Guys, I need help. I bought a set of carpets for the 55. Supposed to be a cut and sewn kit specific to my body style. The fit and finish is terrible. I’ll attach a couple pics to show you what I mean. The kit came from the biggest manufacturer there is, Auto Custom Carpet. Should I just give up on trying to find a set that actually fits and have an interior shop cut and fit the carpet?
You’re not alone. Fairly recent from the Ford Barn. https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=252433&highlight=Carpet
It is hard to tell from the photos but it looks like you need more padding/insulation, to take up some of excess material. John
John I have over an inch of padding. It’s just a piss poor craftsmanship. Looks like Stevie Wonder sewed it up.
I bought a kit on eBay for my 53 sunliner. I don’t remember the name of the manufacturer but the carpet looks like yours. It fit decent except was too loose on and around trans tunnel. I ended up putting a little more padding under tunnel and it fits well. Once the seat and sill plates are installed it helped suck it down. It is not loose at all where your feet go But I’m a half-ass.
Auto custom is the best. Haha. I bought from them too. They are supposed to be made to fit. NOPE. Now I buy $20 flat carpet at Walmart and use them
I had a similar situation recently and I had to sculp several layers and shapes underneath the carpet in order to make it tight and take out the wrinkles. When you have it fitted to the car, be sure to glue it in place. Start in the middle and work your way out to each side. One of my rules about buying and installing aftermarket parts is that most pieces are usually not going to fit but rather they are just a good place to start making something that will work for you. John
I have not. I will look at them. I may try laying it back out tomorrow and experimenting. It just pisses me off that no one cares about quality anymore. The carpet I pulled out fit great. But, the fabric was rotten. It looks like it has a camel toe.
Update ### Lebaron Bonney apparently doesn’t do carpet. I think someone needs to go in to business making a quality fit carpet kit.
Almost all automotive carpet installations I have seen required it to be steamed to get it to relax and fit it is rarely a drop in place type deal.
This is really a timely thread. I have the seats and hardware out and was just about to order carpet for my '57. After reading these comments, maybe it would be best to just pay a little more and have it professionally done as opposed to saving a buck and buying a kit, having it look mediocre. The nicer the nice, the higher the price.
This won't work like that. It has a clear poly backing. I bought a kit from the same folks for my 63 Nova wagon and it just dropped in. This wouldn't fit regardless. The seams aren't straight and there are humps in the seams.
You have to remember that the carpet(with pad) you ordered was meant to go directly over the floorboards. Adding an inch of padding changes the shape and fitment of the carpet. Also, when company`s sell carpet kits to large 2nd party outlets, the 2nd party always wants a good deal so the manufacturer has to cut costs to sell there item. My neighbor told me Cub Cadet and John Deer do this also. As well as everybody else. They cheapen up the models to meet the price the big box stores want to pay. Thus they can sell them at a cheaper price. Thinking the customer got a good deal. I cut and sew every carpet I do unless the customer says otherwise.
I purchased the carpet for my 55 from them also. I thought it fit like crap because of my installation of insulation materials. Anyway, when I took it to the upholstery guys for rear seat and top I realized how crappy it looked and now they are redoing the carpet with new material. Money wasted for me.
Just remember, figure on your seat being an inch higher when recovering your seats. This might cause a problem if you don`t factor in the inch of padding on the floor. Just raise your seat an inch on your daily driver and you will see what I mean. There is a cause and effect for everything you do.
Mine I let sit outside on my deck all morning before I installed it. I got mine from the same place as the OP and it was about 3/4" too narrow across the foot boards.
There is a guy putting carpets in his '57 Plymouth. He took a few 5x7 indoor/outdoor olefin loop area rugs and trimmed them to fit his car. Total cost is about $100 and he has had good luck with doing it this way.
Interesting. I bet there aren’t too many fire engine red, rugs out there.... After a very nasty email barrage, they are sending UPS to pick it up.
FWIW, Larry’s Thunderbird and Mustang used to sew their own carpet and do all the replacement upholstery. They did “custom” seat and door panels for me and carpet. It had to be “stock” colors, but they’d mix any style or color in stock. They made my carpet without the cut out for the gas pedal because mine is firewall mounted. Down side is that it was a correct reproduction and faded like carpet did in the 50’s, probably worse because mine is green. They list red for the passenger cars, maybe they still do all their own work. Would be worth a phone call to find out.
I found a few. Not as cheap as the black. https://www.amazon.com/4x8-ECONOMY-...dpPl=1&dpID=51v2+zR0rML&ref=plSrch&th=1&psc=1
Like Bob said, the stuff I have bought was never quite wide enough. I have never been 100% pleased with any carpet I have bought for my cars. But yours looks especially bad.
I bought ACC carpet about ten years ago for a OT 70's Ford, it fit good except in the tunnel area which was too big. I had to put extra padding on the sides to fill it out and look smooth. Yours looks awful with that seam down the middle of the tunnel, no way would I accept that.
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