Considering removing carpet. Pros and Cons?

[JBThompson]

As the title says, I'm thinking about removing the carpet from my '94 Monty. It's pretty worn anyway, and I figure I can bedliner the floor, add some drain plugs and make clean-up much easier since most of my off road adventures end up in copious amounts of mud and sand everywhere. Bedliner also doesn't trap odor and it doesn't care if it gets wet, which I worry about if water should get in whilst crossing a stream or something.

But with all that good there's probably bad. I anticipate added road noise, but the Monty isn't exactly quiet anyway. Are there other polroblems? Heat? Things like electronics needing moved?

Oh, and if you've done it and have pics, please feel free to share!

 

[mtnbike28]

I don't know about the Monty, but on the 80 series Land Cruisers, everyone I read about that does it regrets it - loud and hot.

 

[earljuic3]

I can't speak to the older gen but I know my gen 3 has a bit of electrical down there you would have to move. Like mtnbike28 said sounds hot, noise is probably less of a concern. I have 33'' coopers and custom exhaust and OME lift and mine is ridiculously loud to ride in compared to stock.

 

[montypower]

It's harder to clean with carpet removed. Always looks dirty, noisy, hot... Just buy some nice floor mats and bang your shoes before getting in.

 

[nnamssorxela]

Noise will more than likely be a bigger difference than you are thinking. I've stripped a passenger car and it wasn't absolutely horrible (not much floor space to begin with, and lots of seat that deaden sound), but it was more than noticeably louder and not particularly nice for a DD. Tons of wires and various relay boxes need to be removed or moved, etc., but completely stripped got me better mileage and a noticeable difference in performance as well (small motor). There was more heat in the front foot wells.

I also had a van that had no liner or seats in the back. I would say this is similar to a SUV like a mitsu. It was on 35" tires and had a loud exhaust, and I couldn't carry on a conversation or hear the radio. I added some cheap rubber backed carpet (fake astro-turf) and a small section of some heat reducing fiber mat and it COMPLETELY changed the vehicle. I could easily talk or listen to the radio, and the constant noise of sand and gravel bits that got picked up from the road and flung against the bottom of the car were now inaudible. The tire noise was minimal and the exhaust heat (diesel) was greatly reduced. This was for on-road travel, I imagine it would be louder and hotter off-road

Replacement carpets are generally cheap as well.

TLDR: if you care about appearance or hearing your own thoughts in the vehicle, keep/replace the carpet. If you are removing it, strip the entire vehicle of everything and enjoy the utilitarian creaky jalopy feel you get from it.

Just my .02 from experience.

 

[JBThompson]

Makes sense. Perhaps I would be better off just getting some good rubber mats.

 

[1morebike]

I did it in my 1990. I used 3 coats Al's heat and noise reducer and then 3 coats of Al's bed liner. Its louder but not super bad. The ac does seems like it has to work harder but I have 25 year old seals everywear. I clean it with some simple green and a rag. The other day I didn't put the cap on 3/4 gallon of oil and laid it on its side in the back. Having no carpet made for easy clean up that's for sure. 1990 are cool because there are hardly any electronics. The hardest part is the prep work. You have to remove all the stick on sound deadener that comes stock. Buy some dry ice and freeze it and it brakes off pretty easy then you wire brush the whole thing.

 

[Toasty]

A company out of Australia makes replacement vinyl "carpet" for about $200 and there's also the vinyl floor from the fleet model Pajero you can probably still buy new OEM. not sure on that price though.

 

[eurosonic]

Not sure if you removed carpet before, but there is a bunch of wiring that runs throughout out the floor. Would have to figure out something with that.

 

[montypower]

A company out of Australia makes replacement vinyl "carpet" for about $200 and there's also the vinyl floor from the fleet model Pajero you can probably still buy new OEM. not sure on that price though.

Do you have a link to that? Sounds interesting...

 

[S2X01]

I recently stripped mine, and painted the floors. The carpet that was in there was beyond cleaning. Couple coats of Rustoleum, and then bought a new front carpet kit. Fit pretty good. Just needed some time, patience, and scissors.