I noticed my interior carpet was showing a little age, so I decided to remove it and dye to almost like new condition again.

1) Slide the seat all the way back
2) Remove the plastic pieces covering the front seat bolts, A little screwdriver works the best to pop those little suckers off.
3) Remove the 2 size 14mm bolts. Am air ratchet is your best friend.
4) Slide the seat all the way foward
5) Remove the plastic pieces for the rear. There are 2 on the right side, closet to the console, and 1 on the other side.
6) Pick the seat up from the rear, and gently slide your hand under there and pop/slide the connector. Slide this plug to the left. You must push down and slide left at the same time.
7) Remove the seat.
8) Do the same for the passenger side. Remember when you raise the seat, slide this plastic piece, under the seat, to the right. Push down on prong, and slide right at the same time. Remember the prong is on the front side of the seat, so you will have to put your hand in front of the connector!
9) Remove the driver side seat belt slide assembly rod. You must pop the front plastis side piece first, in other words, start prying on the plastic piece from the front of the A. Do this on boths sides. If you dont, you will break the plastic piece! Remove them from the car.
10) Pull up on each side of the rear seat, and remove the ONLY the bottom part of the seat. Once the seat is removed, There are 4 black plastic tabs under there. Reach under the carpet on each side of the plastic tabs and pull up evenly and gently. They will come out without breaking. Do this on the under side as well.
11) Once these are removed, Pull up on the interior trim piece, that your feet always seem to hit. When you pull it up, remember to be gently, because you will break the plastic connector on the bottom sides, and you might bend the metal prongs that holds it down. Do both sides!
12) Once these pieces are removed, start pulling the carpet up. Begin in the driver side front. Be gentle when you start on the left front area, where the fuse box is. This piece needs to be pulled toward the rear of the car. There are 2 plastic prongs that need to be removed under there. Once loosened slide the carpet under the brake pedal, and the gas pedal.
13) When you come to the center console, remove the cup holder. There are 2 pieces of carpet that needs to be cut in half. If you dont, it wont come out without ripping it. If you dont want to cut the carpet, then remove the whole console assembly. Oncde removed then the carpet will come out with ease. I chose to keep it and tear the 2 small pieces.
14) Pull the carpet on one side of the car, and vaccumm it real good. If you are going to dye it, this is the only thing you will have to do. Dont WET the carpet.
I bought some local carpet and plastic dye called HI-TECH, its the color code 400, Dove Gray. Place the carpet somewhere where overspray is not a problem. Spray evenly and take your time. I even chose to paint the bottom of the 3 palstic panels. These are the left foot rest, the one under the floor mat, and the right side foot rest.
Do several light coats. Some darker stains will require more time and coats. Let it dry as long as possible, and place back into car. Heres a few pictures of the dye, carpet removed, and the interior.
Now is a good time to do some dynamat, stereo wiring and simply wipe down the inside metal panels/floors. Sorry about the long post, but I wanted to clear and precise.

http://s682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/1992Lexus/

 

good write up..use tinypic.com or photobucket.com to up load the pics

 

Got it.. Thanks, never used photobucket before. Hope everyone enjoys it!

 

once again, another great write up...thanks bro.

 

I want to do this. Was it hard taking out the seats?

 

NOT at all. You just simply pop those bolt covers off and there are a total of 5 for each seat. Just remember before you start pulling on the seat, that you disconnect the plastic connector. Its not too bad, kinda easy. At least mine was. I think that if I could do over again, I would pull out the center console, but I spent so much time getting that Dog gone radio in there straight and even, I didnt want to disturb it.

Thanks, I appreciate the comments.


After I started painting it, I wanted to change the color of the carpet from the original can posted, and boy was I ever so happy with it. I went with a little bit darker color carpet. This was to keep the stains from showing up as bad. Overall I am very happy with the turn out...

I even taped off the door panels to match the color of the carpet.. So dont forget to do that as well....

If you decide the carpet is to stiff, then take you a DRY scrub brush and run over it, but do it lightly. This will loosen the carpet up a little. Keep scrubbing until your happy with the softness.

Heres the updated and reinstalled carpet. It was used with the flash but you all can get the idea.

http://s682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/1992Lexus/

The front pictures are the finished product....

 

I need to do this, but first got to find my leak on the passenger side!

 

Nice...................

 

What kind of leak are you having? heater core? Or evaporator core?

I appreciate all the comments! Thanks!

 

nice write up - i am actually inthe process of replacing my carpet now. this will definetely help!

 

Glad I could help. Please add some notes if needed. I may have forgotten some little things.

 

Glad I could out. Let us know how it turns out. Please post some before and after pix.

 

Most leaks are in the sunroof drain. Occasionally some are door seals.

 

I have heard that also. I was also told to use compressed air to blow out any obstruction, but not a whole lot of air at one time.

 

could u weigh all the materials removed along with the carpet removal? i want to see how much of a difference it would be for weight reduction