Replacing carpet with rubber flooring and vinyl seat covers?

[Aero-fan]

My aerostar has a great interior with nice new carpet and clean cloth seats, but I really need an interior that can take mud and dirt. Something that I can get all sweaty riding my mountain bike and then load the muddy bike into the rear and load my muddy/sweaty arse into the front and drive off like that. So I really need a "truckified" interior that's long wearing and cleans up really easily. Are there vinyl seat covers for a 97 aerostar and also custom cut formed rubber flooring systems for a 97 extended?

[93nighthawk]

Probably the cheapest way would be to go to your local junk yard and look for a cargo Aerostar, most of them came with vynal seats and rubber floor coverings which could be easily transplanted.


BTW this is one of most unusuall requests I have seen.

[Aero-fan]

Thanks nighthawk. Yeah I guess that does seem odd to want to "de-pimp" your ride like that. But to me converting it from a family oriented vehicle to a weekend warrior van capable of camping and adventuring and mountain biking is what I'm really looking for. To me that's a pimped ride . I was looking in the vehicle yesterday and I think I can just buy standardized rubber matting and cut it to size for the rear passenger cargo area. The front looks like it has some nooks and crannies and curves that I doubt I can get the rubber to fit around cleanly on my own. So I'll probably do as you suggest and hit the j-yard and try to find a used front mat out of an old cargo aerostar. I might even simply ask the dealer how much they are, although from my experience with dealers, I imagine they're grotesquely overpriced.

Another thing I want to do is put barn doors on the back of my aero. Do you know what's involved with that? I'm assuming I'll have to weld in new hinge receptacles on the sides and possibly grind down the existing ones on top? Not sure, haven't actually seen a cargo setup up close. Also looking for a raised roof/pop top camper deal to put on it too. And yesterday I removed the first passenger seat and reversed it so that it was pointing backwards. I like it better that way because when I permanently remove the rear pass seat it frees up even more space. Has anyone else done this? The seat initially kinda didn't want to go down into its receptacles backwards though, I had to apply a bit of force to get it to slide down into the holes. But once it was in it locked down snug as a bug though. Hopefully it wont be tough to take back out.

Anyway thanks for the help...

[Bear River]

I would use truck bed liner on the interior. Deadens sound too, so the ride will be quieter.

[marty600]

I got a cargo, no way to convert doors, you'll hate yourself for trying, i bet

[DaveMac2Vans]

If all else fails, you might try stripping out all the stuff from the back and then taking the van down to the place that installs the spray-in bedliner on trucks and have them do that up to under the windows. I think I'd prefer to keep the Aerostar as-is and get me a trailer-hitch rack to carry the bikes.

[xlt4wd90]

I use my van for mountain biking as well, and I've ended up with a number of things to protect the interior.

I got some large rubber floor mats and laid them down over all the carpeted flooring. I put a blanket over the rear bench seat back as that's where I lay the bike against. I use large towels to cover the tires so they don't mark up the side panels of the interior. I also wrap the handle bar and brake levers with towels.

I kind of like the lift gate; it's good protection from the rain when you're trying to stow the bike.

[DCRB]

hey you know the plastic stuff you get for rolly desk chairs so you can roll around on carpet??? why cut some of that to fit?

[Aero-fan]

Thanks everyone for the helpful suggestions. The reason I want barn doors is because I've already hit my head on the flip open door twice (I'm 6'2") . Plus I want to put one of those pop-up camper tops on top of the van and I can see the top will not be able to extend all the way to the back because clearance is needed for the flip up top to open. Plus in my opinion the top just looks funny unless it extends all the way over the rear, so I much prefer it to cover the whole top (pretty superficial reason, but I have to admit aesthetics count a little). Barn doors would also make it a little easier to load big things in and out of the back (that's why they always have them on cargo vans). But again, I haven't actually looked a the setup on the cargo van to see if it's practical to convert. Would someone mind posting some detailed pics of the hinge setup? I'd like to fully know it's a nightmare to convert before I give up on the idea.

As far as the matting in the back, sounds like a lot of good ideas. I was also thinking about spraying the seats and carpet with some kind of plastic protectant. I remember years ago there was this stuff called "Scotchgard" http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Scotchgard/Home/Applications/Automotive/Do-It-Yourself/Upholstery_Protector/ and it was used to protect upholstery and carpets from stains and mud etc. I was thinking maybe I could put a heavy coat of that down on the carpet and seats and see how that goes. If it doesn't work out then maybe switch over to rubber and vinyl seat covers. What do you guys think, anyone ever used Scotchgard?

[xlt4wd90]

Scotchgard does not work as well as they would have you believe. I think it will repel some types of dirt for a couple weeks, until it wears off. Nothing protects upholstery and carpets like a physical waterproof cover.

[Bear River]

On mine I ripped out the carpet and laid down a liner called bed rug. Looks and acts like carpet, but I can beat the crap out of it, and when it gets dirty, I just pull it out again and spray it down with a garden hose, with intermediate cleanings with the shop vac. Its easier to clean than carpet. I can't remember where I bought it, you can't get the cut to fit from the manufacturer, I went through one of the wholesale distributors.