capet shaping for automotive flooring

hi,

i got a 10 year old car with worn out carpet. i can't find any shop that sells the same carpet for my car nor in the junkyard. i have a shop that does reupholstery, but not shaping of floor carpets. how exactly is this done?

thanks

We've done some cut and sew on older hotrods and kit cars.

Where are you located?
And what's the year, make and model??

its a mitsubishi lancer. year 2000 model. i am from the philppines. what i am after is a one piece method with curves and contours in the flooring. the orignal carpet has a sort of backing which i don't know what it is made of... :(

While shipping to the Phillipines may be an issue, youre easiest route to getting a one-piece, molded carpet is
http://www.accmats.com/

Auto Custom Carpets has purchased Auto Carpet Systems and has become one of the largest (probably the largest) carpet and accesory supplier going. They have molded kits for just about any production car at reasonable prices. I use them for my shop when I'm doing a direct replacement and not going to show quality.

The molding system involves putting the large piece of carpet in a mold of the particular marque floor pan. As the carpet's polymer backing is heated, pressure is applied as the mold is squeezed. This "forms" the flat carpet and creates the necessary creases and raised spots to fit your pan.

If you're wanting to do this on your own, it is possible. Like has been said, you can cut and sew a custom carpet set to your car. You can even do a one piece carpet set this way, using relief cuts and sewing seams in the corners and at the proper points. It can be difficult, and you're best bet is to use the Latex backed carpet. It is easier to manipulate, but is softer and less rugged than the poly backed. You can also very very carefully slit the carpet at the bend points and glue the two raw edges of the seam together, being very careful to butt them up tight. A word of caution with the latex backed carpet: when you glue it down make sure you're in the right spot the first time. If you have to pull up the latex backing, it is very easy to start pulling the carpet fibers out the back. On loop pile, this is lethal. On cut pile, it can still be damaging.

Another option to doing a molded kit is lots of glue and a heavy duty steamer. When I do thiese, I start at the center tunnel and glue the flat areas, working down the tunnel. As you get to the molded and formed areas, you have to apply a considerable amount of steam heat to soften the Poly backing and pound and push it into the molded areas with lots of glue on the backside. You can't use a heat gun for this because you'll burn the fibers. You can do an initial heating with a gun if you go from the backside and heat the poly backing only. Then use the steam on the topside.

That's basically going from the "easy squeezy let a trained monkey do it" to the "best to have a professional shop do the work" methods. Good luck.

Hey spyghost......any update on the carpet install? What did you end up doing/buying? Pics of the project??