WTB - x1/9 carpet

rcutclif

True Classic
Hi All,

Wondering if anyone has a carpet hanging around they'd let go relatively cheap. Looking for something that would be useable or needs a good cleaning, but doesn't need to be perfect. I could be talked into just about any color.

There is an option for 'new' on ebay at $200 shipped or so (maybe questionable because ebay), but I'm looking to see if there are any out there just withering in your garage that need a good home. Let me know!

Robbie
 
If you are looking for a cheap solution, what I did with my Maserati Biturbo, Home Depot indoor/outdoor carpet. It comes in a roll, enough to do the entire car. It won't do a complex curve or shape, so you end up making some relief cuts but it turned out ok. I used tan, and lots of liquid nails glue, that glue dried to about the same color as the carpet. It was a really cheap solution.
 
Hi All,

Wondering if anyone has a carpet hanging around they'd let go relatively cheap. Looking for something that would be useable or needs a good cleaning, but doesn't need to be perfect. I could be talked into just about any color.

There is an option for 'new' on ebay at $200 shipped or so (maybe questionable because ebay), but I'm looking to see if there are any out there just withering in your garage that need a good home. Let me know!

Robbie
Do you have the original and want to replace it? Or just don’t have any carpet. The carpet in my car looked pretty gross when I got it but a good cleaning and some black carpet paint actually did wonders. It has a coupe of wear holes in it but really looks decent. Of course if you don’t have any carpet then that approach won’t work.
 
Where are you located? I have the carpet from my 82 parts car, I used it in my 87 for some time. It looks good overall, had to patch the wear in the driver's foot. If you use it with mats they look great.

This really isn't something worth shipping though, so if you are somewhat local it would make sense otherwise not so much.
 
I got the car with only half a carpet (the part under the seats, missing the part under the feet). So nothing really to clean or re-dye.

I'm in Chicago area
 
Since the driver's side gets all the wear, I thought a good solution for OEM-fit carpet would be to acquire a worn USA carpet and a worn UK RHD carpet, cut each in half with a bit of overlap, very carefully duplicate your accel pedal cuts, join the two "passenger" halves with velcro down the middle and voila, a very presentable and well-fitting end product.
 
Robbie,

I have an original blue one from a 1982 I parted out. It's dirty, and has some worn thru holes. $45.00, plus shipping. As Hussein said, it's going to be expensive to ship.
I show it ships in a 113 pound dimensional box!

I am a vendor.
I also have a used black one that's not too bad, and a new brown one I got from the original manufacturer before they retired and scrapped the tooling. Not cheap.

If you can get a new original carpet for $200.00 delivered, buy it.
 
the ebay one is new reproduction, and at the price I'm dubious of the quality. But I would be able to choose the color to match the door cards (red), so that would be nice.


Chris, I actually saw that one on your sight and was going to ask about some pictures. Shipping might be worth it if I buy a few other things at the same time so I'm trying to make a good list of what I might need. The USPS calculator needs actual weight and box dimensions I thought? How do I get a quote to 60422?
 
the ebay one is new reproduction, and at the price I'm dubious of the quality. But I would be able to choose the color to match the door cards (red), so that would be nice.


Chris, I actually saw that one on your sight and was going to ask about some pictures. Shipping might be worth it if I buy a few other things at the same time so I'm trying to make a good list of what I might need. The USPS calculator needs actual weight and box dimensions I thought? How do I get a quote to 60422?
I'm about to the point of putting in a carpet - I'm about ready to get this one. Has anyone tried it and can comment on it?

Thanks
 
I just threw away a old X carpet. But it was very worn out and rotted in places. Definitely not worth trying to save.

Considering shipping costs these days the one on eBay is a great deal. Even if the quality isn't excellent, it is new and better than a old used one - that will cost half that to ship.
 
I'm about to the point of putting in a carpet - I'm about ready to get this one. Has anyone tried it and can comment on it?

Thanks
I actually just put this in my car. It's not a perfect fit, and you do need to play around with it, but it's definitely not bad especially considering the price. I found that it did wrinkle a bit where the front console is, but overall I was happy with it.
 
I actually just put this in my car. It's not a perfect fit, and you do need to play around with it, but it's definitely not bad especially considering the price. I found that it did wrinkle a bit where the front console is, but overall I was happy with it.
Yeah! good feedback thank you. I eventually bit the bullet and ordered it too, and I have the same feeling about it. Need to post some pics soon but I'm happy for the $$ spent (and I did get the red color which is cool).
 
A little information about the company selling those carpets on eBay. It is a fairly small, family owned business and their specialty is making carpets for vehicles. They do everything in house. Their products are what many of the aftermarket vendors (including at least one that we know well) sell on their own websites, for many makes of vehicles (not just Fiat). A couple of those vendors are large and sell a lot of them. They also supply the products offered in some very large, well known "mail order" catalogs. The owner is a really nice guy, I run into him every year at a major trade show (he loves to talk so there have been years when I had to avoid him due to time limitations :)). I've used his carpets in various vehicles. Several years ago I had a unusual application that he did not have a pattern for (very rare that he doesn't). Basically it was a longer wheelbase version of a more common vehicle. I supplied him with all of the needed info so he could make a replacement carpet for that specific application, which has been added to his catalogue. The carpets are not concours show quality but quite good. The fit / installation is typical of pretty much every aftermarket carpet I've used over the decades. I think they are good for the price (which is a very good price compared to the others offered for the X). However if you are looking for a authentic factory original or show quality carpet then these are not likely to be what you want. But for a typical replacement carpet they are nice. For more details see his website:
 
This is the finish product.
 

