Preserving You Silverado’s Interior: Floor Mat Edition

From the factory, Silverados arrive with a carpeted finish on the cabin of the truck. The carpet used is a fabric material which is prone to soaking up moisture and stains. It’s also less than ideal in terms of standing up to the challenges of dirt, work boots, and other threats tearing it to pieces. 

Vinyl Floor: A carpeted floor is known to have trouble in terms of resisting abuse. Because of this, vinyl floors are an option in work truck models. The hard vinyl is easily cleaned, won’t tear as easily as a carpet, and won’t soak up moisture. The drawback is that this is not an attractive feature for many. When selecting floor mats and liners for vinyl floors, you will need to be sure that the product is made specifically for the vinyl. Otherwise, retention is an issue and mats and liners can easily slide around.

From the factory, Silverados are fitted with floor mats. These floor mats are a very basic line of protection as they are made from the same exact materials that the carpet is with the exception that they can have a hard backing to keep them rigid. These factory floor mats will work for a short period, especially in a work truck or off-road vehicle.

Every Silverado owner will eventually find themselves looking for aftermarket solutions for protecting the factory carpet. The factory mats are carpeted mats that are meant to compliment the interior without really standing up to threats all that well. 

Floor Mats: Aftermarket floor mats come in a variety of configurations. Thick rubber mats can be purchased for those who are looking for something rugged enough to take a serious beating. They can also come in configurations to complement the interior so even with a short life the OE appearance can be maintained.

Floor Liners: Floor mats, in any form, won’t protect a large area of the carpet. Floor liners are laser cut to fit a wide area. They have raised edges designed to cover the exact dimensions of the floor pan. These can come in finishes to compliment the interior with an OE look. It must be kept in mind that floor liners will always be at a higher price point than mats.

Carpets can absorb moisture, and this is what makes protecting a carpet so important. When that moisture is trapped in the carpet, it’s held against the floor pan. Over time, this moisture can rot out the metal leaving you with bigger problems.

Being the owner of a first generation Silverado, or a hard used Silverado of any year, can show that the carpet is no longer worth protecting. It can be stained, moldy, or even torn in too many places for you to even justify trying to protect it. At this point, it may not be worth protecting but it is worth replacing. A badly worn carpet can be dangerous to the floor pan and is a major eyesore. Replacing a carpet is a big job but in all reality, it’s a fairly simple process.

Getting to the Carpet: Replacing the carpet in a Silverado is a challenge because there are so many things in the way. The carpet spans the entire width and length of the cabin, and it doesn’t stop even when things like seats are sitting on top of it. This means that when you are getting ready to remove the old carpet, you will need to remove the seats, consoles, and anything else that is mounted to the floor of the truck. 

Removing the Old Carpet: The new carpet may need to be installed in one piece, but this doesn’t mean that the old one needs to come out in one piece. Once the seats and consoles have been removed you can start looking for anchoring points of the carpet so you can pull it free. Grabbing onto the carpet and attempting to rip it free can damage anything secured to the top of it you may have missed. If it gets stuck, you can cut it out piece by piece to make sure you remove it properly. 

Check Insulation: With the carpet removed, it’s a good idea to look over the factory insulation that sits over the floorboards of your Silverado. If the carpet is destroyed, it’s worth replacing the insulation as well.

Installing New Carpet: Installing a new carpet is as easy as following your steps to remove one in the reverse order. When it comes to poking holes in the carpet for mounting hardware to fit through, you will want to be sure not to cut your fingers. The process is easier to do from beneath the vehicle as you can find where the bolts fit through the floor and poke up through the carpet. For this process, you will need someone to keep the carpet steady as you press but it will need to be well coordinated so no one gets injured.