To carpet, or not to carpet

After realising recently I had a permanently wet carpet, I finally decided to just strip the whole lot out.

Took me a fair few hours this morning, but I've managed to get rid of all the carpet and soundproofing, which was completely sodden and starting to rust the floor.

After clearing it all out, I wire brushed the whole thing and hammerite painted it, so the whole thing is now lovely and shiny and black.


So, the quesitions.
I know the water came from a leaky gutter, whats the best way to fix that?

Question two is, after its all dried out, do you think I should refit carpet? Leave as it? Or get some rubber mats instead?

Thanks in advance!

if your using as a everyday car and all leakes sorted ,myself dry it all out and refit. 1 for comfort and 2 keep the sound levels down. if it used off roading then dont bother it be easier to keep clean with hose pipe

Get some rubber stable matting..

+1 for the stable matting. Mine is about 19mm thick. I used a set of mats as a template and cut to the right size and shape. As they are so thick they work as sound proof as well.

Im with Hope_5.
It's pointless having carpet when it's used for off-roading

Ditch the sound proofing and keep the carpet, although I might have a think about the stable matting

Sort the leaks out, then you won't have a damp car..

The sound deadener is the problem, ditch that and you're making progress.

Carpet doesn't hold the water so it's not so much of a problem

I have run mine without carpets for the last year. It makes it noisier obviously but a lot easier to keep clean when off road.

I think that the stable matting idea is a winner and will probably try that!!

I also binned the sound deadening. I removed it in early June and use it in my garage as a big kneeling pad. It's still holding moisture even now.

Plain carpet in the back now. No noticeable difference to noise levels.