Are car floor liners worth it?

Author: Molly

Jun. 24, 2024

Troubleshooter: Are floor liners worth it? - Driving.ca

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Troubleshooter: Are floor liners worth it?

Floor liners do offer more protection than conventional mats, but often at a price

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You can be excused if you haven&#;t already heard about floor liners for your vehicle instead of regular, flat carpet or rubber floor mats. WeatherTech, one of the leaders in this field, hasn&#;t really done a lot of advertising, as word-of-mouth has entrenched them in the leader position. They&#;ve been around since , when founder David MacNeil decided to do something about the poor quality and effectiveness of existing products. Today, other companies such as Husky, Lund, Aries, Northern Frontier, and Toronto-based Tuxmat, among many others &#; and even some OEMs, such as Fiat Chrysler&#;s Mopar accessory division &#; are also in the game.

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What&#;s so special about floor liners?

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Troubleshooter: Are floor liners worth it?

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Floor liners are molded to fit tightly due to a manufacturing process starting with a digital scan of a vehicle&#;s interior. This is then used to create a computer model to duplicate every curve, corner, and contour of the floor. The results are a heavy-duty, one-piece waterproof rubber liner that extends up on the firewall behind the pedals, up the sides of the floor to the bottom edges of the centre console, and over the driveline tunnel if your vehicle has rear seats, as well as all the way over to the door opening and back to just under the seats. Their tight fit keeps them from moving and in most cases, completely protects the carpeting and any electronics or wiring that automakers love to stuff below the carpet from moisture and salt.

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Are floor liners really worth it?

Yes, they can come at a premium cost &#; a full set from WeatherTech, for example, is about $250 to $300 &#; but that&#;s a fraction of what it would cost to replace the factory carpet or any damage to equipment underneath it. Of course this doesn&#;t take into account the subjective benefit of having a showroom-spotless floor by simply popping out the liners from time to time and hosing them down. You&#;ll also save on the cleaning materials and elbow grease required to remove, say, deep salt stains.

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What are the downsides to floor liners?

Some front liners will come with holes that use the factory mat hooks attached to the floor carpet. The liners don&#;t really need them to keep from moving, but they&#;re often included anyway to prevent the hooks from keeping the liner flat. In heavy moisture situations, like we see every winter, these holes &#; even with a hook through them &#; can cause small salt stains and water intrusion. A small dab of flexible silicone caulking can prevent this from happening, though, without having to unhook the liner for removal for cleaning. Some liner kits come with caps for vehicles that don&#;t have carpet hooks, either by design or customer removal.

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Another issue with lesser quality liners is that sometimes, edges will warp and not remain tight-fitting around the perimeter. If this happens at the front edge of the driver&#;s side liner, it can trap the accelerator pedal. Often, fixing this can be as easy as leaving a weighted item on the affected area for a few hours (especially in the heat of direct sunlight), or by gluing on a thin plastic reinforcement strip at the backside of the warped edge.

FCA even recently announced a unique issue with a series of their Mopar liners for the Ram pickup. Apparently, some of the driver&#;s side liners for the and model-year Ram s have a raised section of their surface, which may interfere with the accelerator pedal. It&#;s the subject of a voluntary safety recall and while new liners are in preparation for replacement, dealers are instructed to cut off the offending contour as a temporary measure.

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Brian Turner

One of our longest contributors (over 30 years) Brian Turner is a veteran of the automotive repair world with over 4 decades of service. His career has taken him from independent shop management to a stint at AMC Jeep Renault&#;s Canadian head office to a variety of OEM dealerships in parts and service management. He still has a busy day job at a dealership counter today.

Experience

He began his writing for the Ottawa Citizen where he penned the &#;Ask the Expert&#; column, answering motoring questions for thousands of readers. He took his pen on the road, so to speak, and offered similar consumer advice through several smaller news publishers over the years.

As of late he&#;s taken to the airwaves as a news broadcaster for Lake 88 FM radio where he also hosts his own weekly call-in show on, what else, consumer advice. You can also catch him every other Monday on Calgary 770 AM talk radio when he delivers Motoring Mondays to an eager audience during the afternoon drive time.

