goodbye carpet

Several weeks ago my little boy decided to feed "Monsty" a bottle of milk. Suffice to say, the VX soon reeked like a dead thing. Tried power washing the carpet, baking soda sprinkled on carpet, you name it. No dice. Finally decided to rip the carpet out and go with something more durable. In the process of doing so right now. And I had an idea but wanted to run it past you guys to see if it sounded feasible. Home Depot and other like stores sell a rubber flooring material in various thicknesses which some people use as truck bed liners etc. My thought was to lay this stuff down and use that instead of replacement carpet. Alternatively, I suppose I will probably consider a spray on bed liner type product like Linex or Rhino Lining.

Before I pull the trigger one way or the other, your opinions would be most welcome.

:yeso:

Get a small sample of the rubber material you're thinking of using & see if it will conform to the corners in the floor pan. I'm kinda guessing that it won't fit as well as you'd like ... but it's worth a shot.

I bought a roll of material at Sports Authority that is designed for going under exercise equipment. Has a nice thick, yet flexible, structure. It's a great dark grey color and appears to be easy to trim.

It's my weekend project and I'll post pics as I go along.

It was about $40 for the entire roll that will be long and wide enough to go from the back of the front seat to the rear door.

You're probably looking for MLV (mass loaded vinyl). Its heavy and durable. Used for sound insulation so there are additional benefits to using it.

I have a roll and will be installing it under the carpet later during the summer to also quiet down the road noise.

T.

Why not just replace the carpet?

Bart

Bart, wasn't it U who put down some rubber mat & THAT made your VX reek for weeks?

I know somebody here used rubber/vinyl (whatever) diamond tread plate to line their entire VX...anybody remember who that was? I recall pics too.

ALso, saw the big roll of this stuff at my local Costco this week.
Recall they had it before, then it went away for a long time, now it's back...maybe for summer.
Think it was $167 for 10'x12' or something like that.

T'was I

After baking in the sun for 3 days, all was well.:)








No increase in throttle response though!!!!

T'was you! Well there ya go nutz bro!

Did the smell ever abate?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ZEUS

Bart, wasn't it U who put down some rubber mat & THAT made your VX reek for weeks?

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LOL, yeah, I bought a rubber bed liner from Farm & Fleet way back when, for my cargo area. I still have it actually, and yes, it smelled like rubber for weeks. It was just an acrid, tar like smell that took a long time to fade. It wasn't like a nice new tire smell, it was nasty. But it did eventually fade away.

I used it over the carpet in the back too, so I did not remove my carpet.

I ordered replacement carpet for my Trooper from StockInteriors.com, and I figured they would have VX carpet but they do not.

Bart

I bedlinered mine 2 or 3 years ago. No problems, but there are pros and cons.
Pros-no mess, no cleaning, easy to run wires and get to wires
Cons-louder (not an issue for me on mud tires and loud stereo), gets hot due to no insulation over tranny, but not ridiculous with AC on or windows down, nice in the winter through:) )

I used herculiner, just yanked up all foam and carpet, poured the entire gallon and did the spread and smear method. No odor after it cured on the top, but it took a few weeks to cure through, it was squishy underneath but is now rock solid.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nfpgasmask

I ordered replacement carpet for my Trooper from StockInteriors.com, and I figured they would have VX carpet but they do not. Bart

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Does anyone know which (if any) of the Isuzu floor pans is shared with the Vehicross? They offer replacements for the Amigo, Rodeo, and 2 door trooper which I think is common with the Vehicross. :yesy:

The diamond plate style vinyl one was Bob Barker's

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps6a9ae7ac.jpg

http://www.vehicross.info/forums/sho...2&postcount=19

http://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Plate-.../dp/B005SUL0CE

Checkout: http://www.hydroturf.com

Some terrific ideas, thanks so much guys! Marlin, I'm intrigued by the approach you took. Actually, a friend who owns a body shop is helping me with this and his suggestion is quite similar, basically some form of spray in Rhino Liner like they use to line truck beds. Don't know if that's the best option. But maybe someone in the forum has had some experience with this approach? Otherwise, I might go the route Marlin took.

Hey Marlin, any chance you could post or pm me a photo of your interior? Quite interested in the approach you took to solve the problem I'm also trying to solve. :yesgray:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Marlin

I bedlinered mine 2 or 3 years ago. No problems, but there are pros and cons.
Pros-no mess, no cleaning, easy to run wires and get to wires
Cons-louder (not an issue for me on mud tires and loud stereo), gets hot due to no insulation over tranny, but not ridiculous with AC on or windows down, nice in the winter through:) )

I used herculiner, just yanked up all foam and carpet, poured the entire gallon and did the spread and smear method. No odor after it cured on the top, but it took a few weeks to cure through, it was squishy underneath but is now rock solid.

