I spent some time playing with one of the Appbiz carpet sets that we sell, but ended up wanting a more integrated appearance in car. That meant using unbacked (stretchy) carpet to trim the area around the rear seats. This was also used for the side area under the windows, with a backing at the top to provide some shape. The carpet is a black plush style, and very lightweight.
Prior to trimming in carpet, a small amount of dynamat style material was used to seal up any gaps in the OEM sound pad. This is an effort to quieten the car down without adding significant weight. Removing the sound pad itself would reduce weight, but at this point I'm happy to compromise a little to ensure the car is pleasant on the road.
The carpet is installed with some pre-stretching done. Cuts had to be made at the rear seat bottoms, which will be covered by custom pieces.
The rest of the carpet is glued in place. Trimming this rear seat area alone was about a 4 hour job.. Some of the carpet kit is also used - the rear deck piece, front footwells and mats will be used. The custom centre console ( for the raised shifter etc ) is trimmed in matching black carpet too. Where applicable ( the sill panels for example ) a backed carpet is used for more durability.
There is still a short list of things to do - front grille mesh, custom carbon removeable sunroof insert, carbon rear reflector piece, and suspension ride height setup and alignment. We are getting close however! Here's a teaser of the car on it's wheels..
More to come next week..