.html

I like the vinegar idea versus bleaching. The smell will keep you awake the next event. :)

LOL good link. I need to start dealing with it soon although I'm not sure I'm going to do the Sebring 14 hour race coming up, so I may not need to until December for road atlanta, but I really need to be less lazy and deal with it before it becomes worse.

Most of the higher end moto helmets like Arai, Shoei, Suomy etc allow the entire liner to be removed and washed. If you can remove it, dunk the entire lid in a bucket with lukewarm water, some laundry detergent and soak it for a couple of hours.

Steam clean or dunk the whole lid in warm water and scrub away.
Put it in the direct sun upside down for the day and you should be good.
Thats how I would wash my Bell SA helmet in the past. Worked and felt clean!

I threw away an Arai motorcycle helmet because it gave me a severe rash the last time I wore it due to some funk living in there. This was an old helmet though, and nearing the end of its 10 year useful life.

Yeah sadly this is a Bell Pro series GP2.. $600 SA2010 helmet.. so yeah cleaning it is definately preferred in this case.

I'm going to try to clean them this weekend.. if it'll ever stop raining.

Removable liner? Wash it.

Use a high grade disinfectant meant for implements to clean the inside of the helmet. FYI, iso alcohol is not rated to disinfect anything other than skin sites...you want something stronger.

I had an old funky helmet in the past and I just submerged the whole thing in a tub full of water and Oxiclean. Then just let it air dry and it was good. If it's a lot of surface mold you might have to do some scrubbing.

My stuff would have to be really expensive to justify not lighting it all on fire.

If your helmet has a removable liner then that's not so bad, you could probably just buy a new liner. The rest... replace it. But then again, I'm sensitive to mold and I like my racing equipment to be in top shape.

Having raced motocross for years funky helmet sucks! Anyways can't say I ever had issues getting the entire helmet wet so don't let that scare you. A very tiny amount of bleach goes a long way so I suggest diluting just a couple ounces in a bucket big enough to sink the entire helmet in cold water. Let it soak long enough to kill the mold. Then rinse and wash with a mild detergent safe for skin...laundry detergent.

You need to dry it fast so place it on top of a fan so you don't get more mold.

No harsh chemicals or even alcohol! Do not risk breaking down the impact foam or the glues.

It's probably ~2k worth of stuff. The balaclava and gloves have one race on them, last race before that the gloves got soaked in gas due to a teammate not following pit strategy and the balaclava got dumped in oil. Ugh.

I can replace it all of course, safety is more important than a couple grand, but would rather clean it if possible and spend a grand on a 6 event HPDE insurance package for the BRZ and the other grand for 3 events worth of registration fees :)