I'm still working on it. This will still take a long time if I am successful. I'm (hopefully) going to have the carpet reproduced and then have floor mats made. They would be in (more or less) the same color and weave etc as the OEM mats and have the same stitching around the outside. The backs may (most likely will) be different. From the top they should look just like OEM GM mats. I'm going to do the gray first as this will be the largest seller. I'm not sure on the other colors. Depends on the costs of having a run of this carpet custom made and what they want for a minimum order. Once I have the carpet made I can have smaller batches of floor mats cut and sewn out of this roll(s) by a auto car floor mat manufacturer. Getting the carpet custom made by a carpet manufacturer is the challenge.
I'll also have more drivers sides made as many may want an extra drivers side as it is the one that gets the most use. I always hated that most everyone only sells them in pairs.
------------------ Rodney Dickman
Fiero Parts And Acc's Web Page: All new web page!:www.rodneydickman.com Rodney Dickman's Fiero accessories 7604 Treeview Drive Caledonia, WI 53108 Phone/Fax (262) 835-9575
Mine will be reproductions of originals. Nothing custom etc.
------------------ Rodney Dickman
Fiero Parts And Acc's Web Page: All new web page!:www.rodneydickman.com Rodney Dickman's Fiero accessories 7604 Treeview Drive Caledonia, WI 53108 Phone/Fax (262) 835-9575
Rodney you mentioned that the backing will be different. Please please please do not use a backing that has cleats (small conical spikes). When floor mats with cleats are used in a car for a long period of time those cleats will permanently deform the carpeting under the mat.
Info I have received so far is a minimum run of custom made carpet to match is enough to make about 2500 pairs of mats.
------------------ Rodney Dickman
Fiero Parts And Acc's Web Page: All new web page!:www.rodneydickman.com Rodney Dickman's Fiero accessories 7604 Treeview Drive Caledonia, WI 53108 Phone/Fax (262) 835-9575
Red mats are hard enough to find and matching the Indy red is impossible.
This may be an easier one if I can find some existing material instead of having it custom made. Anyone have an old Indy mat I can have for color samples?
------------------ Rodney Dickman
Fiero Parts And Acc's Web Page: All new web page!:www.rodneydickman.com Rodney Dickman's Fiero accessories 7604 Treeview Drive Caledonia, WI 53108 Phone/Fax (262) 835-9575
On option I am looking at that may work and help is that if I have all the colors made at one time on the same machine on one run. Run so much gray them switch over to beechwood then brown etc by changing the thread. That is may be possible and may reduce the min square foot requirements.
They will also probably be 2 piece mats. Carpet and backing then sewn (maybe glued also?) together. This may make having the custom made carpet made easier to have made. I doubt they could reproduce it like OEM with the rubber backing. As long as they look OEM from the top that is my main concern.
------------------ Rodney Dickman
Fiero Parts And Acc's Web Page: All new web page!:www.rodneydickman.com Rodney Dickman's Fiero accessories 7604 Treeview Drive Caledonia, WI 53108 Phone/Fax (262) 835-9575
I also still have a roll of gray OEM type carpet that came from the Fiero Store way back when they were selling it for door panel replacement (if you need a sample). But that may also be something to consider supplying as well.
[This message has been edited by Mickey_Moose (edited 09-22-2014).]
Please please please do not use a backing that has cleats (small conical spikes). When floor mats with cleats are used in a car for a long period of time those cleats will permanently deform the carpeting under the mat.
I'm not sure but is there any other choice? I cant stand floormats that migrate around the floor all the time, without good sized rubber spikes they will do that. Unless one pins them down somehow.
[This message has been edited by 2.5 (edited 09-22-2014).]
Velcro on the back of the mat and something with velcro you can screw into the mat (I have seen this on some OEM installs). Although, I can't say I had an issue with Fiero mats with that little strip of velcro on the back seemed to work for the OEM carpet (well, plus the heavy backing).
Red mats are hard enough to find and matching the Indy red is impossible.
Are the 84 Indy mats all one shade of red and one level or muiti colored reds and shag/loop mix like the later mats etc? I'm guessing on the shag/loop because my mat samples are buried for the moment behind a wall of boxes from my latest shipment of slaves and masters.
------------------ Rodney Dickman
Fiero Parts And Acc's Web Page: All new web page!:www.rodneydickman.com Rodney Dickman's Fiero accessories 7604 Treeview Drive Caledonia, WI 53108 Phone/Fax (262) 835-9575
I have some answers. To have the carpet made custom in an exact reproduction of the original I have to order a fairly large batch. This means I may never use it all up. I may over many years utilize enough of the gray as it is such a popular interior color. Also: the carpet manufacturer is not the company that will cut and sew the mats. An automotive car mat manufacturer will do that. I can warehouse the extra carpet rolls and only use a certain amount each time I want a batch of mats made. I'm possibly going to make the 88 Beechwood mats also. I'll have to get more for them as I will probably have a lot of carpet I will never utilize.
