Carpets - clean or replace?

[ashm]

Evening all!
So I'm finally putting my Elan back together after some time off the road. The carpets have gone a bit ripe over time, and could do with some attention. I definitely don't want to have them washed inside the car, as the last thing she needs is more moisture in the footwells!

So I'm trying to decide between two courses of action:
1) remove all the carpets and send them off to be thoroughly cleaned. I had thought there must be dry cleaning shops that'd do a load of auto carpets, but haven't been able to find any, so I'm thinking perhaps a valet company?
2) just have a whole new set of carpets made.

I'm thinking new carpets would be nice, but of course they won't be moulded to fit, and I'll have to wait until the car's fully running again to get it to a suitable trimmer. On the other hand, the cleaning option would mean I can get the interior sorted whilst I recommission the engine, it's probably considerably cheaper, and as a bonus I'll have an opportunity to investigate any rusty bits around the tub...
Thoughts? Has anyone had their carpets removed and cleaned?

Thanks,
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[rip]

Why would you need the car running to have new carpets made? Couldn't you take the old ones out for a re-trimmer to copy?

[ashm]

Um... possibly! I imagined they'd probably want the car to make and fit the carpets. Can I send the old carpets away somewhere as a pattern? Would the new ones fit properly if they didn't have the actual car as a reference?
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[Simon_P]

use carpet shampoo and a jet wash.

My local car wash place cleans mats like that.

[epipete]

Try this thread for ideas (bottom of page 3)

viewtopic.php?f=39&t=14146&p=197812&hilit=+carpet#p197812


Pete

[mfriel]

Hi,

I was wondering if there was a specific type of glue, or what would be the best to use to re-attach the carpet lining to the door panel? Any ideas? The carpet is just slightly coming away and wanted to stop this before it gets worse!

Thanks for any help.

Mike.

[RayD]

Mike, all carpet fitters use a spray adhesive ... spray it on both surfaces, let it go off for a few minutes and attach the carpet.

It will be easy to remove the carpet at a later date and the glue on the door panel will almost come off in sheet form if ever you had the urge.

From Google ...

Carpet Adhesive

The one I have came from a carpet fitter and is probably a trade version but I'm sure they will all be similar.

Ray

[rip]

I used to think the red carpets were a bit wild.
But they have grown on me & now I think they look great!.

Ad:- did you find someone who could make replacements? Purple ones would be quite nice

[Rambo]

How about these zebra car mats Ripster ? Cool

https://www.google.co.uk/search?gs_rn=2 ... B500%3B500

[Rusty Wishbone]

I used to think the red carpets were a bit wild.
But they have grown on me & now I think they look great!.

My thoughts exactly!

[ashm]

Ad:- did you find someone who could make replacements? Purple ones would be quite nice

Haven't got that far yet! Work took me to the Middle East for a while, so haven't had much time to think about Elan jobs...
I reckon I'll probably wait until I've moved house (end of September), then once I'm settled in to the new garage, take out all the carpets and decide what to do about them.
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[Pascal]

Hello,

On a calypso red one :
i used spray carpet cleaner for the main ground parts (i put an additional standard car carpet on it) and back part,
and replaced the door pannels, using double side adhesive carpet tape. This is easier to remove if you have to open the screwed door pannels for a window reason.

If you have red carpet ...
i used very cheap "tapis rouge" carpet path, the kind of (almost) one-use carpet they use to make a red lane for important persons ' VIP '.
Interesting as this is a thin and light carpet, easy to fit or replace, and nice looking. Cost was 7 GBP i think, the adhesive tape was more expensive than the carpet.

Pascal

[WienLot]

Regarding doors' carpet, I replaced them as well on my car.
I glued the new ones and decided to have the screws apparent in case of later (predictible) need for intervention.
It's not perfect however gives a sort of vague 'racing' appearance.

DSC_7759 - Copie.JPG

[Elanlover]

You could always try to mould your own carpet like these guys. Helps if you have the equipment but I'll bet heating it up with a heat gun might be possible (although time consuming).

Don't forget that floor mats for the Elan are available on eBay from a guy who we did a group buy with (he made copies of the stock mats) and who continues to offer them in a variety of colours.

[dapinky]

Y...... heating it up with a heat gun might be possible (although time consuming).

When I originally replaced my carpets in the red car (R.I.P. ) I bought the main floor carpets, but had to make the rest up. Whilst the bulkhead was a flat piece, the 'B' pillar ones wern't, so i used a heat gun to soften and mould them to shape.

First attempt was a melted carpet with no 'tufting' left on it , but by using the gentlest setting and keeping the gun away from the carpet (and moving), the second attempt was pretty well spot on.

It may be even better using a decent hairdrier - the main thing is, don't try and rush - let it heat up at its own pace.

I'm fairly sure that the floor carpets could be done by the same method, if taken methodically and gently - just use the floorpan as the mould, and push it into place with something suitable (fingers? wooden spoon?).

This method could work well if you wanted to change the sound insulation to a sheet of closed-cell foam instead of the water-retaining felt originally fitted, and either retain or replace the original carpets, but still have a good fit.

[Jeemy]

I have 10 cans of 3M Scotch-Weld 80 spray adhesive. Its very expensive to buy singly so I bought 12. If anybody wants a can PM me, I will work out the cost which will be 1/12th of what I paid, £12 a can instead of £21 from memory.

Also, if you do fit new carpets, I would recommend coating with Gtechniq i1. This will make them much more impervious to dirt and last much longer.