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Replacement Carpet Underpad foam rubber?

01Blackgtp

New member
I ordered a replacement molded carpet from stock-interiors, it's far from a perfect mold.

I got the factory carpet out and in some places the stock foam rubber attached to the bottom of it is like 3 inches thick, what do I fill in the voids with under the new carpet?
 


Um, more 3" thick foam? Barring that maybe you could double up some pad under it to take up the difference. A little trim spray glue and away you go.
 
The problem is its shaped to the weird contours of the floor. Ill try and pull the foam off the old carpet., if that doesnt work I guess i'll get creative with spray foam or something.
 
The stock carpet has what's called "mass backing". You must have not ordered that with the carpet. It's an option on their website. It helps deaden road noise and vibrations. A definite must unless you are selling the car.
 
Hmm... So it doesn't have that foam? That sucks. And good to know. I'm laying down some SecondSkin under mine. Gonna check out this video.
 


Guess ill try and remove the foam from the stock carpet, then use glue and a neoprene skin or something to try and hold it all in place. Nothing ever just goes together easy.
 
Can you post a photo of the thickness of your carpet?
Below is a photo of the carpet I removed recently. Is that the foam that's missing from the new carpet you got?

20161024_225714_zpscpvqg3vh.jpg
 
Guess ill try and remove the foam from the stock carpet, then use glue and a neoprene skin or something to try and hold it all in place. Nothing ever just goes together easy.
The guy in that video said to use a heat gun to soften the glue.
I may not be 100% on this but I do believe that foam was just to help cut down road noise in the passenger compartment. Or it may just be cushion since it appears to be only where your feet would go.
 
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Re-using that old foam that's been absorbing nastiness for 17 years don't seem right. Mine smells of mildew... one of the reasons I wanted all that gone. Would suck to have to re-use it. I hope there's a better solution somewhere.
 


Can you post a photo of the thickness of your carpet?
Below is a photo of the carpet I removed recently. Is that the foam that's missing from the new carpet you got?

20161024_225714_zpscpvqg3vh.jpg

Up in the top right corner of that picture is about how thick the new carpet is, maybe just a touch thicker. And that weird foam rubber your peeling back is the foam I am talking about.
 
Just out of curiosity what did a new carpet pad run ya?

250 for the ultra plush with mass backing. There are like 3 options, normal 130, plush 195, with or without backing +55. It's got the right overall shape, but without that foam its going to have some pretty high spots.
 
I read this thread (pasted below) and started thinking about maybe getting some mattress foam to line the floor with... OR, or, take the new carpet and glue it right on top of the old carpet, and lay it all down. Maybe pressure wash the old carpet and foam first, let it fully dry out (probably days), and then just slap the new carpet over old? Just a thought... If we have to re-use that foam, we might as well save ourselves the trouble from peeling it, and just re-use the whole thing.

http://www.grandprixforums.net/threads/15392-Best-carpet-replacement
 
I am going to try and get the old foam off first this weekend. if that goes ****ty, i'll look into maybe sticking the new over the old or try and create the foam inserts from neoprene or jute, or a combination of the two.

Hate putting 2-3...$400 into a ****ty carpet job. Guess we'll see.
 
Looked into this a little bit more. As far as the foam, maybe this is an option, from JoAnn Fabrics:
http://www.joann.com/heavy-duty-foam-slab-1in-x-24in-x-90in/11178092.html#q=Foam&start=4

Also, I checked out the carpet that ACC sells. They claim to manufacture their carpet with "all factory padding included, including heel pads". The stock-interiors website does mention heel pads, but does NOT mention the factory padding.
RockAuto sells carpet, made by ACC. However, there is a HUGE difference in price between Rock, and ACC direct. I wonder why that is? I have a couple theories:
#1. RockAuto buys in volume from ACC, and is able to trickle the savings down.
#2. OR, the carpets that ACC makes for RockAuto don't have all the bells and whistles, in order to meet RockAuto's pricing requirements (I'm sure they negotiate pricing).

The difference in price is significant. Buying straight from ACC, your looking at $339 plus shipping (cut-pile with mass). If you buy the ACC carpet from Rock, it is $155 (cut-pile with mass)

Is this an example of you get what you pay for? I don't know. I was going to purchase through stock-interiors myself, but now I'm going through Rock, or through ACC directly. I will need to email Rock to make sure that their carpet has all that padding that ACC's website claims.
 


If by heel pad they mean a piece of jute glued underneath about the size of a floor mat, it has that.

I even went by an upholstery shop today, the guy there said he hasn't seen that before. Told me to try and steam or heat the pad a bit and get the foam off the old carpet, or start laying in layers of jute or foam.


I'll screw with it tomorrow and report how it goes.



Edit: I think there is really one company pressing out these carpets.
 
Heel pad is under the pedals, on top of the carpet. Aftermarket carpet just has jute pad on bottom. GM carpet would have the foam. I would carve styrofoam to fill the old pad's space and stick it to the floor with butyl for no squeaks. And less moldy pad stink. Grab styrofoam from junkyard GP doors or buy a sheet and layer that.
 
The foam from the front two foot-wells came off pretty easy, I am just going to lay jute and then a sheet of neoprene for the back.

The back half of the foam goes from under the front seats to where the back seat mounts, I don't have the patience or the half a day it would take to try and pull that old piece of foam out.
 
Sounds like you're making it work... I can't bring myself to use that old foam. Found another type of foam at JoAnn's, made from polyurethane, comes 2" thick. I'm going to use that, and adjust as needed for the thicker/thinner areas.

Good luck man.
 
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