Fitting Carpets

[chris parkin]

Afternoon all, what do I need to be looking to do to fix carpets in with velcro? I've had a scout on the site and see that people are advising to do this over double sided/carpet tape. Is it a case of stitching the underside of the carpets with velcro and double siding the mating part to the car or what?

 

Also, any advice on what type of velcro works well would be much appreciated.

 

Tar!

Chris

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

The usual method is to use the heavy duty (industrial) Velcro, you can get rolls of the 50mm wide self adhesive version, it's not cheap and doesn't go as far as you think if you're generous with it! (The build manual comes with a guide to how to arrange it on the car, to get a good sit of the carpets).

The key is cleanliness of the surfaces you're going to stick it to. The carpet side isn't so bad, but the aluminium side is key, particularly if it's bare aluminium. Generally a wipe down with a 50:50 ipa/water mix or an all purpose cleaner are fine for any coated surfaces. Bare aluminium can benefit from a wipe with a stronger solvent first, some use meths, some acetone. (I've used acetone fairly effectively in the past). If use any cleaner that leaves a residue though, you'll need to wipe down with the ipa mix afterwards.

It sounds more hassle than it is, in practice. But the tape will really bond to the surface.

Two other points, its pressure sensitive adhesive tape used on the Velcro, so needs pressing or rolling firmly into place, it also takes some time to achieve full strength. The bond is usually something like 90% after 24 hours, so the longer you can leave it to bond the better, (before putting any load on it). And the other, is that it usually needs to be applied at temperatures above 18/20 degrees C.

So if it's cold when you're doing it, you won't get a full bond. You can leave the carpets and tape inside the house overnight to warm up, just take what you need outside to the car as you need it, and use a hot air gun, or a hair drier to warm up the aluminium panels before sticking the tape on. (You don't need to do the whole panels, just where the tape is).

[Wagoneer]

I use the 3M velcro product at work and source it from CPC. They've got 2.5m lengths at a reasonable cost compared to the high street.

 

http://cpc.farnell.com/velcro-companies/vel-ec60245/heavy-duty-tape-bk-50mm-x-2-5m/dp/OE06335

 

Occasionally I use a hot air gun to warm the surface and the adhesive - it is almost impossible to remove after that!

[chris parkin]

Thanks for the info gents. I'm always pretty anal about surface preparation, takes a little bit longer but not as long as having to strip and redo it again! The missus was amazed when I solved her issues of chipped nail polish.

 

I'll see what I can get through work, I'm sure someone like Cromwell should be able to get me it at a decent price compared to the public market. Quick google search reveals that velcro dominate the market, anybody used anything else successfully that doesn't come with the price tag or is it one of those get what you pay for items?

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

All I can say is the "Velcro" part of it, i.e. the heavy duty hook and loop tape is EXTREMELY strong! It's impressive stuff.

Equally, from what I've read in the past, they use a high quality 3M adheisive tape for the self adhesive bit. Again, 3M are allways the experts to beat when it comes down to stuff like this.

As you say, joint failures down the line are almost always the result of poor prep, a chemically incompatible or a mechanically sub-standard substrate.

[Wagoneer]

Personally, the 3M stuff has no equal. I've used a 3 inch long piece to hold small power supplies (fit in the palm kind of size) to foamex display panels. It takes all my strength twisting it off to remove them. Getting the adhesive off requires pulling with pliers with equal amounts of effort. It's jolly awfully sticky!

 

I should point out that I don't work for 3M, if I did I'd make trousers out of the stuff and throw my harness away!

[chris parkin]

There is no competing against their products I have to admit. Thanks again for the advice, much appreciated.