[Dyn0mitemat]

So after a bit of muddin the past few weeks I figured I'd clean out the engine compartment of my zj. Got it all nice and sparkly, except that damn hoot mat. Seems like once it got wet from crossing the rivers it just held dirt like crazy. I searched the forum and google and it seems there's no set way to refinish or clean these mats easily (they're just pressed felt after all...). So I figured I'd take a stab at it. I think the end result came out great so I figured I'd post and hopefully inspire a few others to do the same.

So here's what I did:

Took the mat off the hood (just plastic clips that have little tabs on them)

Took a chip brush and started brushing the mat side to side. Worked very well for taking the mud out of it lol. Had to do 3-4 quick passes to get it nice and clean. Here's a shot where you can see how much it did with just one quick pass. I found using the brush in a fast 'painting' motion with little pressure did great.


Once it went over it a few times and got it nice and clean I took it to a safe place to paint (this meant leaning up against my pulling tractor behind the garagelol) and hit it with a very light coat of black spray paint.

Coverage is very good and easy to do, don't have to really worry about runs or anything because it soaks it up so well, just keep the can about 8-10 inches away and have at it

I ended up doing 3 light coats over it to help with the coverage and give it a really nice black.

I was planning on leaving it at that, and put it back on, but I was so impressed with how easily the black covered it I figured I'd try to paint the jeep lettering in the middle in silver. That led me on a hunt to find a small paint brush.


That didn't go so well, so I took the next best thing... a TOOTHBRUSH! (hey at least it has 'brush' in the name ). After I had my way with it and a lighter I invented one fine piece of machinery


I got quite a bit done, and then took a step back and saw the hideous mess I was making on the hood mat I just spent all my time cleaning and painting.

I wasn't going to settle for this chicken ****, so I painted it back over in black and started masking it off with painters tape instead. Here's what about an hour with a razor knife and a roll of tape lead me to:


I was much happier so I hit it with the silver paint and let it dry:


Here's how it looked after I pulled it off like 15 minutes later:


At this point I'd usually try to put it on right away so I could stare and appreciate the fine work I just did, but I figured with my luck it'd fall in dirt or something and ruin it. So I waited another hour or so for it to get pretty dry.

After which I put it up and put all the clips back in, and I stood back in amazement with a huge boner

[Midnightluckey]

Looks great, I'll have to give that a try next time in washing under the hood.

[Oldfrog]

Looks good ! You've obviously never thrown a serpentine belt at 3500 RPMs, either!
Mine has a nice 1 inch wide slice across it.

[Dyn0mitemat]

Well now that you brought it up I'm afraid to drive it haha

[sebian]

Originally Posted by Oldfrog

Looks good ! You've obviously never thrown a serpentine belt at 3500 RPMs, either!
Mine has a nice 1 inch wide slice across it.

Apparently that is what happened with mine before I bought it. I got the nice gash in the liner going on too.

But back OT, that looks really sharp! Nicely done!

[Oldfrog]

Originally Posted by Dyn0mitemat

Well now that you brought it up I'm afraid to drive it haha

Sorry, didnt mean to jinx it.

Quick ! Go out and buy a brand new Gates belt right now!
( dont waste your money on Autozone or Advance Auto belts....and please dont ask me how I know....sigh**)

[-HH-Racer]

I just took my off today, its just a dound gaurd right?

[sskilla]

that actually looks really good. i was just lookin at mine thinkin i needed to rip it out.. maybe ill give this a shot.

[Chard79]

I too was lookin at mine too, thinkin about what I could do about it. Thinkin I might do my jeep lettering in the same Green as the body, maybe some brown for a muddyed affect? *shrug*

[Dyn0mitemat]

I was thinking the same for the green as I have two quartz of it sitting here, but figures once you put it on the hood it wouldn't really be noticeable. Im happy with the silver. If anyone else does theirs id love to see some pics

[Chard79]

finaly got time to try painting mine. and failed : (

after cleanin it up, the black went on like a charm : ) (Rustolem multi surface flat black)

after letting it dry I masked it up with painters tape, which just barely stuck to the mat.

masked off the six sided border of the JEEP emblem and layed down a layer off the closest green I could find
to match the body.

looks horrible, the Fathom Green Metallic layed down silver
the pic bellow shows the actual color on the card board versus the mat AFTER I had tried repainting black.
I think its the fact that I used a "metallic" paint instead of a flat.

probly gunna hunt down a flat of the same color, also temped to cut it out and install some extra hood lighting.

On a side note. The Fathom Green turned out to be a DAMN close match to the stock Hunter Green.
Side by side as seen in Pic 2 the Fathom Green is just alittle darker.

[Dyn0mitemat]

Well im sure glad I didn't try that then haha. I had a pint of forest green for the truck and almost did it in that, im happy with the silver though.

BONUS! After some more wheeling, it seems the paint made a nice hard layer over the mat, it washes off clean now and doesn't soak the mud all up. Just spray some simple green on it and wide off gently and it looks new again

[SouthSeaPirate]

That looks great! Although I already fixed mine by ripping it out

Good job

[SouthSeaPirate]

Sorry double post
delete

[timmay5309]

Looks great!, and nice cutting on the tape for the Jeep template.