While the whole point of a car mat is to keep the carpet clean, It’s understandable why you’d want to keep your car mats clean too.
Unfortunately, when you have children, animals or any other species in your car that doesn’t understand rules, it’s easier said than done.
I recommend trying to prevent as much dirt as you can from entering the car. This will not only help you to keep the car mats clean, but the rest of the car too.
How To Keep Car Mats Clean
Whether you have rubber, vinyl or carpeted mats, the methods listed below will help you to keep them clean.
If they’re already too far gone, you’ll want to clean them and then follow the advice listed below.
Prevent Dirt From Entering The Car
The best way to prevent your interior from getting dirty is to limit how much dirt gets in.
Now, I’m not suggesting that you leave your kids at home while you go off and enjoy your day, but you can limit the time they spend in the car.
The same goes for animals.
When I was a child I was guilty of making the floor mats dirty (on a regular basis too).
Since I played soccer, my cleats were always covered in thick mud, especially during the wet seasons. I’d just climb into the car and not have a care in the world.
The obvious solution to this would be to have a spare change of shoes for after training that I could change into. I’d then have to place my cleats into a plastic bag and place them in the trunk.
Not everyone plays soccer, however, it’s an example of using common sense to prevent your car floor mats from getting dirty.
Take a second, think what’s causing the dirt, and then try to come up with a solution that can prevent it from re-occurring.
Place Paper In The Footwell
I absolutely hate this solution but I have to say it works.
I personally work in a bodyshop and this is something that we do. All courtesy cars and repaired cars are valeted and then prepped with paper put in the footwell.
This helps to maintain the clean interior, specifically the carpet and floor mats.
You can see how this works overtime. The paper gets covered in dirt as people climb in and out of the car.
The reason that I hate it, is because they also put it in the drivers footwell. Sure, the driver will have dirty feet too, but it does get in the way while driving.
I personally don’t want anything in the footwell that could potentially get in the way or interfere with my driving.
If you’re going to go with this as a solution, I recommend placing it in the passenger and back seating areas.
The first thing I do when getting in a car as a driver is remove this paper.
Cling Film The Floor Mat
In a similar fashion to the paper, covering your floor mats in cling film or even a plastic bag will help to keep them clean.
It’ll help to maintain the look of the car since cling film is clear, but it will also make the surface slippy.
You’ll also find that any wetness will run from the mat rather than being soaked in. This will just create dirt circles and water spots around the floor mat, rather than on the floor mat itself.
Sure, it’s not the best solution, but it is an option to consider.
Double Up
There are a couple of reasons why someone would want their floor mats to stay clean. The most common reason is to maintain the quality of the original mat.
Simply placing another mat on top of the original one will prevent it from becoming dirty.
Depending on the thickness of the mats, this could cause potential issues.
If you do choose to double up, make sure that the mats cannot slide on each other and have 0 chance of interfering with the pedals.
Unfortunately, if your intention is to have your car looking clean at all times a second mat will not really help. Unless you’re alternating them and cleaning them regularly.
Floor Mats Are Made To Get Dirty
Sometimes you have to accept the inevitable. Using your car means that it will get dirty.
What’s the point in having a car if you can’t use it for fear of dirtying it?
Using the steps above are great for minimising how dirty your car floor mats may get, but at some point you’ll still have to clean your car.
As someone that enjoys cleaning their car, I’d much rather spend 30 minutes every couple of weeks to clean the car, than prevent people and animals from using my car.
The best thing you can do is use the tips above to limit how dirty your car gets, while cleaning it regularly to keep it looking and smelling fresh.
You can learn the best way to clean car upholster here.
I’d also recommend learning how to dry out your car properly, the last thing you want is to recreate water spots in your floor mats.