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Floor mats - Restoring cracked and crumbling backing
This is a simple and obvious fix, but I figured some of you would appreciate seeing the results. The floor mats in my car looked nice on the carpet side, had no soild or wear spots, and had lots of life left.
However, the backing was aging poorly. The rubberized coating on the removable mat (black one pictured above) was crumbling and was leaving lots of debris on the floor. It was especially bad on the passenger side from being flipped back to access the CE panel. The backing of the lower interior carpet mat was in a similar state. The mass loaded backing (or whatever the material was) has cracked and coming off in some places. This mass load material is part of the sound-deadening layers used in conjunction with the molded foam used for later cars (~1990+). Again the passenger side was worse from frequent CE pannel access. .
I brushed on 2 coats of liquid Flex Seal on the backside of the mats, and the results are very impressive.
The coating has bonded very well to the various surface textures, still retaining much flexibility. I did this repair last fall, so I have had time to see how it ages. It completely stopped the crumbling and is as flexible as the original material. I have been using these for about one year now with no propagation of cracks. The mats are quite a bit heavier now, roughly an additional kilogram per mat. But this has aided in the sound deadening. I can run the carpets without the molded foam, and there is no audible difference in road noise. I give this DYI a thumbs up!
Last edited by Michael Benno; 10-12-2023 at 11:33 AM.
I also have the complete kit with original logo-mats from the 80s. Saved them when I sold my other 928 20 years ago. My backsides were crumbling badly. I used the black rubber spray from plasti-dip. Worked very well and bonded everything together. But next time I would do this with the rubber compound they sell in cans. Easier to do thicker with a brush and smear it out evenly...
The front floor mats in my son's 944 S2 had the rubberized backing coming off badly and leaving black rubber bits on the linen carpets. I cut solid tool box drawer tray liner rubber sheets to the shape of the mats and bonded it onto the back with spray adhesive. It preserved the non-slip feature of the mat and captured and covered the original rubber coating, but I like the Flex Seal idea even better, and it's probably easier.
With Lloyds no longer having the rights to the Porsche Crest, font, or model #s, and Porsche not offering a similar style mat, keeping those Lloyds mats usable is becoming more important.
10-11-2023, 07:03 PM
Floor mats - Restoring cracked and crumbling backing
