Did you know that when it’s 70 degrees and sunny outside, the temperature in your closed car can quickly reach 107 degrees? Within an hour, it can rise all the way to 113 degrees. Not only is this a great reason to never leave a child in a locked car, it’s also one of the reasons your car flooring needs to be replaced over time. Here’s everything you need to know about why and when to worry about your auto carpet.
Why The Car Flooring Needs Refreshing
Heat is only one factor. If you live in a climate with warm summers and really cold winters, even if the seasons are short, the extreme temperature differences are hard on the car carpet. In addition, we’re spending an average of 87 minutes a day in our cars in America, and 70% of us are eating or drinking while we’re in them. We also track salt in during the winter, wet and mud during any season, and wear it out with our heels. This means our car flooring can get really nasty, really fast.
How Do I know My Car Flooring Needs to Be Replaced?
There are few signs that let you know that your car flooring is in trouble. Here are some of the big ones:
- Your pedals are in any way impeded. If the car mat or flooring is doing anything to compromise your ability to manipulate the accelerator, brake or clutch, it’s time to replace it. At the very least get a new car floor mat. If you don’t, you could end up in a serious accident.
- You have a hole around your heel. You probably don’t even realize that your heel moves and pivots a great deal as you drive. Having a hole right there means that your heel could get caught at just the wrong moment.
- Your car had a flood. Flooding is a car killer, and the car carpet will hold in moisture and become the focal point of rust in your vehicle. Add that moisture to the years of spilled soda and crushed Goldfish crackers your kids have left behind, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.
What to Do First
If you’ve decided your car flooring really does need to be replaced, then the first step is finding the right replacement carpet. Car carpets have to be molded to fit the shape of the car floor, and they should be at least resistant to the wear and tear we throw at them. You’ll be getting into this carpet with muddy, dirty feet. You will spill coffee on it. Your kids will grind their food into it. It’s possible to get carpet these days in a variety of colors, but with a variety of options for keeping out stains and protecting the material as well. As a car interior professional about the options available for your car model.
What Needs to Be Done to Replace Car Carpet?
Before the carpet can be replaced, everything has to be removed. This includes the seats and consoles, the seat belt anchors and side plates, the electrical connections and the kick plates. Then the floor pan has to be prepare and any rust stopped in its tracks. Everything that got lost down there over the years has to come out, but it’s also important not to damage the tar based sound and temperature protecting substances. Then everything has to be measured perfectly and the carpet cut out.
What About the Trunk?
Don’t forget the trunk as you think about the car flooring. The trunk isn’t an afterthought: it’s one of the dirtiest places in your whole car. We throw all kinds of junk in there, from groceries to oil. The average trunk carpet is home to 850 different types of bacteria, so don’t neglect trunk flooring as you’re thinking about replacement flooring.
Your car is one of the most important investments you make in life. We spend a lot of time in our cars, so don’t let your car’s flooring become an unsightly mess.
