those of you with 'vinyl mat' interior

hey i removed my carpet yesterday from my 93 as it was retaining a lot of water and didnt want the issue of rusting floorboards. so now i am deciding on what to put back in there....

my question is for those of you that have a vinyl mat floor such as this one http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/...0258948/Pr-p_CATENTRY_ID:10000026708210258948
is it much louder then the carpet and how is it with the heat issue. i searched but didnt find much regarding these mats.

i was originally just going to hurculine it but am considered about the added noise that i have read about....for heat i would probably just buy some of the heat shields from summit racing or something.

so anybody that has these please let me know....

also i have read (from xj ranger) that the older cherokees could have come with a mat interior as well. anybody know what years these came from and how they are with noise compared to carpet?

thanks a lot

my '91 has the mat flooring. don't know if it came stock that way, but it also didn't come with the center console or anything electric so it is a possiblity. i had an '88 before this one and it was "fully loaded" with carpet and everything. i don't really notice much difference at all in sound, but definately has the heat problem. mostly around the transmition and drivers side floor-board.

the stock carpet has a rubber like surface on the bottom that prevents good ventilation maby putting in some different carpet would help it dry faster. but if you gonna be in the water often then the carpets need to go:laugh3:, if you put some heat shields above the exhaust there should be minimal heat coming up at any speed over 20mph

definately try and get new carpet or something that will let less heat enter the jeep. i first took off my front section of carpet, bedlined it...and it gave off alot of heat. i have front and backseat mats it was still bearable, i took off my rear section and lined it. i put a real thin sheet of carpet in the back to try and stop the heat. the heat really takes over, and i have air conditioning. it's also going to be plenty louder than before. you'll see a big difference in your first outing in it.

My XJ has the mat stuff from the factory. It does however have the backing on it, like the carpet. Kinda like 1/2" thick felt, at least that's what it looks like. So, if it gets wet, it'll stay wet just like carpet, until you dry it out.


HTH