Crunchy Backing on Carpet Mats

S

Setec Astronomy

Well-known member
In my lazy old age, I have wound up with all-season (hard rubber) mats in all my cars. I was looking for something in my basement and pulled up on the edge of a factory carpet mat from one of my cars and heard a crack--these mats are over 20 years old and the rubber backing is hard and actually cracked.

I unearthed the "mummified" mats, and of course found out that replacement mats are no longer available. Do you guys think if I soak the rubber backing in PDMS dressing (303, etc.) that I can soften them back up? I realize the spots that cracked are likely to let water through, so I'll have to be careful, even if I can get these back into usable condition.

I realize I can get custom-fit carpet mats, they just wont be exactly like the original ones...and I'm weird that way. The funny thing is I feel like if these were still in the car they would be ok, I think because I had piled them on something (thinking they were just going to be there for the winter...probably 10+ years ago) that let air onto the back sides...didn't help.
 
I found some things online that recommend soaking hard rubber parts in a mixture of IPA and methyl salicylate (wintergreen oil). Since I can't really soak a floor mat, and if I did the carpet would probably smell like wintergreen forever (not to mention the methyl salicylate is highly toxic), I decided to buy some of the wintergreen and spray or brush the IPA mixture on the rubber backing, and see where that goes, I'll report back.
 
Not yet, I have been brushing about an ounce on almost every day (cut 1:1 with 99% IPA), not sure if it is doing anything. I will try for a week or 10 days before giving up.
 
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So this actually seemed to work. Because the mats weren't lying flat, there were some areas where the mixture pooled up a bit, and those areas seemed to be "over-plasticized" and remained wet-looking and sticky (and soft). However I've let them sit for a week or two and those spots seem to be getting less sticky. I'm going to let the mats air out for another month or so and see where we are.
 
That's fantastic. I have a few that are getting crunchy too, I'll have to remember this thread.
 
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