Wedge TR8 carpet

I picked up new carpeting from Rimmer Bros. The original carpeting is molded foam backed with no extra padding. The new carpeting doesn't seam to have as thick of backing as the original. I was thinking that I should use Dynamat first. Any thoughts? Have any of you replaced your carpeting in a TR8?

Larry, On my list as I don't have any front carpet at all. Was removed for painting or such stuff. Let me know how you did. I plan on getting mine up north of me at Heritage.Did you go a stock color. I'm thinking of going a Gray shade.

Before you go to all of the trouble of installing a vendor carpet, you should look into a one piece molded carpet. Our local auto ulpholstery shop installs them for around the same cost as getting a multy piece unit shipped. We strip out the seats and carpet and send it over to the guy. He takes a carpet and steams it making it soft. A little glue, some more steam, and some pressing in the right areas, and voila, you get back a car with a one piece carpet that same day. No more worries about the carpet bunching up under the pedals. Just like the factory units and lots of color choices. This is what Woody has been doing for all of the cars that come thru his shop for years. I am trying to convince my buddy, who brought me his car to restore, to do it this way. He all ready bought a kit, and won't listen to me. By the time I finish, it will cost him more than if I just throw the kit away and send the car out.

SCguy said:

I was thinking that I should use Dynamat first. Any thoughts?

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Hi Larry - I haven't replaced carpeting the the TR8 yet, but I've put similar material to Dynamat in on some of the other cars and it made a BIG difference in noise and heat.

I don't think it would make as big of a difference in TR8 since the unibody shell is better than the others, but I doubt it will hurt anything.

Todd- Do they do Wool? can he come to Seattle?

Larry, I replaced my 8's carpet with a wool kit from Rimmer Bros. a couple years ago. I am very pleased with the fit and finilshed product. I really have no heat or noise problem so I did not use any insulation material under the carpet.

I installed a kit from Rimmer's about five months ago. I did not use any dynamat type product -- although I thought hard about doing so.

The molded approach mentioned by TR8Todd sounds like a great way to go also. I've used a molded set on an MGB and I could definitely see how a molded set could make it easier on a TR7/8, around the transmission tunnel. If there was any aspect that took a little more time and patience to get right that was it. Otherwise the install was easy and fit well.

Chris