His mission is to break down the mysteries of modern automotive technology to help steer vehicle owners down the right road to smooth motoring.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-turner-b5bb/

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Are WeatherTech FloorLiners Really Worth It?

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Are WeatherTech FloorLiners Really Worth It?

Do the custom-fit, high-end car mats warrant their prices?

Many gearheads swear that American company WeatherTech is the pinnacle interior protection, particularly the company&#;s famous FloorLiners. But thrifty consumers are wondering how much better these are than the one-size-fits-all mats you can buy at Wal-Mart for a fraction of the price.

Recently, The News Wheel checked out a set of WeatherTech FloorLiners for a Hyundai Elantra sent to us by PartCatalog.com. After a thorough hands-on test and inspection, we decided that these FloorLiners did indeed live up to their reputation.

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How do WeatherTech FloorLiners work?

Unlike other aftermarket car floor mats, WeatherTech uses advanced DigitalFit technology to scan and measure the dimensions and curvature of every single vehicle, even down to the precise year and body configuration (e.g., coupe vs. sedan). Using that information, designers craft customized liners to fill any vehicle&#;s footwell using a rigid, high-density material.

To install WeatherTech FloorLiners, remove the original cloth mats and thoroughly clean the floor before fitting the replacement in. The liner should snap into the same anchors that the original mats did. But unlike traditional mats, FloorLiners rise up to cover the sides of the footwell. Because of their shape and water-resistant material, these liners aim to keep mud, water, and dirt from getting underneath, where they have the potential to damage the cabin&#;s carpet permanently.

Are WeatherTech FloorLiners really that good?

It seems obvious for worksite trucks and off-roading utility vehicles to have WeatherTech FloorLiners to protect against extreme messes, but they might not seem necessary for your average urban sedan or suburban crossover. That&#;s what I always believed, so I was surprised to see what a difference WeatherTech FloorLiners made in keeping the car clean.

Even heavy-duty mats can let water and dirt slip underneath, which you&#;ll uncover the next time you pull them out to vacuum the car. When we pulled the Hyundai Elantra&#;s WeatherTech FloorLiners out, there wasn&#;t any more dirt underneath than there had been when we installed the liners.

The most common criticism I&#;ve heard of about WeatherTech FloorLiners is that although they claim to fit flush against the sides of the footwell, there are still gaps.

When I installed these liners, there were indeed small spaces showing in certain areas, particularly on the sides. But over a month of use, the liners gradually settled into place and those gaps essentially closed. Plus, nothing seemed to get inside those gaps. So, unless so leave your car door open so the interior gets drenched (in which case, dirt in the gap won&#;t be your main concern), you should be fine.

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WeatherTech vs. heavy-duty OEM floor mats: Which are better?

If you&#;re a traditionalist, you may favor buying floormats directly from your car&#;s OEM instead of a third-party manufacturer like WeatherTech. For my Hyundai Veloster, I choose OEM mats over WeatherTech Floorliners, so I was able to compare the two options side-by-side.

Heavy duty OEM rubber mats are weightier and thicker than liners, providing a cushion while keeping the mat from sliding around. They&#;re definitely an improvement over the original carpeted mats. But, they don&#;t protect from spills, dust, and tiny debris like liners do&#;especially behind the pedals and against the sill plate. Only WeatherTech Floorliners can do that.

As one of our reviewers put it, &#;They&#;re not mats; they&#;re a second interior lining for your car. Once you install them, it&#;s like they&#;re not even there. They basically become the car&#;s new and improved footwell.&#;

WeatherTech FloorLiners are a must for anyone who wants to protect the interior of their car and make cleanup much easier.

To save money, purchase WeatherTech FloorLiners for any vehicle through PartCatalog, which guarantees the lowest prices and free shipping.

Disclaimer: Products provided for review by PartCatalog

The News Wheel is a digital auto magazine providing readers with a fresh perspective on the latest car news. We&#;re located in the heart of America (Dayton, Ohio) and our goal is to deliver an entertaining and informative perspective on what&#;s trending in the automotive world. See more articles from The News Wheel.

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