Weathertech trim to fit floor liners

[rohoGames]

When I discovered the weathertech laser cut liners had updated their fitments to include the 2023 Mirage, I jumped on those. Then immediately felt bad about it (such a huge expense- I've used weathertech before- they are awesome- but I had big time buyer's remorse).

I was at Target a couple hours later and saw these in stock:

https://www.weathertech.com/trim-to-fit-floor-mat/

Hey, still weathertech, but 50 bucks instead of hundreds! I liked that they had more potential coverage than the cheap michelin floor mats and similar brands. I knew they wouldn't be as good, but I thought they would get the job done. So I immediately emailed weathertech to cancel my order for the laser cut mats and bought these. This is how it turned out:



The driver's side was the trickiest. That took a lot of careful cutting to get it to fit. It isn't perfect (you can see in the upper left that you can't quite get a perfect fit in that spot), but I'm happy with the result, more coverage than the stock floor mats.

Regarding the hooks that held the previous mat in place: It *seems* like those can be removed, they are just plastic, but I didn't want to accidentally break them off. Anyone remove these? It is a "twist to remove" or some other thing? I know they are there to prevent the mat from sliding around and knocking off some drain tube, but when I looked carefully around the pedals, I didn't see much that the mat could hit (plus these flat rubber mats do not slide much at all).

The passenger front mat only required trimming the bottom edge up to the bowl section of the mat, very easy. Super happy with the coverage there, as honestly the passengers in my car will most likely be teenagers so the increased coverage is valuable! The back seat mats required no trimming at all. I could have trimmed them a little to get a nicer fit, but the material is very flexible so you can't really see much unattractive bulging, and I'd rather err on the side of more coverage.

No chemical smell at all, as you sometimes get with cheap rubber floor mats.

Also: I tried the universal fit cargo liner as Target had that available also. WAY TOO BIG. Even if you trim *everything* from it, it will NOT fit. I could see that the moment I took it out of the box, so that's going to get returned. I don't care quite as much about the cargo liner anyway, I'm mostly concerned about the passenger and driver seat floors.

[Mark]

I really like the WeatherTech mats. I only have the front set, because I seldom have rear seat passengers.

I bought a set for my 2011 Forester & 2017 Mirage at the same time to save on shipping costs. I had worn a hole through the carpet of my Forester, and it was a couple inches up from the floor. The WeatherTech mat covered that spot. It made an older worn interior look brand new again. In the case of my Mirage, it's keeping the interior in good condition. I'd rather prevent a hole than cover one.

I like that I can lift them out (they are quite stiff), & I don't lose any pile up of snow/puddle of water on them. I can just dump them & reinsert (which you can do with any). If they are flimsy mats, it's a bit harder to pull them out without losing stuff on them.

I wear workbooks and we get snow. I'm hard on interior floors. I wish that I had started buying WeatherTech mats years ago. I don't work for WeatherTech or own their stock.

I was snow goose hunting in Missouri a week or so ago. I didn't cringe every time I got in or out of my Forester.

[mohammad]

Looking at your drivers floor mat it appears that it does not engage the hooks in the floor that are designed to prevent the floor mat from sliding forward. This goes against what is stated in the owners manual and may potentially be illegal.

[rohoGames]

Well yes, no universal fit mat is going to have the right holes for those hooks. They don’t slide, weathertech includes long cleats that pin into the floor carpet.

[Mark]

Well yes, no universal fit mat is going to have the right holes for those hooks. They don’t slide, weathertech includes long cleats that pin into the floor carpet.

The WeatherTech floor mat lines up perfectly with the driver's side factory floor hooks. It's a perfect match for both my Mirage & my Forester. The holes line up perfectly with factory installed floor hooks. The hooks they give you could be used on the passenger side, but it wedges in so tight that I don't see the need for them.

[Dirk Diggler]

The good thing about the ordered Weathertechs is that they cover up the entire driver's side flooring, including that spot you left bare where your left foot resides. Of course you might not rest your foot there to begin with so no biggie, so as long as you're happy with it, that's all that matters. They look good in your car and will do a much better job than the OEM mats.

[Fummins]

How the hell is a floor mat illegal? The owners manual isn't a law book.

The thing that's good about weathertechs that are vehicle specific is they trap water rather than direct it onto the non-rubber-backed carpet which then leaks through the crappy insulation and onto the floor where it pools and sloshes around. Using universal floor mats will work as well as the user. We use cheap crappy floor mats on fleet cars, some have permanent wading pools and others are fine. All of the cars have permanent white salt stains on the floors. Some people haul in a bunch of snow and crap and others don't.

On the flip side....My current car made it 280k km without weathertechs. One of the first things I did was inspect the wiring behind the drivers kick panel and it was fine. Go figure...I did install weathertechs that I robbed from my previous Mirage though because I haul around kids and we have winter 4 1/2 months out of the year. The passenger mat doesn't have holes in it. The drivers side does but they're on a raised section of the mat so they'll hold a lot of water before draining onto the floor, which has never happened. I guess if you racecar everywhere it'd slosh around enough to maybe work it's way out.

[rohoGames]

Right, I'm definitely very aware of the many good things about the custom weathertechs. Just couldn't afford it really. My hope is the weathertech universal fit mats provide better coverage than the default cloth mats you get with the car. They do have a little bowl design which should hold moisture and snow. I'm actually pretty happy with the passenger side coverage as my kids will be far less careful than I would be in the driver side.

If, of course, I avoid going to prison for using them

[Fummins]

There's always that risk. I'm waiting for my first court appearance after being charged for not using child locks on the back doors when I haul kids around. They also nailed me with the illegal use of a non-mfg approved seat cover. Good times.