Thursday, April 9, 2015

Homemade custom non-slip microfiber car mat / rug / carpet

This driver side mat is customized from a a pure polyester microfiber bath mat. It is non-slip, thick with "deep pile". Less than $10.

Both the top and bottom side are stitched in squares. So it's easy to cut off the excess parts with a scissor, between the squares.

That's it. Completed in 3 minutes. But the cut sides will probably fray (come off) after repeated machine wash. I'll think about that when the time comes. But you can always stitch it by hand. Or I just found out that you can seal the sides with a flame. I'll try it with the excess parts first.

Update: Heat gun! The craft type. It's so easy to control. You can just melt the frayed threads to heal themselves, melt the edge, or melt the whole pile. There's not even smoke unless you heat the mat more than necessary.

It's more tricky on the driver side with all the controls. At the passenger side, I don't even need to cut anything. Because it's totally non-slip on every inch, it hugs the curves on the car floor. It also hugs the side walls all the way up the glove box. There are only little folds that you can hardly see and hardly touches. So, cutting is hardly necessary.

Why? It's cozy. Imagine a thick bath mat. It's highly absorbent for rainy days. And the deep pile can trap a lot of dirt.

Being purely polyester without the need for a non-slip backing, you can wash it often without worrying that the backing disintegrating. My OEM mats have integrated tough rubber backing at the back. You cannot put it in the washing machine. And after 20 years, the rubber mostly disintegrated but still shredding black residue to this date.

Microfiber don't absorb oil. So it's easier to keep clean and I used it in the kitchen. It even doesn't slip on vinyl when I run fast over it at a sharp angle. The only downside is that without a hard backing, it doesn't keep it's shape. It's still very rectangular but the straight lines are not visually perfect. It's a problem if you have to maintain the look of a formal kitchen. But in a car it's hardly a problem. There are curves everywhere. And you can hardly see the edge of the mats.

I don't remember any microfiber giving me troubles, like disintegrating. This will protect the carpet under it unless the mat becomes very thin. It may be less fluffy as time goes on. But it's thick. And it's not a bathroom where you bare foot all the time.