Found Me Some Floor Mats!

[HobieMarty]

Went to Pull-a-Part again today, brother-in-law went with me. I was just getting a few little items from a 1999 RX300 and noticed that the rear floor mat was still in the car. Being that the vehicle had the same color interior as mine I decided to get the mat. I looked up front and both front mats were missing but I found them a few minutes later. At Pull-a-Part, the vehicles sit atop some stands made from two wheels welded together, one laying down with the other upright to get the vehicles up off the ground. Well, I found both front mats folded up and put in between the body of the car and the stand on the driver's side at the rocker panel just behind the front wheel well. Sometimes you will see mats and even headrests being used like that, don't know why other than maybe to keep the car more stable? Well, I wanted those mats and so I flagged down a guy on a forklift and told him of the situation and asked if he could lift the car up just a little so I could get the mats and he said "no, because that was what was holding the car up". Oooookay, so my brother-in-law and I went in search of a jack and low and behold we found one. We put a wheel under the front of the vehicle, placed the jack in the center of the wheel and slowly jacked the vehicle up just enough to pull the mats out, then lowered the vehicle back down onto the stand, tossed the jack over in the vehicle like nothing ever happened and off we went with my set of Lexus RX300 floor mats. I know they remove jacks from vehicles to keep people from doing what we did but dang, I wanted those mats. I have cleaned them with a shampooer and will pressure wash them tomorrow.
I paid just over 7 bucks for the set of mats, by comparison there is a new set of the same mats on Ebay. Ah the adventures I have at Pull-a-Part!!!

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[WPOZZZ]

I would just buy rubber mats from Sams or Costco.

[sc_rufctr]

Nice score Hobie.

I found these on Ebay from Germany. Note they are RHD and in a rare colour (Mercedes Benz - W140). My car is burgundy with a beige interior. I almost pulled the trigger on them but at checkout the shipping to Aus was $300 and I would have to pay import/GST duties. I can get a custom made set locally for less than $300 total.

[SCadaddle]

Originally Posted by HobieMarty

Went to Pull-a-Part again today, brother-in-law went with me. I was just getting a few little items from a 1999 RX300 and noticed that the rear floor mat was still in the car. Being that the vehicle had the same color interior as mine I decided to get the mat. I looked up front and both front mats were missing but I found them a few minutes later. At Pull-a-Part, the vehicles sit atop some stands made from two wheels welded together, one laying down with the other upright to get the vehicles up off the ground. Well, I found both front mats folded up and put in between the body of the car and the stand on the driver's side at the rocker panel just behind the front wheel well. Sometimes you will see mats and even headrests being used like that, don't know why other than maybe to keep the car more stable? Well, I wanted those mats and so I flagged down a guy on a forklift and told him of the situation and asked if he could lift the car up just a little so I could get the mats and he said "no, because that was what was holding the car up". Oooookay, so my brother-in-law and I went in search of a jack and low and behold we found one. We put a wheel under the front of the vehicle, placed the jack in the center of the wheel and slowly jacked the vehicle up just enough to pull the mats out, then lowered the vehicle back down onto the stand, tossed the jack over in the vehicle like nothing ever happened and off we went with my set of Lexus RX300 floor mats. I know they remove jacks from vehicles to keep people from doing what we did but dang, I wanted those mats. I have cleaned them with a shampooer and will pressure wash them tomorrow.
I paid just over 7 bucks for the set of mats, by comparison there is a new set of the same mats on Ebay. Ah the adventures I have at Pull-a-Part!!!

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Probably put there so you can use them on the ground and on top of the gravel when you are under the vehicle so your 10 mm socket will get lost between you and the mat and not in the gravel. Headrest for comfort while you are under there, don't you know?

[sc_rufctr]

Originally Posted by WPOZZZ

I would just buy rubber mats from Sams or Costco.

I've always liked the Coco Mats but they're stupid money in Aus.

[pwd72s]

Import duty & other taxes? Not all that $pendy here. Hmmm, maybe a biz idea for somebody down there. You're probably closer to coconut fiber than we are.

(edit) To our cat sailor...skinflints unite! Also, any garage sales near you are sometimes a great place to pick up good tools.

[HobieMarty]

Originally Posted by WPOZZZ

I would just buy rubber mats from Sams or Costco.

I currently have a set of tan rubber floor mats in the car. The car only had two mats in it when I got it, they were small aftermarket mats for the rear passengers and they were black. I had been looking for some genuine Lexus mats for the RX for some time now but I definitely didn't want to pay 100 bucks for them.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[HobieMarty]

I also picked up a passenger side air bag cover. I actually removed it from the vehicle last weekend but I didn't have a tool to remove the hex key type of fasteners that attached the cover to the air bag frame, they were holding it for me until I could get back there with a tool. I used a torx T-50H to remove the fasteners, they were actually a recessed hex head nut type of thing with the stud in the center, but the torx did the job. These pics show the old and new covers and the fasteners. I had to remove the glove box and cd changer in order to remove the passenger side air bag.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[Bill Douglas]

Marty, that pick-a-part car must be in very nice condition. Did it have a blown up engine or crashed to be at the spare parts dump?

[HobieMarty]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

Marty, that pick-a-part car must be in very nice condition. Did it have a blown up engine or crashed to be at the spare parts dump?

Not sure what happened to it. The only body issue I saw on the car was a scrape on the driver's side quarter panel. Whoever owned it must've been a heavy heavy smoker. The front passenger seat had tobacco all over it and there were a lot of ashes around the front if the console where the ashtray is located. The storage bin under the console/cupholders had a little jar in it that said "Half Baked" on it. I opened it and I saw what looked to be little flakes of weed!!! Lol!!! I robbed it of interior stuff because it was the only one of the three there that has the same color interior as mine.

Update: I am cleaning the floor mats again. I picked up some Super Clean this morning along with a drill brush set. That brush set is a game changer and the Suoer Clean really pulls the dirt out of the mats. I have used a small electric pressure washer for rinsing and so far they are looking much better.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[HobieMarty]

This is a game changer and makes it so much easier to clean nasty floor mats!!! The amount of dirt pulled out is amazing, rinsed with a pressure washer then used the shampooer to extract the water out of the mat and now they are all drying in the sun.
I also cleaned a mat out of our Nissan Quest and even cleaned the tan rubber mats that we had in the RX.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[HobieMarty]

Finished with the RX300 for now.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[hcoles]

Great find. Go OEM

[sc_rufctr]

Nicely done Hobie... Looking classy

[flatbutt]

Flatty confused How could floor mats be used to stabilize / hold up a car?