Why on earth do we carpet floorboards?

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dibbons

dibbons

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Back in the 1960's my parents covered the beautiful hardwood floors in their new home with carpet. Yuk! In the 1970's they put deep pile carpet in the bathroom of a cattle ranch house. Gross! In the 1980's (or before) my father's ranch pick-up trucks started being delivered with wall-to-wall interior carpet. We could no longer sweep out the dust, gravel, and cow manure from the previously rubber covered floorboards. My spouse's Jeep Cherokee removable floor mats are carpeted! This means a dust magnet covering another dust magnet. Why, why, why I ask myself? Has anyone else recognized the folly of this carpeting our automobiles and returned to common sense good old-fashioned rubber floor covering during a restoration? How many have replaced floorboards due to wet carpeting having provided the perfect environment for rust and rot? How many more complaints will I read about someone here trying to get their reproduction "custom fit" carpet to lay down flat? I thought I heard somewhere that the original 1968 Road Runner had a practical rubber floor material. I say, down with dirty, impossible to ever clean, "luxurious" carpet everywhere. What are my alternatives? Please tell me.
 
Just call weathertech and get your floor mats. But to answer your question the vast majority of people don't live on a ranch and have to worry about stepping in crap. Just sayin.
 
I never heard of weathertech, thankyou. But I can think of something we have ALL stepped in, but I will spare us all the familiar icky details.
 
i remember my dad buying 2 cars , 1 in 71 a charger and the other a 72 elcamino when i was a kid and my dad was the type of guy that tried to delete anything he could to get it cheaper. well both cars had a formed rubber floor cover from factory
 
Carpet cuts down on heat and road noise and looks more luxurious which is what new car buying sheeple have been told they want so that's what the majority of cars get built with. If you want the ultimate utilitarian floor covering lay down a couple of coats of bedliner.
 
The rubber mat if it gets water under it will rot your floor and/or cause mold. Carpet is porous enough that it will allow the floor to dry out.
 
goldduster318 said:
The rubber mat if it gets water under it will rot your floor and/or cause mold. Carpet is porous enough that it will allow the floor to dry out.
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Good post.
Every old vehicle i have seen has a rusty floor if it had factory rubber floor covering instead of carpet.
Rubber flooring keeps the moisture in and traps it causing rust. :wack:
I hate them!
 
Dartnut said:
Good post.
Every old vehicle i have seen has a rusty floor if it had factory rubber floor covering instead of carpet.
Rubber flooring keeps the moisture in and traps it causing rust. :wack:
I hate them!
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could not agree more , my old dodge has insulation under the rubber
that held that much more water. I just replaced the floor in it last summer.
there was not much floor left under the rubber mat, LOL
Both my old cudas weathered way better with the carpets. (floors were still rotted
but not as bad as the ten year less old truck) truck is for sale by the way.LoL
Sorry will post truck in right area did not mean to hijack your thread.
 

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The GI vehicles I drove had neither, so I guess that makes the most sense.

Personally, I've carpeted every vehicle I ever owned, even when they never offered carpet. I hate noisy, cold, uncomfortable cars.

I don't care what anyone else wants, that's their business, just don't think I should have the same thing. Freedom of choice.
 
I finally found a professional that hates carpets in vehicles as much as I do "Nick" of Nick's Garage @ the 8:00 minute mark:

 
I wonder how Nick gets away with full-throttle testing (go to minute 13:00) from a dead-stop in front of his garage in an A/SA Hemi Challenger without his business neighbors or a concerned citizen calling the cops?

 
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Thank you rubber door mats for teaching me how to replace floorboards...
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^^^when I bought that truck he said the floorboards were solid LOL I pulled the rubber mat up and look at the ground (no metal left) and looked at him and he said maybe just that little spot... LOL...
 
And le's completely clarify it's not the carpet or the rubber that's making the floorboards rust. It's the seals that are broken either in the doors or above the dash letting water in... Or tracking it in.
The carpet gives it a fighting chance to dry out but the rubber not so much. Also the rubber can collect condensation easier...
 
dibbons said:
That's funny, the '51 Chevy in the video still seems to have it's floor intact.
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have you seen the thickness of the 51? crap they build tanks out of lighter gauge than that thing is made of. I had to repair my dads 51 chevy truck when some crazy lady hit him, totaled a 70 chevelle but just crumpled the front fender and didn't hurt the spring steel bumper. It too me a torch, 290 studs and a lot of cussin to bring that fender back out to shape. Steel was ".090 on the floor and 080 in the fenders since it was stretched a bit from stamping operations and a ***** to move. Every rubber floored vehicle I have owned has rust on the floor. new old or in between. might as well rip it out and just paint it for better protection.
 
66Dvert said:
have you seen the thickness of the 51? crap they build tanks out of lighter gauge than that thing is made of. I had to repair my dads 51 chevy truck when some crazy lady hit him, totaled a 70 chevelle but just crumpled the front fender and didn't hurt the spring steel bumper. It too me a torch, 290 studs and a lot of cussin to bring that fender back out to shape. Steel was ".090 on the floor and 080 in the fenders since it was stretched a bit from stamping operations and a ***** to move. Every rubber floored vehicle I have owned has rust on the floor. new old or in between. might as well rip it out and just paint it for better protection.
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The truck I just bought yesterday... Rubber floor mats... The heel of my gas pedal foot was blowing in the breeze underneath the truck and the top of my foot only reached Midway up onto the pedal... LOL
 
Dartnut said:
Good post.
Every old vehicle i have seen has a rusty floor if it had factory rubber floor covering instead of carpet.
Rubber flooring keeps the moisture in and traps it causing rust. :wack:
I hate them!
Click to expand...
Yup every time I find an early A usually a valiant with rusted out floors always a rubber floor mat.
 
j par said:
The truck I just bought yesterday... Rubber floor mats... The heel of my gas pedal foot was blowing in the breeze underneath the truck and the top of my foot only reached Midway up onto the pedal... LOL
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got a more door over here with only 54k on it and there is no floor pan left from the rubber mat. that is why I got it soo cheap (well a blown /6 too. Lady never changed the oil for 40 of the 54k according to her husband. So you CAN kill a .6 but it takes a while
 
I never said rubber floor mats were rust preventative, I just like the fact they don't collect dust, sand, dog **** and crap like that. Are not a dust magnet like carpeting.
 
I saw a guy stick welding sheetmetal on a 51 chevy once!!

Carpet!? Me? No!

I mend the floors, prime, paint them, and spray them down with undercoat, or BodyShultz, or bed liner... They all leak whether from rain or me washing them.
 
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