Got sick of the carpets, but now what?

So, I tore out the carpets today and saw some light surface rust (very light).
I think a light sanding & cleaning with Xylol should clear it up.
Once I've gotten the rust down to shiny metal, do I need to prime it with anything or can I apply bed liner to shiny metal, scuffed & cleaned paint and everything else alike? Do I need to take it all to shiny metal or what?
How much bed liner did you use when you did your interior? I just want to do the floor pan, including cargo area.

Is there anything you can put down before bed lining to help wtih heat transfer / noise?

I'm thinking of buying the rubber accessory mats available through Quadratec, putting them down over the bed liner and calling it rust-proof and quieter than it would be with liner alone. Opinions?

TIA

On my last Jeep I did the whole "pan" and it was well worth it. I used Herculiner. The 1 gallon jug worked fine even after 3 coats I had enough to do the lower half of the Jeep. After it gets in the 60's I will be doing it again.

Oh the floor mats won't help to much, it's going to be very loud and your right leg won't go hair on it anymore haha :laugh:

I personally intend to replace the carpeting with new after rust proofing/floor repair. From what I have been reading a lot of guys regret not putting some back in.

I'd really like to find a source for the rubber flooring from the police package XJs. It's like those mats but has the proper insulation and of course a perfect fit. I imagine it would be pricey though.

(if anyone knows how to get my mitts on the rubber police flooring let me know please, PM me)

I rhino lined the inside and its great for clean up but its a daily driver and I swear my hearing is worse now because of the noise. I think I may add some vinyl floor covers soon.

http://www.auto-interior.com/jeep1.htm
http://www.jeep4x4center.com/product-information.asp?number=ACC-1443-16
I havent used either website btw...its just what googling "vinyl floor covers" gets you

Did you guys do anything for the heat from the exhaust?
Does the heat make any fumes from the Herc?

My '87 XJ has a rubber floor.. it was a forestry vehicle.. it has deteriorated and tears easily.. if you are looking in salvage for one.. try to find something newer. About the rust.. I sanded mine down as well as I could with a DA sander.. and just spray painted it... my dad warned me to rust treat.. and I told him there was only slight surface rust.. and yea.. it's all coming through the new paint now.. and it's only been about 6 months.

a friend just recently did his rear cargo area....
he used 1 gallon of herc, re-inforced with 6oz fiberglass cloth. the herc wetted out the fiberglass very nicely.
you DO NOT need to go all the way to metal all over, just get rid of the rust, and scuff up everything else. how far to scuff? the directions recommend a scotchbrite pad... but some 120 grit paper (or those soft sandping blocks at home depot) would help you avoid any potential flaking.... cheap insurance... dont be lazy here.

just do it right the first time, adhearing fresh herc to old dry herc doesnt work so well.

a DA sander isnt needed unless you are afraid of swirls?

any ideas where you could get the rubber flooring for the xj at? like is it a kit or something? def like to get rid of the carpet. but want to keep somekind of cover on the floors/cargo area to act as insulation/sound damper

i dont know if this is true for all xj's, but when i pulled up my carpet there was the full floor rubber mat under it. like i said, i dont know if all xj's are like this, but you might be able to find the full floor mat from the local pocket-your-part pretty cheap. Mine was in great condition, but i chucked it anyways and now just have herc. covering the floor.

Feed stores have big rubber sheets that people use for horse corals. If you got a thin one you could custom cut it to fit. And they clean really easy.

paroxysym said:

any ideas where you could get the rubber flooring for the xj at? like is it a kit or something? def like to get rid of the carpet. but want to keep somekind of cover on the floors/cargo area to act as insulation/sound damper

Click to expand...

x2... about as quiet as stock (not real quiet but it's a Jeep):worship:, and easier to clean, and waterproof. Carpet+water=mildew and rust.:flamemad:

Coastie said:

On my last Jeep I did the whole "pan" and it was well worth it. I used Herculiner. The 1 gallon jug worked fine even after 3 coats I had enough to do the lower half of the Jeep. After it gets in the 60's I will be doing it again.

Oh the floor mats won't help to much, it's going to be very loud and your right leg won't go hair on it anymore haha :laugh:

Click to expand...

I've been driving it a little in town and so far, so good. I'm thinking that in time I'll add under-body heat shields if it starts to bug me.
So, on the whole - anyone personally regret doing it? Do anything differently?

FYI... my factory rubber floor has a layer of sound deadening/insulation under it.. but only from the rear floorboard forward, there is none in the cargo area.

You don't even need to get rid of all the rust. Scuff up the whole floor, or where you're worried about rust, and paint it with POR-15. It's the best rust preventer on the market and like I said, the nice thing is you don't have to get rid of the rust. It actually likes to be painted right over it. I would do the whole floor and be done with it. I'm about to do it to mine. You can get away with using only a pint and it will run you about $20. You don't need to come back over it with paint either.

Update -
I used Plasti-Kote bedliner from Wal Mart.
Temperatures have not been optimum, I've just been shooting the paint at the warmest time I can find. Probably around 50. The paint cans have been a pain in the ass to keep shooting & not bubbling / exploding. I'm done, though, and results are pretty good.

I left the foil glued patches in place. After removing one of them, I decided it wasn't that big of a deal after all. The others just got cleaned & painted over.

Everything got scrubbed, wired / sanded, scrubbed & dried before painting. The cargo area even got primered, sanded & cleaned before shooting.

I went 2x to 3x over the high traffic areas like the foot wells and cargo area.

It has a nice texture to it - won't take skin off of you but isn't "slick" either.
Pretty durable. I've dropped metal tools on it with no ill effect but wrestling the passenger's seat around before I got it in place to bolt.. well, I had to touch up a few gouges from the brackets there.

From what I've heard about Herculiner... Plasti-Kote is a better bet for the interior. Heat transfer is less than what it was with bare metal. Still a bit noisy but not really bad.
Great mod, I'm glad I did it. Didn't think twice about tossing wet snowboarding gear in the back. I'll towel it dry if I get really anal about it but water will probably evaporate before that ever happens.