Has anyone replaced carpet with Vinyl?

[HLA470]

A year ago or so my wife spilt some chlorine (pool grade) in the rear of the LX and caused irreparable damage throughout the back and it seeped to the carpet at the base of the front and back doors. This leaves me with a few options:

1). Ignore it - relieves the pressure of staining it later

2). OEM replacement ~$1900 (local dealer)

3). Aftermarket carpet replacement - local body shop ~$600

4). Full vinyl replacement (with sound proofing) ~$600 plus shipping (allcarcarpets)

I would like to hear your suggestions and would solicit all feedback from any one who has seen vinyl in a 100 or done it themselves.

Thanks,
Hank

 

[SmoothLC]

Ouch! That's too bad. No personal experience, but hope you can get it taken care of...

 

[hoser]

I vote vinyl replacement. I've seen the OEM vinyl in a 105 and 78 series I rented and have wanted to go that way since then. Not sure how the aftermarket stuff stacks up though. Easy to clean with a hand broom and wet rag. The only downfall I can see is how durable or how well it will wear if used w/o any mat over it. We had some rubber mats over the vinyl that kind of slid around.

 

[SHAGGY101]

If I had the choice I would go vinyl. My dad has it in his silverado and I have always been jealous of it when it comes time to get muddy or wet boots in the truck.

 

[bkgee]

I did vinyl in the cargo area of my old $runner (and new carpet in the first and second row). it was a great way to go, and i've considered it for the cruiser too, but my carpet is fine, so not yet for me.

 

[OregonLC]

more importantly, have you pulled up the carpet to see if it did anything to the body? keep in mind that it's possible to rehydrate dried chlorine if it gets wet. might be worth pulling out and treating it with sodium bicarbonate to neutralize any residual.

 

[NMuzj100]

The back should be easy to do since it is a flat piece of carpet. I would want to put down a piece of vinyl like this in the rear.

Garage Flooring - BLT Coin Pattern from American Garage Floor

For the front, Is the damage pictured the only spots effected or is the entire carpet ruined ? If it is only those entry spots you might be able to do an effective patch repair cutting up some vinyl floor mats like these using the contoured edge up towards the seat and running the cut edge under the door sill. It might end up looking pretty good.

Kraco 2-piece Premium Rubber Diamond Plate Truck and SUV Mat Sets - JCWhitney

I agree with OregonLC that neutralizing any remaining chlorine is key but assume that you have already done that since it's been over a year.