Automotive Carpet Padding Any Different Than Used In The Home?

[zeppo]

I need to replace the padding under my carpet.

Can I just go buy some at Home Depot used for home carpets, or does this have to have some special heat or fire resistance properties?

[1990LS400]

Automotive carpet pad is less fragile than household carpet pad.

I've been accused of "overkill" lots of times but I would use automotive carpet pad that supposedly has noise reduction qualities... something like Stinger Roadkill which can be purchased at Amazon.com and Walmart.com

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Stinger-RKCP12-Roadkill-Carpet-Pad/21647861

http://www.amazon.com/Stinger-RKCP12-RoadKill-Carpet-Pad/dp/B001TH8OC4

[zeppo]

Thanks.

It seems to me there is a dilemma here.

The factory padding had no moisture barrier. With water-aborbing padding with a moisture barrier on top, water dripping onto the carpet from above might evaporate back out more readily through the carpet than if it were absorbed into a pad with no barrier. But water soaking into the pad from the side (unless you tape the sides) or from below might go unnoticed for a long time. The same for fully water resistance material. With regular rains, I might just think the moisture by the door wells was just incidental, needing time to dry. In fact, just a little incidental rain might create a nice damp and warm environment under the pad to create mold and rust.

For this reason I'm inclined to stick with a material that water can get into, but in moderate normal conditions can also hopefully wick out of through the carpet. Once water logged due to some disaster such as the overflowing moonroof drain water down the sidewall, it might at least be caught soon enough before serious mold issues occur.

The other thing I have to consider is it looks like this factory padding was probably at least a half inch thick. Removed pieces even look to be an inch thick, but perhaps due to expansion from the combination of age and drying out. In some places a second layer was glued on.

What type of adhesive do I use?

[katzjamr]

use the grey synthetic felt to replace carpet pad in a vehicle, it is what the factory stuff is made of, any foam will not hold up and the moisture barrier is only from the top and less useful in a car. you need the density of the felt pad for wear and it is better at noise reduction also. you can use any contact or spray adhesive, it does not need that much. we have been in the floorcovering business for 58 years in seattle, most carpet stores should have a small piece of the felt for you, it comes six feet wide and is not expensive.

[zeppo]

Thanks. How thick does the felt come?

[zeppo]

After removing the back seat and pulling the carpet all the way back to the hatch, I'm surprised the carpet is as permeable as it is since it has a kind of rubberized coating backing it.

There are three types of backing on it. Down the center and running under the central console is a stiff, white reinforcement about an 1/8 of an inch thick. It doesn't seem to be very absorbant, and I'm guessing I can get away with just spraying it with peroxide and letting it dry.

In the front wall of the front seat foot wells (behind where the pedals are on the drivers side) there is some kind of light weight padding material, black on the back, but white on the side that glues to the carpet. It does not touch the padding, acting as a transition from top of carpet that tucks behind paneling beneath the dashboard and the floor of the carpet. I attach a picture of it.

The bottom edge of this did manage to get wet and still holds a bit of moisture. Does anyone know where I can find this stuff?

Carpet padding is padding is not so expensive that a couple of more square feet need be substituted the this stuff, so I assume it has some properties that are preferred to the padding. Heat resistance? Better at evaporating moisture that it comes in contact with ?

The padding itself is apparently made from the thread refuse of a fabric manufacturer. Just a bunch of pieces of threads like you would find in a sewing kit

[zeppo]

I went ahead and took the carpet all the way up. For anyone doing this, the vent covers under the rear seats come up by flipping open little latches and unscrewing (I came close to trying to pry them off since so many other things just pry off, but fortunately I took a closer look).

I tryed to scrape off what I could of the remaining padding with a putty knife. Then I sprayed it with about a 70/30 hydrogen peroxide/water solution, and took a metal brush and scrubbed off even more. Then i spray the rest of the backing with the solution and wiped it down. Now I'll just drop the carpet off at a detailer to get it cleaned with a steam cleaner to remove any potential mold in the carpet (I never saw any, but it smelled musty). After it drys, I found an car restoration shop that says he has some of the same type of padding he will sell me and I'll glue it back on myself.

By the way, for anyone that is curious, here also are some photos of what it looks like after removing the seats, console, and carpet.