hey guys i thought i'd take pics of fitting some knox auto carpets for ya'll and make a step by step guide.
the carpets themselves arnt the best but for $136 they arnt that bad. much better then the mini sport "carpets" which are actually over priced speakerbox material.
step 1: remove the front seats and seatbelts
step 2: get the rear in and make sure its a decent fit before you go cutting stuff up
step 3: ok you'll notice that this thing gets in the way. cut a straight line paralel to where it is and when you have the depth right then cut a horizontal line so that the carpet fit's snug around it. two little cuts at the end of your horizontal line will let it sit well around themetal.
step 4: once you finish that last step you can get a better idea of how the carpet is sitting.
step 5: now you need to cut around the handbrake, start by making a horizontal incision across the base so you can pull the carpet over the handle then trim around it to fit, making sure the carpet doesnt muck around with the handbrake operation at all
step 8: i noticed this gathering while fitting, just pinch it and cut it out.
step 9: now we are going to trim the sills by removing the excess overhang. my method is marking out with a pen then removing by blade. you can glue it in place before you do this if you want to.
step 10: in this car (my sisters 850) we have use'd an aero grade sound deadner type material, so first off i stick that down with "3m super 74 foam fast adheasive" its great stuff, expensive but you get what you pay for.
step 11: ok once thats done its time to get the carpet down. when laying carpet
work it half at a time spraying both surface areas. start from the center and work out towards the edges following all contours
step 12: make sure you dont forget about the seatbelt mounts. find out where the hole is and cut a cross in the backing of the carpet. then stick something in from the plush side ( i use a rachet) and trim around it with a blade. same thing with the center buckles
step 13: it helps when you dont leave your blade underneath stuck on carpet..... so tie it to your wrist
step 14: its time for the front inner wheel arch whatever they are called. cut up some extra capet ruffly to size, making sure you have atleat one right angle. because thats the part which goes along the dash and the a pillar
step 15: glue the a pillar first then work your way back following the contour as much as you can, trim anything that gathers up around the edges and repeat on the otherside
step 16: ok now here is the real PITA, the front section. it all comes down to how you want your end product to turn out. i removed the gas pedal, steering colum and dip switch. first things first, make sure stuff lines up, then while its in place feel around for the starter button, bolts for the pedal etc and cut a straight line across them and once they are lined up then follow the same route for the seatbelt mounts.
also for the steering colum if you want a good finish when you cut out a circle for it and burn around the edgeswith a lighter so that it doesnt come apart and wrap around your colum.
step 17: now comes the glueing which is the same as before, half and half
step 18: trim all excess off etc as before and fitt the rubbers back on. fitt seats back (took me 3 hours to get the seats back in !!! argh. hence why less pics towards the end....i was getting very over it.
ok so my conclusion is, knox auto carpets arnt bad but its nothing like newton commercial carpets. its much easier to fit carpets to a bare shell.
like before any questions just ask
cheers
geoff
