Carpet opinions

[ew1usnr]

I am considering buying a new carpet from this company and would like some opinions.

See: http://www.varkmotors.com/1963-FORD-FALCON-2-DOOR-HARDTOP-CARPET-MOLDED_p_81602.html

The loop-style carpet is down below the cutpile on the color choice dropdown window.

The base carpet is $143.80. It can be ordered with a 1/8" latex rubber backing that they call "mass backing" for an additional $64.26 that is supposed to give the carpet more body and provides sound/heat insulation.

Do you think that the rubber backing is worth the extra $64?

Has anyone installed a carpet that came from this company?

Thanks, Dennis.

[dhbfaster]

I have also been looking at carpet haven't bought any yet, but I have had experience with aftermarket carpeting on my boat, and I found the "mass" rubber backing was a lot better. The backing of the basic stuff sort of eventually (6-7 years) turns to powder, where the rubber just didn't. However if your car is kept in the garage- the basic carpet, especially on top of padding, may last a lot longer than 6-7 yrs. The boat was always outside. I suspect it's one of those cases where it's worth the extra money if you plan to keep the car a long time...looking forward to what others have found.

[ew1usnr]

I did further carpet research.

For 1963 Falcon's, Mac's auto parts says:
"Our carpets are like the original type 80/20% loop pile carpets. 1960 thru 1965 carpets are cut and sewn and the term cut and sewn, refers to carpets that were originally multiple pieces. We supply them cut into those multiple pieces, just as they were from the factory."


The original style "cut and sewn" carpets come in a set of six pieces. Two for the front and back floor and four pieces for the left and right sides. Six pieces sounded complicated to me and it also sounded like they would create more seams for dirt to collect. I decided on a two-piece "molded carpet" with the additional rubber "mass backing".

Wikipedia says that the "mass backing" is more like original.

“The molded carpet is designed to hug the floorpans (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floorpan) so there are no pockets of loose fitting carpet. There are generally two types of backings, poly backing and mass backing. Mass backing is the original type of backing that most car makers use. It's thicker and more rubber (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber)-like than poly backing. The majority of cars from the 1940s to the mid-1970s used 80-20 loop in their cars. 80-20 loop is 80% rayon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayon) 20% nylon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nylon) and has a texture similar to Berber house carpet.” See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molded_carpet


The available Nylon loop is described by some as more being more colorfast and resistant to fading than the 80/20 loop, but it looks different. The nylon loops are in straight "corn rows" while the original style 80/20 doesn't have that "rowed" appearance. The fading may not be an issue anymore because Aardvark sells carpets made by ACC. I found this reference that says ACC's suppliers no longer produce rayon. ACC now uses 100% nylon that is woven to look like 80/20 loop.

See: http://books.google.com/books?id=IjoS3stx2s0C&pg=PA65&lpg=PA65&dq=nylon+loop+better+than+80/20&source=bl&ots=j6h1iQ5K7O&sig=lIdxGg4bJYuABjk-x4jR8zKGDtI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JRB1Usb3Ia_gsATJioHoAw&ved=0CEcQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=nylon%20loop%20better%20than%2080%2F20&f=true

[Jeff W]

I installed ACC - molded loop carpet with mass backing last year and I love it. The fit was perfect.

The cheapest I could find, including freight for my zip was from Rockauto.com

I also bought an extra 2-1/2 yards for my cargo area and a throw rug for when my back seat is folded down.

The extra yardage does not have a mass backing as the sales guy said it was installed and bonded during the heat forming process in the floor pan mold.

I would absolutely purchase that same carpet again.

I used Kennys trick heating the end of a 1/2" copper pipe with a torch to melt holes for seat and sest belt bolts.