Carpet or No Carpet?

[rotorwings]

I would like to get a feel for the advantages and disadvantages of carpet in a 7

I have just bought and R300D SV (first car) and at the moment it has no carpet anywhere. I am trying to decide whether or not to install it.
I prefer the look of the carpeted interior and I am not concerned about the weight at all.

My questions:
Does a fully carpeted car make it any quieter? (diff/transmission etc.)
Is there a major problem in the carpet getting a bit of rain occasionally? (e.g. briefly caught in the rain)
Does anyone know a way that the carpet be installed so that it is removable?
If I installed the carpet in the normal way with contact adhesive, can this be effectively removed later if required?

…or any other comments.

[ewenm]

I have carpet in my 7 but I wouldn't bother if I was specing a new one now. I've had problems where the glue has failed and the ends of the carpet have come away (fixed with duck tape ). It seems a bit incongruous in a raw car to have carpet.

I don't know if the glue failure is heat-related or moisture-related or both.

[coppice]

Don't do it! I had carpet in my first Seven(but not in my second ) and whilst they might make a teeny bit of difference to the noise of pebbles and grit hitting the underneath of the car that's of no real consequence considering how much noise emanates from other sources . Downsides are two- glue fails and the bloody carpet flaps around and looks awful. And when the carpet gets wet- as it will one day -it stays wet for days, if not weeks and smells like a mushroom farm. Rubber mats are all you need .

[one eyed mick]

If you want a carpet manufacture a false floor in marine ply and stick the carpet to it with suitable adhesive problem over ,if it gets wet take it out and dry in the sun [ if we get any !]

[framerateuk]

I have carpet in mine. I like having the carpet on the transmission tunnel to be honest, if it helps to keep a bit of heat out and means I don't burn myself on it then all the better!

I put some cheap carpet under the seats to catch the stones and dust that get into the seat runners too.

If I was aeroscreened it might be another story, but for a tourer, I quite like having the carpet, and I can't imagine the weight difference is huge.

[RedCat7]

When I built mine I tried to fit carpet using sticky back velcro and double sided sticky tape. Neither worked and I gave up. Now I'm glad I did. It's pointless IMO unless you want to cover up an unsightly scratch or dent.

The only carpet I did fit was the boot floor and I'm happy with it. The boot floor is a bit rough and also smooth so the carpet stops bags moving around I reckon.

[rotorwings]

Thanks for all the input. It seems overwhelmingly that people are in favour of no carpet.

Because it is a LOT easier to add carpet than remove it, I am going to go ahead with no carpet for now.

I will do something with the boot, however.
Has anyone used the softbitsforsevens boot liners (http://www.softbitsshop.co.uk/boot-liners-52-c.asp)? Are they any good?

[Aeroscreens]

I only have the tunnel carpet and rear bulkhead carpet and these are held in place by poppers in the material and the relevant bases fixed to the tunnel and bulkhead. Easy to remove if necessary. Carpets do help prevent burning your leg on the tunnel in the summer months IMHO.

Don't bother with carpet in the boot it will just get wet as the rain runs down the rollover bar struts, you're far better off using rubber matting. I always keep everything in the boot in waterproof bags atc

[rotorwings]

Thanks Aeroscreens, more good points.

I think I will buy a large rubber floor mat from a hardware store and cut it out as a base for the boot. This sounds like a good solution for me.

I might also fit some straps in the boot as well - to hold the luggage tight and back from the rear of the car. This should reduce any risk of panel dints from inside and also keep things back from the water running down the roll bar.

One of these looks like a good option for the boot: http://www.force4.co.uk/7310/Gul-Waterproof-Holdal...

[RedCat7]

Lots of people reccomend that gul bag, me included.

[downsman]

I have carpet on the transmission tunnel which is good on hot days wearing shorts, because I'm sure the alloy gets pretty hot under there. I also have it on the rear bulkhead, mostly because the car looks more finished. When the car gets wet, I remove the rubber mats and the bottom edges of the carpet dry quiet quickly.

Self adhesive good quality velcro holds it in fine, although I have a couple of areas where I had to staple the velcro to the carpet.

In the boot, I find the floor carpet is good and I also fitted carpet inside the single skin rear panel in the hope that any object that moves is less likely to dent it , although it is still a really good idea to pack to boot so nothing will fly around when cornering.

[hufggfg]

The other way of doing the transmission tunnel is the Oxted covers, I have them and they work very well.

That said, I can't see them on the Thundersport website any more... hmmm...

[Dorchester]

Aeroscreens said:

I only have the tunnel carpet and rear bulkhead carpet and these are held in place by poppers in the material and the relevant bases fixed to the tunnel and bulkhead. Easy to remove if necessary. Carpets do help prevent burning your leg on the tunnel in the summer months IMHO.

Same as Aeroscreens here but I used bathroom carpet which helps as the carpet doesn't soak up the water that's bound to get in.
Rubber mats for the floors and I also have got 1/4" holes in the corners of each floor panel to let the water out.