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Here is what someone did two years ago:
http://www.vehicross.info/forums/showthread.php?t=22554

I prefer Ty's method better, I think:
http://www.vehicross.info/forums/showthread.php?t=22424

However, http://www.lizardskin.com/ is the best option, IMO.
The Powerblock Trucks episode is the best one to watch - http://www.lizardskin.com/as-seen-on.html

Lizardskin followed by a cleaned carpet or rubber mat like Bob Barker's, to me, is the best way to go.

If u r going to do the rear, go ahead and cut fuel pump access plate. Will save hours of labor one day down the road. Will pos picswhen I get home or u can check my gallery. It is a bit different now. I added some major stereo over the tire humps. Fosgate ps3 12 inch sub and a punch 500x1 with remote control.:)

Just realized I did this 4 yrs ago! I give two thumbs up on the herculiner! No fading, cracking peeling etc...I throw tools and stuff in the back all the time, and it still looks the same. I may yank out the headliner in a few weeks and put in expanded metal all the way around. Then I can carabiner stuff to it:)

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/da...124323_885.jpg

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/da...m/IMGP1043.JPG

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/da...m/IMGP1038.JPG

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/da...m/IMGP1051.JPG

Thanks much Marlin, that is extremely helpful. I am going to look at the various spray-on options this weekend and post photos when the work is completed. :bgwo:

Thanks Zeus, for the excellent links. I'd love to see how Ty's VX finally turned out, as it appeared as though he was on path to essentially create a brand new machine.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ZEUS

Here is what someone did two years ago:
http://www.vehicross.info/forums/showthread.php?t=22554

I prefer Ty's method better, I think:
http://www.vehicross.info/forums/showthread.php?t=22424

However, http://www.lizardskin.com/ is the best option, IMO.
The Powerblock Trucks episode is the best one to watch - http://www.lizardskin.com/as-seen-on.html

Lizardskin followed by a cleaned carpet or rubber mat like Bob Barker's, to me, is the best way to go.

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X2 on cutting an access hole for your fuel pump before sealing things up. Your fuel pump will fail eventually and this makes replacement a 30 min job.

Completed this and thought I'd post it...:bgwb::bwgy::smilewink:bgwo:

This is the product that I used. IT IS SOFT! If you want something that can take abuse this is not the product for you. I mainly wanted to protect the carpet since no one, like WeatherTec, makes a rear liner. It is long enough to extend to the back of the front seats if you remove the rear seat. I found it at Sport Authority in the area with large exercise equipment for about $35. No, it did not come with the workout partner...

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/da.../IMAG02781.jpg

I cleaned the carpet and let it dry

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/da.../IMAG02762.jpg

Removed all of the holders. I turned the child seat hooks over and put back in place so not to lose them. I cut the mat 44" long and 40 1/4" wide. This will put you starting at the rear seat mounts. Starting at the top I made sure it was in place and put the first two holders in place.

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/IMAG0277.jpg

Working my way down from front to back I attached the holders and seat belts back in place. I simply cut a slit for the seat attachment. If I did it again I'd do the same for the seat belts instead of removing the big bracket they are attached to.

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/da.../IMAG02791.jpg

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/IMAG0281.jpg

I'm please with the results and think that this will meet my needs of protecting the carpet and should help some with road noise but I already have DynaMat on the floor. I have enough product left over to do it again if it needs to be replaced since I only went from the back seat mounts.

That looks REALLY nice, thanks for posting photos! :yeso:

so I'll ask again, does anyone know IF we share the same floor pan with any other Isuzu? I'd really like to replace my carpet and that web site Bart used could be just the ticket

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rowhard

Does anyone know which (if any) of the Isuzu floor pans is shared with the Vehicross? They offer replacements for the Amigo, Rodeo, and 2 door trooper which I think is common with the Vehicross. :yesy:

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I happen to have a full carpet set from a low milage VX. Just say'n......

I had the bottom of a gallon of milk explode in the back door area behind the back seats, by the time I got home it had run all the way down underneath the carpet to the floor board of the passenger floor board area. It was a total soak through all carpet and padding. So I immediately tore out all carpet, seats belts, everything got torn out immediately. I soaked in all types of cleaners, I shampooed I left out to dry, I hung to dry. All in all I got it pretty near perfect, but in the middle of all that I bought a used set of carpet from one of the members here and installed that. But before I layed down both a layer of sound anti-vibration and sound deadening layers.

So..... I still have my old set that smells great, but in all the cleaning I did I removed the padding on the back.