What about the carpet on the door panels. Is it the same as the mats?
------------------ Rodney Dickman
Fiero Parts And Acc's Web Page: All new web page!:www.rodneydickman.com Rodney Dickman's Fiero accessories 7604 Treeview Drive Caledonia, WI 53108 Phone/Fax (262) 835-9575
What I can do for the brown and 84 Indy red is send them some samples and see how close they can come to an existing carpet they have on hand and have mats made that are close to OEM.
------------------ Rodney Dickman
Fiero Parts And Acc's Web Page: All new web page!:www.rodneydickman.com Rodney Dickman's Fiero accessories 7604 Treeview Drive Caledonia, WI 53108 Phone/Fax (262) 835-9575
What about the floor carpet. Is it the exact same carpet as the mats? If so I could supply all three.
------------------ Rodney Dickman
Fiero Parts And Acc's Web Page: All new web page!:www.rodneydickman.com Rodney Dickman's Fiero accessories 7604 Treeview Drive Caledonia, WI 53108 Phone/Fax (262) 835-9575
What about the floor carpet. Is it the exact same carpet as the mats? If so I could supply all three.
The carpet on the floors, door panels and floormats is all the same, but obviously the backing used on the floormats differs from the carpet on the doors and floor.
The carpet on the floors, door panels and floormats is all the same, but obviously the backing used on the floormats differs from the carpet on the doors and floor.
To further complicate things, the 88 (go figure) carpet is different. The earlier carpets use jute padding, glued to the backing. The 88 carpets use a thick foam rubber backing, with no jute. (If anyone wants to jump in and comment, please do. Especially if I'm wrong. I've only been into a handful of 88s. They may not all be the same.) Earlier and later are both molded to fit.
Raydar, you stand correct. The 88s had foam integrated to the underside of the carpet.
The older fieros had that "jute" your talking about. My old 87GT had the jute, and the down part about that is mold gets into them if the floor gets wet over years of use.
There are small parts and improvements / changes that GM did on the 88 fieros. This is one of them. Ever notice that the battery shield is different, the TPS mounting screws are made out of steel and are torx, not phillips.
I'm definitely interested in a number of OEM-style grey floormats for both my cars.
I have an actual NOS OEM set I put in the Formula for car shows but the rest of mine are getting pretty beat up...
------------------ Patrick W. Heinske -- LZeitgeist@aol.com
1988 Fiero Formula - Automoda convertible repainted PPG Ferrari 'Giallo Modena' yellow 1988 Fiero 4-cyl Coupe - Dad's car, the Indy 'clone' (soon to be back on the road after a 6 year rest)
[This message has been edited by LZeitgeist (edited 10-08-2014).]
Are the 84 Indy mats all one shade of red and one level or muiti colored reds and shag/loop mix like the later mats etc? I'm guessing on the shag/loop because my mat samples are buried for the moment behind a wall of boxes from my latest shipment of slaves and masters.
The indy carpet is one shade of red but it is shag/loop like the regular carpets.
Are the 84 Indy mats all one shade of red and one level or muiti colored reds and shag/loop mix like the later mats etc? I'm guessing on the shag/loop because my mat samples are buried for the moment behind a wall of boxes from my latest shipment of slaves and masters.
If I do this I'm going to do the gray first because it would be the best seller. So I'm looking at having molds made to mold the floor carpets. Also the heal pad will need to be made. I probably will not have a mold made to make an exact reproduction heal pad. I'll just look for an existing mold that is as close to OEM that I can find for the heal pad. I'll need to have some made to match the OEM gray color. I doubt I find any in the exact same color as OEM.
What about the rear firewall piece. What is that made from? Sorry to ask. I have an 88 Mera that has been changed to all black carpet.
For the doors: Can I supply flat pieces or do they need to be molded so they have rounded outer edges?
This will take a long time to finish.
------------------ Rodney Dickman
Fiero Parts And Acc's Web Page: All new web page!:www.rodneydickman.com Rodney Dickman's Fiero accessories 7604 Treeview Drive Caledonia, WI 53108 Phone/Fax (262) 835-9575
The carpet on the (upper) firewall is not the same at the carpet on the mats, floor and lower doors - it's just a simple tufted light grey piece that is glued to the fiberboard form to have it hold the shape of the little 'shelf' below the rear glass.
The lower part of the firewall is covered by the same carpet that runs under the seats.
