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Source for replacement carpet

Has anyone purchased new carpet for their 87-88 'Bird. If you were happy with it, where did you get it?
Trying to stay as close to factory as possible.
My carpet was in good shape but got really bad water damage Stinks to high heaven. Thanks!
                                       
                                              :birdsmily:

Source for replacement carpet

Reply #1
Since yours is in nice condition take it out and pressure wash it. I just did that to my wifes jeep. That carpet looks brand spanking new. Make sure you let it dry before you reinstall it. Oh yeah it will get rid of that smell too!
84 Turbo coupe 2.3T Modded with 88 upper and lower intake, 88 injectors, E6 manifold, T3-4 AR.60 turbo, 31X12X3 FMIC, Homemade MBC , Greddy knock off BPV.
4 eyes see better than 2! 
Da Bird!

FreeBird

Good idea but...

Reply #2
Tryed that already. Took 2 weeks to dry here in Florida. Its actually the wool backing that stinks, like a wet blanket or a wet wool coat.

Source for replacement carpet

Reply #3
I peeled the backing off my carpet, and I swear the garbage can weighed 80lbs!
But I'd be curious to know about carpet in the future too.
I talked to, I think, AAC at a carshow in Knoxville a few years ago, and they said they could make carpet for anything.

Source for replacement carpet

Reply #4
A friend of mine ordered carpet from JCWhitney and it was the most awful fitting carpet We'd ever seen.  He ended up getting carpet out of an 88 TC.  I did the same thing for my 88, I got black carpet out of an 86 Elan and pressure washed the whole thing for an hour.  Depends on what kind of soap you use.  Here in Ohio mine only took a day to dry.  With your carpet taking 2 weeks to dry bacteria is more than likely growing and thats probably what you smell.  Mine smelled like piss and so did my buddies.  Turned it into new smelling carpet.
One 88

 

Source for replacement carpet

Reply #5
Quote from: CougarSE;173285
A friend of mine ordered carpet from JCWhitney and it was the most awful fitting carpet We'd ever seen.


See and I didn't have any problems with mine. I guess its just luck of the draw if you will have problems or not.

Source for replacement carpet

Reply #6
Strip the padding off the back of the carpet and spray them separate. Then lay them out in the sun. The best would be to have them hanging over something so it can hang there in the sun. With out the padding on there the wifes dried in a couple of hours in the sun. The padding too. No more smell and it looks great. I did the same thing the first time I did it with the padding on there it took forever to dry out.
84 Turbo coupe 2.3T Modded with 88 upper and lower intake, 88 injectors, E6 manifold, T3-4 AR.60 turbo, 31X12X3 FMIC, Homemade MBC , Greddy knock off BPV.
4 eyes see better than 2! 
Da Bird!

FreeBird

Source for replacement carpet

Reply #7
proline carpet from nifty products offers replacement carpet for the 83-88 t bird in black, blue, and grey.

black - 830201

blue - 830204

grey - 830211


i've used their products before and have had great success with them.
91 ranger 2.3 turbo - nowhere near stock
87 thunderbird turbocoupe
06 pontiac g6 gt
:birdsmily:

Source for replacement carpet

Reply #8
I have been using ACC carpeting for about 10 years. There are good and bad things about it.

GOOD: Fits PERFECTLY, no tpuppies required. Has correct heel pad. Excellent selection of colors. Priced at about $120 US. Shipping is incredibly fast.

BAD: Have had some fading problems. Thin...much thinner than even base model Cougar/T-Bird carpeting. Cannot return custom colors.

In the past 6 years I've had a dark charcoal grey, dark blue, and Regatta Blue carpeting from ACC in the convertible. Each time I changed the carpeting out of choice (wanted color change) but I was disappointed that the navy blue carpeting seems to have faded. True, it's in a convertible...but it's almost never left out in the sun with the top down, unless I'm at a show. It should not have faded like that in just two summers. At first I thought it was dirt but alas, it was definitely faded.

Can I recommend ACC? Yes. It's generally good stuff for the money. But it's not nearly as good as factory carpeting. As suggested, if you can get decent factory carpeting, it's well worth your time to clean it up and use it first.

Source for replacement carpet

Reply #9
Quote from: slamedcat;173293
See and I didn't have any problems with mine. I guess its just luck of the draw if you will have problems or not.

Jims carpet was very thin, like puppiesanese car thin.  It was a two piece design and the grain on the front half ran diagonal.  In the corners where the carpet laid down by the kick panels it was actually cut and sewn.  Looks like it was made from a flat piece of carpet and sewn to make something that kind of fit.
One 88

Source for replacement carpet

Reply #10
Isn't there a guy on eBay that sells new carpeting and headliners for these cars? I don't search eBay very often anymore because it's absolute agony on dialup, but I do remember seeing it on there before...
2015 Mustang GT Premium - 5.0, 6-speed, Guard Green - too much awesome for one car

1988 5.0 Thunderbird :birdsmily: SOLD SEPT 11 2010: TC front clip/hood ♣ Body & paint completed Oct 2007 ♣ 3.55 TC rear end and front brakes ♣ TC interior ♣ CHE rear control arms (adjustable lowers) ♣ 2001 Bullitt springs ♣ Energy suspension poly busings ♣ Kenne Brown subframe connectors ♣ CWE engine mounts ♣ Thundercat sequential turn signals ♣ Explorer overhead console (temp/compass display) ♣ 2.25" off-road dual exhaust ♣ T-5 transmission swap completed Jan 2009 ♣

Source for replacement carpet

Reply #11
Quote from: CougarSE;173329
Jims carpet was very thin, like puppiesanese car thin.  It was a two piece design and the grain on the front half ran diagonal.  In the corners where the carpet laid down by the kick panels it was actually cut and sewn.  Looks like it was made from a flat piece of carpet and sewn to make something that kind of fit.


Oh I bought the one piece carpet. I just had to cut the holes for the center console mount and seat mounts. Everything else was real nice on it.

Source for replacement carpet

Reply #12
Quote
Isn't there a guy on eBay that sells new carpeting and headliners for these cars? I don't search eBay very often anymore because it's absolute agony on dialup, but I do remember seeing it on there before...

I couldn't find that exact person but I did find this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/83-84-85-86-87-88-Mercury-Cougar-Carpet_W0QQitemZ190097945499QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item190097945499

Can't tell if this is an ACC reseller or not...the part numbers don't match up with the ACC ones, anyway. But there you go.

From what I understand there are only a handful of carpet manufacturers in the U.S. and everyone that sells carpeting uses these companies.

Source for replacement carpet

Reply #13
How'd you get the backing off? The bit that I attempted shredded rather than peal off.

Source for replacement carpet

Reply #14
I shredded my backing off, pealed it in chunks, whatever it took. I then got some new padding, not the foam, from a carpet store. It was thick but weighed a ton less than the old pad. It worked great.
When I talked to AAC, I thought they had several grades of carpet, but it has been a few years. They did tell me they could make carpet to fit any floorpan, as I plan to put a different chassis with a fabricated floorpan in my next Bird body. I think they told me they use steam to heat the plastic backing of the carpet and form it ito place. But I've never seen it done.