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This is the finish product.
That's the same color I got from him. :) With a two-tone grey upholstery, black trim, and other accents. ;)

From experience I can say the fit of any replacement carpet depends a lot on what is under it. Most aftermarket carpets are intended to be copies of the original. That means it assumes all of the original padding, sound proofing, insulation, etc, are in place. And all of it is in good condition. However the reality is that's seldom the case. So if any of it has been removed, is very worn, replaced with something different, or more was added, then it will affect the fit of the carpet. But there are also times when the aftermarket pattern was made from a very worn out carpet, or they add their own backing material to it, or other changes that affect the fit. Furthermore many cars have gone through changes over the course of their production run. For example the early X's have a VERY different floor shape compared to the later ones (weld-in seat runners vs bolt-in ones). Especially for vehicles with a limited demand it isn't practical for the carpet makers to offer multiple versions in those cases. So with everything considered the final installation outcome will differ for every application.
 
If you are looking for a cheap solution, what I did with my Maserati Biturbo, Home Depot indoor/outdoor carpet. It comes in a roll, enough to do the entire car. It won't do a complex curve or shape, so you end up making some relief cuts but it turned out ok. I used tan, and lots of liquid nails glue, that glue dried to about the same color as the carpet. It was a really cheap solution.
The mechanic I bought my car from did this too. He used a Home Depot indoor/outdoor carpet and lots of relief cuts. The fit was amazing. I was told (incorrectly) by the insurance company I used at that time I had to get my car appraised before it could be insured. The appraiser went on about the carpeting about how it was one of the better replacement non-OEM jobs he'd seen. With enough glue and cuts, it is possible to do a very good job.

However that was over 20 years ago and the carpet is now showing its age so I need to replace it. I know he used a lot of glue so I'm assuming none of the padding will be salvageable.

What did you do for padding under the carpet?
 
After reading this thread I recently looked at the selection of outdoor carpet at a Lowes near me. There seemed to be two levels; one looked much better but had a backing of some sort that made it rather thick and stiff, while the other was much thinner and supple but didn't look as nice. I imagine the result you will get may depend a lot of the specific qualities of the product chosen.

I think I will use the better looking one to make "floor mats" for some of my cars. In the past I would buy really nice floor mats for all of my cars. However they became very expensive and would wear out after a couple of years. Now I view floor mats as just a disposable way to preserve the base carpet under them. Particularly on the driver's side under the right heel, where it constantly rubs with throttle action. So I get or make cheap ones and replace them rather than clean them. I've even used really cheap "door mats" from places like WalMart at times. I just take them out if the car will be used for a special occasion or viewed by a lot of people. Then the carpet looks nice and new all the time.
 
After reading this thread I recently looked at the selection of outdoor carpet at a Lowes near me. There seemed to be two levels; one looked much better but had a backing of some sort that made it rather thick and stiff, while the other was much thinner and supple but didn't look as nice. I imagine the result you will get may depend a lot of the specific qualities of the product chosen.

I think I will use the better looking one to make "floor mats" for some of my cars. In the past I would buy really nice floor mats for all of my cars. However they became very expensive and would wear out after a couple of years. Now I view floor mats as just a disposable way to preserve the base carpet under them. Particularly on the driver's side under the right heel, where it constantly rubs with throttle action. So I get or make cheap ones and replace them rather than clean them. I've even used really cheap "door mats" from places like WalMart at times. I just take them out if the car will be used for a special occasion or viewed by a lot of people. Then the carpet looks nice and new all the time.
Consider using a rubber backing. The mechanic I purchased my car from added Coco Mats. Obviously after 20 years, they're beyond showing their age. BUT when the clutch and brake master cylinders started leaking, the rubber backing prevented the brake fluid from soaking into the carpeting and padding. Sure, I'm tossing the mat because after 20+ years, it's showing its age.
 
Consider using a rubber backing. The mechanic I purchased my car from added Coco Mats. Obviously after 20 years, they're beyond showing their age. BUT when the clutch and brake master cylinders started leaking, the rubber backing prevented the brake fluid from soaking into the carpeting and padding. Sure, I'm tossing the mat because after 20+ years, it's showing its age.
That's a good point with the X's tendency to leak brake fluid, something I wouldn't have to consider on other cars. :D

I've had a couple sets of Coco Mats over the years. I like the look but they do not last very long before they start falling apart and shedding fibers everywhere. And they've become quite pricey.
 
The mechanic I bought my car from did this too. He used a Home Depot indoor/outdoor carpet and lots of relief cuts. The fit was amazing. I was told (incorrectly) by the insurance company I used at that time I had to get my car appraised before it could be insured. The appraiser went on about the carpeting about how it was one of the better replacement non-OEM jobs he'd seen. With enough glue and cuts, it is possible to do a very good job.

However that was over 20 years ago and the carpet is now showing its age so I need to replace it. I know he used a lot of glue so I'm assuming none of the padding will be salvageable.

What did you do for padding under the carpet?
I didn't use any padding, it was a quick and cheap solution. The old carpet was sun damaged, it was awful. I used tan carpet and the common liquid nails dried to about the same color, so relief cuts could be glued and it looked better than what was there, not a perfect solution, but it worked out ok. It was a cheap solution!
 
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