[Charles]

I have heard it's tough to get the stock carpet out so I don't want to mess with it right now. But it has years of nastiness. I removed the seats and the ebrake cover. Yech! Is there a way to clean the carpet without removing it? Or is it a waste of time and I should just vacuum it for now?

 

[stick]

Yes, you can clean it in the car. I used a Rug-Doctor machine that I rented at the local Safeway Grocery store. However, you need to set aside enough time for it to dry properly. (could be a couple of days) Since you already have the seats out, we can skip that step. In order to dry it out properly, you need to lift of the side sills that the carpet is attached to and put something underneath the carpet to prop it up. If you do not do this, the undermatting of the carpet could stay wet for months...and then it'll smell like a dirty dishrag... YUCK!

 

[Charles]

You know. I think I will just vacuum it. I don't want to risk stanking it up. I want to just buy new carpet as mine is very worn and nasty. I better find the cash ASAP as I am sure they will be out of stock soon.

 

[stick]

As long as you can air it out to dry, cleaning it is very effective at making it look new-ish again. If you can't get OEM carpet, you could always go with some aftermarket carpet. I've heard good things about www.accmats.com

 

[Charles]

Well, cleaning it would be cheaper than replacing. I do have a second rex to drive while it dries. Of course, now it is no longer hot here so I may have to wait for another heat wave to get it to dry quicker. In Texas, we get a few more heat waves before "winter".

 

[joshman]

Or you can go with no carpet at all. I've been going like that for a little over a year now. The main problem with going with no carpet is now my oem floormats slide around...but velcro fixed that. That is until I get carpet in it again.

 

[Charles]

Nah, I don't think I want to go with no carpet. Seems that would look kinda spartan.

 

[Stavros]

how is the road noise in the cockpit with no carpet?

 

[Devin]

Hey Charles Ill clean your carpet I did it in mine. And its not REALLY hard to remove the carpet, just time consuming. You wouldnt believe how much brownish liquid I sucked up from my carpet when I cleaned it with a carpet cleaner thing my mom has. uke: BTW: A must is to use staright water after your done with the cleaning process. This will get all soap and crap out of the carpet. I did it on mine about 6 times. Or untill no brown water is being sucked up.

 

[daveb91]

I have a Steamvac for the house that has a handheld attachment. i took the seats out and used it on the carpet and it worked very well also used it on the seats and only took about 4 hrs to dry. it made a world of difference but i still wasnt happy withe the dark grey/light black whatever you call it carpet color so i bought new carpet that was black and i like that ten times better. the older carpet felt dried out maybe from the dust that was in it but afetr the steam cleaning it was soft again same with the seats.

 

[Charles]

Did you go with OEM or aftermarket?

 

[Devin]

I think he went aftermarket, because hes stating he doesnt like the light black/gray color of the OEM carpet.

 

[Charles]

Oh. I thought his was washed out or something.

 

[daveb91]

nah aftermarket jet black my original carpet was a dark grey.

 

[joshman]

how is the road noise in the cockpit with no carpet?

Well lets just say I've invested quite a bit of money on the stereo system...not that I like it loud...I prefer a clean sounding system...but in this case it definately helps being loud as well as clean.

And don't even think of trying to talk on your cell phone in my car. Hopefully a lot of that will change once I make some changes to the exhaust.

When I first got the exhaust done nearly three years ago I thought having a loud system would be cool...that went away after a couple of months. The silencer is not doing its job at all.

I also would prefer to have jet black carpet to the oem gray. Actually when I first got my car I recovered all the carpet in a thin layer of black upholstery carpet from Autozone...but that didn't last long. Daveb91 how is the fitment of your aftermarket carpet and who did you order it from?

 

[daveb91]

Usual trimming and cutting out the holes.

 

[scruffybob42088]

Prestone make a badass carpet cleaner, even has a scrubber on the can; just spray, scrub, wait, blot up with clean cloth, made it look 10 yrs cleaner. And the scrubber fluffed the carpet up.

 

[tyson]

i found that its best to BEAT the upholstery and carpet and then vacuum up the dust. best to take the seats out, pretty easy process. then literally beat the seats with a stick (or ratchet). vacuum anything left over. its much more effective this way.

the problem with the carpet is you cant beat it without getting some kind of gap between the actual floor of the car. so stick something inside the openings where the bolts go in to raise it an inch or so and then proceed to beat it. youll start to see all the crap just lift up to the surface. makes vacuuming much more effective.

ive found the air in the car MUCH more breathable after doing this process. i try to find the time every so often, like 6 months or so.

 

[mossin_90]

personally, remove it.

I did it with mine. I then pressure washed it, actually that's a standard for me and every single car I've owned. even the toughest car I've done haven't deterred me from keep doing it again and again.
you'd be surprised of what is in there.

if you decide to do it make sure to visit a local hardware store and buy foam padding from the carpet dept. make a pattern out of the old one glued to the carpet. the multicolor padding one is ok. when you remove the carpet discard the original padding, you need to yank it out, that is where ALL the creepy stuff is at, bacteria and bad smell. once you PW the carpet let is dry. hang it from some high place so it drains completely. do not let it dry out laying it over the floor.

when installing the carpet use the new carpet padding the same size as the old one. trust me the carpet will be cleaner, no creepy smells or anything and above all a very nice cushioned floor.

the toughest part is to remove the part under the console. I cut (split) one single piece and so far the carpet still looking factory. it doesn't affected how the carpet sits so that worked fine fore me.

gl

 

[jfrolang]

You can get the carpet out without cutting it, but you have to remove the dash first.