In 2014 I had the entire floor of my Jeep LINE-X’ed. Here are five great reasons why you should too, and some items for consideration.
Carpets are disgusting. Seriously. When was the last time you cleaned yours? And especially if you have kids and/or pets (peeing, pooping, puking, drooling, etc. etc.) I can guarantee that your Jeep (or any vehicle) carpets are hosting a big ol’ bacteria/germ/allergen party right now. Plus, if you want to take your top/doors off in warm weather, you will at some point ride in the rain and it’s no fun pulling drain plugs from under sopping wet disgusting carpets. Ew.
You want your Jeep to last a long time, right?! I mean, you buy the Jeep but then you want to upgrade the Jeep, and with all the money you’ve poured in you’d better take care of it now! LINE-X offers excellent impact and abrasion resistance (if you drop something on the floor of your Jeep, no big deal), and because the material is sprayed on, it makes a complete seal (making the coating watertight - and rain-ready).
Cleaning LINE-X is easy-peasy lemon-squeezey. After mudding this summer I took my Jeep to the car wash (doors off) and high-pressure washed the whole thing, inside and out. With drain plugs out, the LINE-X floor is easy to wash down and cleaning is a breeze! With LINE-X there is no need to vacuum or steam clean, and I often just hose it down in the driveway. Also, if there’s just dust/dirt/rocks on the floor and you have a leaf blower, cleaning the floor of your LINE-X’ed Jeep is even easier!
My husband says LINE-X doesn’t show the blood like carpets do. Wait.. what?! What has my Jeep been witness to? Seriously though, since I grew up in Iowa hunting, fishing, etc., I can tell you that you don’t want that stuff in your carpets! Get some LINE-X, bag the big one, and hose out your ride.
If you LINE-X your ride you don’t have to be a priss about it. So the kiddo throws a popsicle on the floor… big deal! The dog drools, the husband has dirt on his shoes, your awesome malt-shake spills… no problem. Park it in the drive and hose it out. (Ok, I realize #5 is very similar to #3 but I wanted 5 reasons because it's a nice number).
Considerations:
LINE-X vs. Rhino Linings – everyone has their favorite protective coating, but speaking from experience LINE-X is more durable and thicker than Rhino Lining. My husband has Rhino Lining on his truck, and right away it started to show the wear. My LINE-X looks good as new.
No carpets will mean more road noise, and more heat or cold. The trade-off for having a squeaky clean and long-lasting floor is that in the summer you really feel the heat coming up from the road and/or engine, and in the winter the heater barely keeps up. BUT – you’re a hard-core Jeeper – right?- and I know you keep spare boots under the back seat. And in the summer if you take the top and doors off you’re bringing in the heat anyway. AND I don’t mind the road noise. It reminds me of summertime and it reminds me that I have nice big trail tires!
If you want to decrease the road noise, heat, and cold mentioned above, get the thicker LINE-X. I went with the thinner LINE-X spray and in hindsight the thicker coat may have been better.
After you LINE-X and have implemented some other mods to your Jeep, you may discover that you need a small piece of carpet (gasp!) to cushion something like a back storage box that is causing a godawful squeaking noise from rubbing on your LINE-X'ed floor (as opposed to carpet). That's a discovery made today by the awesome guys at Northridge Longmont (more on this in another post). But, this is not a deal-breaker for me and I would still LINE-X my ride any day.
So, now that I’ve convinced you that LINE-X is awesome, how do you get it for your own ride? First, find a dealer. I went to Northern Colorado LINE-X near Berthoud and those guys were great and did a fantastic job. I thought I’d have to trim all the holes myself, but they went ahead and did it for me!
You could also spray LINE-X or similar coatings on yourself, and I saw a Jeep in Old Town Fort Collins one time, where the guy had sprayed the interior with LINE-X himself. It looked great, but realistically that is beyond my technical capabilities. SO, I paid someone to LINE-X my Jeep.
BUT – I prepped it myself. Yep, I took out all the carpets (easy), trim, seats, seat belts, center console, everything. I have to admit some of it took more muscle that I’ve got so my husband and friend M. helped with the heavy lifting (and my hub tore his rotator cuff taking out the seats – Lesson Learned: buy thyself a breaker bar and use it!). Our friends M. and E. were also great about giving me tips throughout the process (another Lesson: it's awesome to have friends who are more experienced Jeepers!!!).
After my Jeep was stripped of everything inside, I scratched up the floor with steel wool and Scotch-Brite. Then came stuffing with paper any holes I didn’t want sprayed, and taping and papering anything else I didn’t want sprayed with LINE-X.
I’m glad I prepped my own Jeep for LINE-X, but I will never do it again. There was blood, sweat, and tears, ya’ll. I was so irritated by the end of the effort that I forgot to take a picture of my prepped Jeep. But, here’s a photo after it was sprayed and before I put it back together (which wasn’t quite as much work as taking it apart and actually more fun – like putting together a puzzle - and I'm proud to say I didn't end up with any extra bolts!).
Because I did the prep work, it took a little off the total cost to LINE-X my Jeep. If you want to LINE-X your ride, look to spend $750-850 for a 4-door Jeep in Colorado, and maybe a couple to a few hundred dollars more if you don’t do the prep yourself. Happy Trails!