original floor mat

[Llay R. Rac]

somewhere around 1975 i put a cheap jc whitney carpet in my truck, i think i was trying to impress my gf , because back then i barely had money for gas.
in my memory i thought my floor mat was tattered and torn and brittle.
the carpet held up well but i'm going back to original, took out the carpet and was so surprised my memory was wrong.

the floor mat is intact and only has one small tear, which i made worse. what would i use to glue/stop this crack from expanding. The rubber is fairly pliable but feels a bit like dried marshmallows. you can see the tear on the right side of the pic.

heres a pic with a number on the back, not the best pic but it does show the general condition of the mat.

[Brad54]

I haven't done it yet, but I'm going to get a bicycle inner tube and inner tube patch kit, cut the inner tube into a strip that is longer than the tear, then glue it behind the floor mat to cover tear to hold it together and keep it from spreading.

-Brad

[Llay R. Rac]

Originally Posted by Brad54

I haven't done it yet, but I'm going to get a bicycle inner tube and inner tube patch kit, cut the inner tube into a strip that is longer than the tear, then glue it behind the floor mat to cover tear to hold it together and keep it from spreading.

-Brad

thats a good idea,thanks. are you going to use inner tube rubber cement or another type of glue?. i feel it needs a real good adhesive in the crack and the patch on the back.
I am debating drilling a round hole at the end of the crack to try and stop the tear.

[Brad54]

I thought about drilling a hole at the end of the cracks too, but I figure if the slit inner tube is a couple inches wide (and is on each side of the crack) and then extends an inch and a half or two inches past the end of the crack, it shouldn't be an issue anymore.

I haven't patched a bicycle inner tube in several years, but used to patch them ALL the time, so unless things have changed, I'm going to use the glue in the patch kits--it's secure, flexible, and air-tight when it dries. So I'm thinking that's perfect for the under side of the floor mat.

[LostMy65]

JcWhitney was so cool back then.
I bought my replacement rubber mat from them in the 80's.

[oem4me]

Believe it or not, I've had some remarkable results with common super glue, but for clean cracks only. By clean, I mean both crisp tears/splits without missing bits, and also unspoiled by oil or rubber shine stuff like Armor All or silicone.
Never tried the bike tire glue, but it sounds like that might work if you could control the squeeze-out/ appearance of the patch.