rubber mats under carpet... how to secure them?

Hello!

I'm redoing the carpet interior on my 72 convertible. When I removed the old stuff (which was nasty, btw!), there were a few rubber mats/strips underneath, probably to dampen noise and provide additional padding? They were slightly attached to the metal (old glue) and pulled up easily enough.

Now that I'm redoing it, I have two questions: (1) should I put those old mats/strips back? and if so, (2) what do you recommend for adhering them to the metal?

Attached you'll see that there's one of these mats that covers the front footwells and one for the back footwells.

I appreciate any suggestions here. Thanks!

-Dan

Crazy! Fun!

BTW, I should add. The mats themselves are fine... just dirty (and old glue/ick on the bottom). They aren't ripped or worn in any way I can see that would necessitate me trashing them. But I don't know if keeping them (under the new carpet of course) is good or not.

I don't have a lot of experience like some of the other members so would defer to them but I can offer my thoughts as to what is shown in the picture you posted. The "mats" that you refer to look very similar to what I recently purchased along with new replacement carpet for our 73 vert after removing the original carpets and padding. The company I bought it from referred to it as "Heat Barrier and Sound deaderner made from EVA". Based on the picture it looks like someone has replaced the original carpet padding with this newer type of underlayment.  Unless you hear otherwise for something better and If it is still in good condition it would seem that you would have the option to reuse it with new carpet. Because the material was kind of tacky already I didn't glue mine in, once placed they stuck in place but you could use some type of adhesive chalk to hold it in place . Hope this helps.

If they are in good shape there is no problem in reusing them. It is a sound deadener. It called carpet underlayment. I used it in my car and the new carpet still fit well. I took it one step further and insulated the floor under the rear seat with Dynamat as well because that is where my mufflers are. Cheers!

Dan, as other have said that is sound deadener.

It is like the original with the jute backing it's OK but if it gets wet it never dries.

So make sure you clean up the metal and paint it with a rust preventative coating

They should lay in place fine,  without any adhesive

Thanks everyone!

I think the only reason I was thinking they needed some adhesive was when I pulled them out they felt like they were slightly stuck to the metal. I also wasn't sure if they'd shift around without any adhesive, but since they are form fit to the footwells, maybe not. Anyway, it seems like I don't need to worry, or maybe I can just add a slight bit of some simple, basic adhesive just to keep them from shifting.

Also, on the topic of adhesive, it seems like the form-fit carpet replacement doesn't need any adhesive either? It's held in place by the seats and by being slightly tucked under the door frames, right?

-Dan

Crazy! Fun!

Correct, you shouldn't need any adhesive on the carpet. Press it down as much as you can to the contour of the floor and as you said the seat track and side trim hold it in place.