OE Rubber Mat repair?

[maddog1331]

I pulled what looks to be the original equipment rubber mat out of my 71 parts truck. It has a few splits and such, but overall is in decent condition. Is this worth repairing, and how would I go about it? Mainly there are just some splits in a few places. I have never tried repairing something like this (well, patched a few bicycle tires in my day, that's about it.

[ChevLoRay]

If you try to remove it to fix it, it wll tear everywhere one of those splits already are located. I am also resonably sure that it will be brittle and may fall apart at will. There are replacement mats but I think I have read comments that the material is not the same, even though it looks like the OEM stuff.

[vectorit]

I agree with ChevLoRay... The original stuff will fall apart when pulled out, and the new stuff from what I've found is found in every color just as long as it's black.
If yours is not to bad, and you want to keep it. I'd just leave it in the cab, and take the seat out and hose down with a good brush and a wet dry shop vac.
But if its so trashed that you don't want to mess with it, then plan on replacing it with carpet.

[maddog1331]

Thanks guys. I actually was able to pull it out (it came out of my parts truck) in one piece, though there were places that were brittle. I just did it carefully. I may try some rubber cement or something, if it comes out looking like crap I can trash it.

[lowrollin70gmc]

If you're good at patching bike tires, just use some of those on the bottom where it's torn to keep it in one piece. I think it'd work pretty well.

[maddog1331]

Thanks lo, I'll try it out. This really isn't a major project or anything really important, but the mat itself was in pretty decent condition considering, and I really like reusing the old stuff. The worst that can happen is that it will remain junk

[ChevLoRay]

It isn't often that one of us old truckers has an attitude like that. Having something to remain as old junk is just foreign, on occasions....