What makes specific floor mat cleaning products special?

D

Desertnate

Active member
This week I came to the realization I now have two vehicles with all weather floor mats that are looking a little grimy from winter and need to be cleaned. One set are WeatherTech and the other OEM. In an eerie coincidence I had multiple rubber/mat cleaning product adds in my Instagram feed. One for Blackfire, one for Adams, and one for Chemical Guys..maybe one for Ammo.

In the past, I typically go after the WeatherTech mats with a power washer, scrub brush, and some APC and got them clean. Do the floor mat products provide anything different? Maybe a little dressing product to make them look nice otherwise?

The last thing I really need in my garage is another single use product, but it did get me wondering whether those products are really just an APC with a different label. Curious what other people think.
 
With the WeatherTech chemicals, it`s a separate cleaner and protectant. I`ve only used them once so far but the cleaner didn`t really seem like anything to write home about. The protectant may make more sense to have something that won`t be slippery. I do see that some people use Hyper Dressing, DG253, and some other stuff instead. I figured that I`ll experiment on the passenger side first.
 
Your comments about it not being special is exactly what I wondering about. APC works fine for me, and I can always dress them with some diluted PERL I already have on hand.

Marketing videos make these products look like they`ll take a grimy matt and make it brand new with just a few sprays and a blast from a power washer.
 
Yeah, a friend of mine had luke-warm reports on the Weather Tech cleaning products. I always remember the guy from Meguiars saying their regular APC product is supposed to be ideal for floor mats and tire sidewalls. That`s what I use most of the time. I do find that if the Weather Tech mats are really dirty, the pressure washer plus your preferred cleaning solution are the only things that really clean them up.
 
For the dirtiest ones, they need a power wash first, for sure..
Do them when power washing the vehicle..

Then, when dried with Master Blaster, I spray them with Nextzett Deep Plastic Cleaner (the original Einszett Deep Plastic Cleaner), wipe them down with a towel, get into all the crevices, they dry, and look fabulous...

Also works great on those huge trunk mats, and well, anything else plastic..
Dan F
 
Desertnate said:
Your comments about it not being special is exactly what I wondering about. APC works fine for me, and I can always dress them with some diluted PERL I already have on hand.

Marketing videos make these products look like they`ll take a grimy matt and make it brand new with just a few sprays and a blast from a power washer.
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I didn`t power wash mine. I sprayed, scrubbed and hose rinsed. There were some minor spots that still looked dirty but the protectant mostly hid them. Maybe I`ll try a 50/50 next time on them with APC.
 
I`m a huge fan of WeatherTech mats, and their protectant is decent. Only ever bought their cleaner once.....was not any better than APC. I recently tried Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions Graphene interior detailer on black ones, and I thought they came out better than with the WT protectant...and they were not slippery.
 
I would recommend using a less-than-strong dilution of Meg`s D101 APC, like a 4:1 or 6:1 ratio. I used some Meg`s APC full strength once on some older grey mats and it significantly lightened (AKA bleached) them, but that was my mistake.
I also used Aerospace 303 protectant on WET (cleaned and rinsed, but not dried off) vinyl mats, and then wiped them off with an old cotton towel. They were not THAT slippery, but I would NOT recommend doing that if you are concerned about the liability of someone`s footing getting in an out of a vehicle with such mats.
I would be interested to here what vinyl mat cleaner/protectant products Autopians use and recommend. Seems like from past posts about this subject, Blackfire`s Mat Cleaner & Protectant and McKee`s 37 Mat and Cargo Liner Rejuvenator were such products mentioned.

Never thought about using highly diluted (10:1) Meg`s Pro Detailer D170 Hyper Dressing as a protectant for vinyl floor mats. The "problem" has been trying to procure (AKA , buy) the gallon size container as it ALWAYS seems to be on back order or when it is available, it is already spoken for and sold out. may have to try the pre-diluted RTU (Ready-To-Use) 32 ounce sprayer bottles of Hyper Dressing available at AutoZone or O`Reilly`s Auto Parts stores.
 
Lonnie said:
I also used Aerospace 303 protectant on WET (cleaned and rinsed, but not dried off) vinyl mats, and then wiped them off with an old cotton towel. They were not THAT slippery, but I would NOT recommend doing that if you are concerned about the liability of someone`s footing getting in an out of a vehicle with such mats.
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Applying the protectant on the mats while they are wet is an interesting approach. I may try that with the PERL I have on hand. I`ve not found it to be slippery in any state as long as I dilute it about 1:1...which I do already. Applying it to wet mats may make the results turn out a little better.
 
Ive come to enjoy the simplicity of the McKees floor mat cleaner on all cars with Weathertechs in them. Soak them with the cleaner, maybe scrub a bit then rinse.
 
I have been using the BF mat cleaner & protectant. On my Chevy floor liners. Find the product great for what it does. I recall DP mat cleaner. It was good, had a gallon, but wow, it was a bit caustic!
 
I’ve have or had had chemical guys, Mckee’s FM&CL rejuvenator and the WeatherTech twins.

Out of thosr i liked them all pretty well.

Lately my go to is an APC (LATA) as this cleans them well and is cheaper and what i will be using to clean.

For protecting then i’m Using Adam’s Graphene spray coating. It darkens them up nice, not slippery.

I won’t say it last longer as your shoes are gunna scuff up whatever you put on them but it will probably be my new go to.


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Coatings=crack said:
Lately my go to is an APC (LATA) as this cleans them well and is cheaper and what i will be using to clean.

For protecting then i’m Using Adam’s Graphene spray coating. It darkens them up nice, not slippery.
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I think Eldorado got me onto LATA when cleaning seatbelts so I’ll have to give it a go on the mats. And I was already thinking of getting Adam’s Graphene (Advanced) Spray but this tipped me over and I received it and the Candalwood Interior Detail Spray this past week but haven’t used them yet.
 
dcjredline said:
Ive come to enjoy the simplicity of the McKees floor mat cleaner on all cars with Weathertechs in them. Soak them with the cleaner, maybe scrub a bit then rinse.
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Tc99m said:
I second Mckees Floor Mat Rejuvenator. Easy peasy!
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PA DETAILER said:
I have been using the BF mat cleaner & protectant. On my Chevy floor liners. Find the product great for what it does. I recall DP mat cleaner. It was good, had a gallon, but wow, it was a bit caustic!
Click to expand...

Did you all use something before trying the McKee`s or the BF? Are they really any better/different than APC?

Previous responses didn`t seem to indicate they were any better, but I`m always open to people`s opinions.
 
Thank, you! The bit of protectant was what I was wondering about after seeing the adds. Hard to tell with marketing materials. It takes a "no kidding" user of the product to know for sure.

Sounds like I`m not missing anything by using products I have on hand already.

Thanks all!
 
Desertnate said:
Did you all use something before trying the McKee`s or the BF? Are they really any better/different than APC?

Previous responses didn`t seem to indicate they were any better, but I`m always open to people`s opinions.
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Well since Ive been detailing longer than the mat cleaners came out YES I used something other than the mat cleaners. I thought my comment made it fairly clear that the advantage of the mat cleaner was the simplicity. Using APC you should IMO put some kind of protectant on it after which would be 2 steps. Using the McKees stuff its basically spray, scrub, rinse, DONE. Otherwise APC, scrub, rinse, light dressing, wipe, dry really well so it isnt slippery.
 
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