Many will call this OCD

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I keep newspaper under the driver's floor mat to absorb any moisture that spills over from the floor mat. If the newspaper is changed frequently enough (every few days), it keeps the floor dry.

On every vehicle I have owned, the floor boards have rotted out. My truck is now ten years old and I plan on keeping it for another seven or eight years and I would like the floor boards to stay intact while I have the truck. Keeping the floor dry should help.

Of course those who do not live in a snowy area might not necessarily appreciate the effort needed to keep a vehicle from succumbing to rust.
 
Why not just get floormats that fit properly? The WeatherTech ones are like $100 and go up the sides.
 
Nice work!

I always applaud people trying to take care of their machines.

If you REALLY wanted to go overboard, you could get those puppy training mats, or oil absorbent mats to place under there instead of newspapers
 
If it is OCD, you're in the right place on bitog. No worries mate. Ha.

Weather Tech makes mats designed to hold the water etc until it's dumped. But, think this design might be a little less expensive.
 
Do they really rust out from the top down? I thought most rusted out floorboards are from the bottom up. I have had cars that rarely had anybody in the back seat, and the floorboards there were worse than the front.
 
For the floor to stay dry I have to change the newspaper every few days. Changing oil absorbent mats every few days could get expensive.

I checked the WeatherTech website and they really don't have much for my truck other than standard floor mats.
http://www.weathertech.ca/en/gmc/2006/sierra-sierra-denali/floor-mats-all-weather/

On my previous vehicles the passenger side floor boards remained intact, just the driver side boards rotted out, almost certainly from moisture and salt from my boots.
 
Vinyl floor, I don't think caulk is going to adhere well to it. Also, as the vinyl ages it will develop small cracks and let the water seep through to the metal underneath.
 
It looks like you have winter mats already although they are generic vs Weathertech custom fitted.

How much snow are you dragging into the car with your boots? Kick your boot on the door still as you get in to knock off the snow.

You need to pull up the mats and newspaper and get the carpet area fully dry. Then use winter mats that fully contain the melted snow. If the carpet is getting wet under the mat, with newspaper or not it will never dry with a mat on top of it.

I believe most floorboard rot out from under the car.

Check the winter mats and make sure they are holding all the water with no holes or cracks.

I have seen a winter mat with a tiny hole in it right where a woman's high heel would rest. Look from the back for holes or cracks.
 
HA! Think I might be a little worse than you. Look at my car. It's also like this in the passenger side and rear. I don't like dirty carpet
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I wouldn't laugh at all. In the taxis, we did what you did, except that instead of paper, we used carpet that we had sliced up for that. When it got wet, it got taken out and cleaned and dried, and another put in, under the rubber weather mat.
 
I would think that if the floorboards are rotting out, it's from the salt underneath the car. I just take the car through a carwash after a snow storm. The under carriage wash they do also does rust inhibitors.
 
My truck has a black vinyl floor, no carpets around, and no concerns about newsprint ink.

andyd is correct about the underlayment. Once that gets wet it does not dry out easily and keeps the moisture against the sheet metal of the floor. My goal is to keep the vinyl dry so that no moisture gets underneath it.
 
The ink could be trouble for light colored carpets. I use silica packets to dry out carpets. I throw down a few under the mat overnight.
 
Originally Posted By: Wolf359
I would think that if the floorboards are rotting out, it's from the salt underneath the car. I just take the car through a carwash after a snow storm. The under carriage wash they do also does rust inhibitors.


I would say that is marketing B S.
 
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I do the same thing too in my wifes 97 civic. Anybody that lives in a snowy area knows how much snow gets in. It also reduces the amount of salt that stays on the carpet and needs to be removed in spring.

The ink doesn't get on the carpet.
 
In my last bronco when I had the carpet out I cleaned all the sound deadening junk off the floor pan and sprayed it from midway up the firewall to all the way up the sides and across the cargo area with a rubberized coating. I put several coats of that on the floor pan and also the Trans tunnel cover. Quite down the ride. I also drilled a couple 1/2" drain holes in the gutter between the seat and the door prior to spraying these holes got sprayed on both sides, top and botto. Then reinstalled the carpet.
 
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