------------------ Patrick W. Heinske -- LZeitgeist@aol.com
1988 Fiero Formula - Automoda convertible repainted PPG Ferrari 'Giallo Modena' yellow 1988 Fiero 4-cyl Coupe - Dad's car, the Indy 'clone' (soon to be back on the road after a 6 year rest)
Rodney, honestly I think it would be a good idea to copy / replicate the heel pad as close as possible.
If the carpet would be molded and the carpet color matched, why not go the extra distance with the heel pad??
I've seen 2 suppliers / companies that had a close carpet replacement, but I'm not interested in buying because the heel pad is not the same, and cheap looking. I'd like a carpet with an OEM stock look. Others too, I'm sure.
Rodney, honestly I think it would be a good idea to copy / replicate the heel pad as close as possible.
If the carpet would be molded and the carpet color matched, why not go the extra distance with the heel pad??
I've seen 2 suppliers / companies that had a close carpet replacement, but I'm not interested in buying because the heel pad is not the same, and cheap looking. I'd like a carpet with an OEM stock look. Others too, I'm sure.
I, just speaking for myself, feel like 'close enough is good enough' for the heel pad - it's going to be covered up by the floormats that will be available anyway.
------------------ Patrick W. Heinske -- LZeitgeist@aol.com
1988 Fiero Formula - Automoda convertible repainted PPG Ferrari 'Giallo Modena' yellow 1988 Fiero 4-cyl Coupe - Dad's car, the Indy 'clone' (soon to be back on the road after a 6 year rest)
Rodney, honestly I think it would be a good idea to copy / replicate the heel pad as close as possible.
When I get to this point I'll see how close I can get and make a decision. Costs a lot to make a die to make a heel pad. This is a large - costly project. But I'm big on trying to make them as close as possible to OEM so we'll see.
------------------ Rodney Dickman
Fiero Parts And Acc's Web Page: All new web page!:www.rodneydickman.com Rodney Dickman's Fiero accessories 7604 Treeview Drive Caledonia, WI 53108 Phone/Fax (262) 835-9575
When I get to this point I'll see how close I can get and make a decision. Costs a lot to make a die to make a heel pad. This is a large - costly project. But I'm big on trying to make them as close as possible to OEM so we'll see.
I, too am in for purchasing a set of these. I mostly want the floor mats and the door panel carpeting, as the majority of my floor carpeting looks fine except for where the driver's feet are (and this will be covered by the floor mat anyway).
This may have been covered somewhere already, but on the door panel carpeting subject- Would the masonite board backing (that the pop-fasteners anchor into and often get chewed up when removing the panels) be integrated in these? Some of my fasteners will no longer stay in the holes, since they have been so badly damaged over the years.
Very much looking forward to these items becoming available!!
------------------ My Fiero: 1986 Pontiac Fiero GT, V6, 4-speed manual
I'll be honest. I don't think having them match the stale old carpet is going to matter to me. I see floor mats as expendable, like tires, and I don't think I would judge a Fiero to be inferior if it had a nice, but non factory floor mat. I have some mats that have the Fiero pegasus on them and they're very respectable looking. But why match nasty old carpet... Who has perfect carpet, anyhow? And that leads to....
Now, on the other hand, I'd be much more enthusiastic to see entire carpet kits + floor mat/doors that had the reproduction carpet weave. You'd have to work with one of those companies that already makes them and has a floor pan mold for that, I'm sure. OR, go to the expense of having them sewn to shape. Could get pricey.
Russ88TTop makes some nice looking floor mats with a rubber/vinyl backing. Perhaps you could supply him with the OEM type carpet and he could make the OEM type floor mats? Just a suggestion that you may or may not want to entertain. I personally have some of Russ's products and he does top notch work. I have also ordered items from you Rodney and was very pleased with the items and your service. Thank you and keep up the great work supporting us Fiero owners!
I'll be honest. I don't think having them match the stale old carpet is going to matter to me. I see floor mats as expendable, like tires, and I don't think I would judge a Fiero to be inferior if it had a nice, but non factory floor mat. I have some mats that have the Fiero pegasus on them and they're very respectable looking. But why match nasty old carpet... Who has perfect carpet, anyhow? And that leads to.... ...
Obviously, I'm one of the people who don't mind too much if something doesn't look "stock and original", as long as it's "nice", or even upgraded.
Having said that, there are some people out there who do care about that, and I think this is probably the group that Rodney is shooting for. Original looking, and not worn, floor mats can make the difference between winning or not winning a competition.
More power to him. Everything he does is "top shelf". I'm sure these will not disappoint, if he can make it happen.
[This message has been edited by Raydar (edited 12-13-2014).]
