fj60 carpet (1 Viewer)

[cwb]

My cruiser is smelling musty and old from sitting too long. A good carpet cleaning is in order. Has anyone pulled out the carpet, shampooed it or hosed it down, then reinstalled it? If this doesn't work, what's the best source for replacement carpet? I know Specter has kits, but as with all their other stuff, it's really expensive.

Chris

 

[jeffroid]

I just checked SOR, and they're selling a complete carpet kit for 60's for 95 bucks. I guess "really expensive" is in the eyes of the beholder, but that sounds pretty reasonable for a complete kit to me. No offense intended, but if I was going to spend all that time ripping the musty old stuff out there is no way I would try to mess around with trying to to clean, dry, and reinstall it for that kind of money. I don't even need carpet and I'm thinking about buying a kit just to hang on to.

 

[Mike S]

[quote author=jeffroid link=board=1;threadid=12681;start=msg116567#msg116567 date=1078634319]
I just checked SOR, and they're selling a complete carpet kit for 60's for 95 bucks. I guess "really expensive" is in the eyes of the beholder, but that sounds pretty reasonable for a complete kit to me. No offense intended, but if I was going to spend all that time ripping the musty old stuff out there is no way I would try to mess around with trying to to clean, dry, and reinstall it for that kind of money. I don't even need carpet and I'm thinking about buying a kit just to hang on to.
[/quote]

The deal that SOR has is not a complete carpet kit. It is a set of matching carpet MATS. I did a double take when I saw the price, and re-read the ad. Too good to be true.

Mike S

 

[nuclearlemon]

expect to spend about $400 for a complete carpet set.

 

[kling-on]

you can do anything if you have the time .... and i got the time but not the money so i would good luck I would also look into adding some more padding or something for more sound deading since its out

 

[jeffroid]

I stand corrected on my post in regards to SOR's "complete kit" for $95. You are right, it is too good to be true. A couple of years ago, after hours of web surfing, I did find a complete kit from some outfit in Australia (not one of the Cruiser specific sites). I don't remember the cost, but I seem to recall it being closer to $95 than it was to $400. It wasn't OEM, but I was satisfied with the quality.

One thing I forgot to mention is that if you have moisture in your carpet you could have water leaking in somewhere. If that's the case, it's not going to do you much good to either clean and dry or buy new carpet to reinstall unless you find the leak and fix it first.

 

[dogboy]

SOR's pre-molded carpet kit is just O.K. -- looks pretty good but having installed one about a year ago, I can tell you already that it is not going to wear anywhere close to as long as the factory carpet. The weave is a little looser and prone to snagging more than the factory set. In hindsight, I would consider custom cutting marine grade carpet to match the factory pieces instead.

If it isn't worn out but just dirty and crusty with age and use, just clean it in place. No need to remove it - pull the front seats if you want clear access to the full carpet and hit it hard with a vacuum and then chase it with a spray-on carpet cleaner. Yep, get ready, here it comes again: Woolite Heavy Duty Carpet Cleaner (spray-on). The stuff really does work. Extremely well. No, I am not an employee and yes, I am done now

-dogboy- '87 FJ60

 

[Jman]

It's amazing what carpet cleaner and a good vacuuming can do, or even one of those rented carpet cleaners do.

The best carpet cleaning I did was a brush, some woolite and water, followed with a few passes with my wetvac---DO THIS ON A HOT SUNNY DAY, LEAVE TRUCK PARKED IN SUN WITH WINDOWS OPEN so that moisture can escape. Also, don't use so much liquid that you soak the carpet backing that's underneath--that can hold onto moisture for quite a while.

And yes, the carpets can be taken out, but it's a pain. I was happy with the job I did with them in place (but then again, maybe I have low standards?).

Good luck.

 

[swank60]

back in the old days, when I detailed cars, here's what we did:

we had hot running water and filled up the floorboards with it - the scrubbed with a brush and a mild shampoo - then shop vac'd it. if you've got heavy stains, after that, use a good spot remover, do it again. The hot water maked all of the dirt and crap rise out of it.

There are two ways to get the excess water out after vac (it doesn't get everything) - first, leave your truck idling with the heater on full blast and crack all of the windows. We'd leave them running 30-45 minutes. that usually does the trick. If it doesn't, and this is bad, bad, bad, the detailing trick was to hammer a flat blade screwdriver through the floor board to act as a drain.

I soaked my 60 when I first got it - cleaned the carpet quiet well. I was parked on the street, with a natural lean tward the pass side and left those doors open while running the water through. I left the windows cracked overnight and it was dry (but I live in a pretty dry area)

Or you could just spray Fabreeze all over everything.

 

[pvaman]

So Dogboy...any clue has a decent OEM quality carpet? Or are they all about the same quality as SOR.

 

[dogboy]

tough call pvaman, even harder if you can't inspect them firsthand before purchase. CCOT & Man-a-fre both sell kits but I couldn't vouch for the quality and of course, everyone has "the best" carpet kit for sale....

i guess it depends on your expectations of quality -- if it tends to be less than the original equipment, i'm always disappointed, but that's me....

might give the boys down at TLC in Van Nuys a ring and see what they have. i know they tend to lean towards marine carpet but maybe they can give you a better lead than i

-dogboy- '87 FJ60

 

[60wag]

The screwdriver through the floor definately had me LOL!

 

[pvaman]

dogboy...i'm kind of the same way. I like something done right and it'll bug me to have cheap/thin carpet in the truck. Surely some companies specialize in great quality carpet, it's just a question of whether they have anything that fits a cruiser.

 

[Kief]

Yank the seats, the carpet and even have at the slimy seat belts. I did a fj 62 that had 13 years of stains and smells and it came out great. Put some Castrol Superclean in a squirt bottle and shot the stains, then diluted some more for an overall shampoo with a little dishsoap for suds, scrubbed it with a bristle brush, laid it out on the cement, hosed it off with a pressure nozzle and hung it out to dry-padding and all. Scrubbed the seats with the diluted solution, rinsed them with sponge and water, wet vac'd then let air dry. Same for the seat belts. The carpet looked really good aside from the fuzzies so I took a clipper to 'em. Almost looked brand spankin' new. Ended up selling it and the buyer couldn't believe how imacculate it looked. Great results for a weekend's worth of work.