Sound and Heat Insulating a
Diesel Hummer Carpet

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Now is a great time to install carpet into your H1 since your interior is gutted.

After I did my sound deadening and insulation install, tragedy struck.
We had a hurricane in South Florida and I was out of town. My truck was at a buddies house and they didn't get it into the garage.

My rear door seal was leaking and the floor in my truck flooded, ruining the cotton shoddy material on the floor. The drive tunnel was completely fine.

The cotton shoddy material absorbs water and it began to smell after several days.

I spent a weekend and re-stripped the truck and went back to using the factory AM General 1/2" thick closed cell foam. I had to rip up all of the floor again. It went faster the second time around. I am happy to report that the first layer, the damping layer, held up just fine and was not negatively altered by the water, etc...it is good stuff.

The only real problem I had was the cotton shoddy material.

I have gone through 2 different carpeting campaigns for the H1. The first was full carpet in the truck. It was real nice. You feel like you are actually in decent car with the carpet. I had glued the rubber barrier to the cotton shoddy. The carpet was then glued to the top of the rubber barrier. I ripped this all out after "the flood" and went back to the vinyl floor.

To fully carpet your truck, take the vinyl floor and use that as your template. Use a piece of chalk and trace the vinyl floor onto your carpet. Be sure to mark the bolt holes for the seats, etc...Then cut along the line with a good pair of scissors.

I attached a 1/8" thick piece of open cell foam to the back of my carpet as padding. It feels real nice and soft with the padded backing.The open cell foam expands and contracts, because it is open cell and it will readily take glue.

I decided to rip out the full carpeting after "the flood". I decided that I didn't want to have to waste another weekend re-doing anything. The fully carpeted interior can only be cleaned if you pull the seats out. Like I said, it is a great feeling having a fully carpeted H1. Make sure your truck doesn't leak so that you won't ruin your hard work.

This is what I have in the truck now and it works great. This is the Utility Solution:

My buddy in Saudi Arabia has a rigged up H1 Wagon. When we drive the truck out in the desert, the sand gets in everywhere. He had floor mats made out of Mercedes carpet that are completely contoured to the floor, yet removable. It makes the truck look like it is fully carpeted, a near perfect illusion, but you can pull them out real easy and then vacuum the truck to get the desert sand out of the interior. Borrowing the idea from him, this is what I finally ended up doing on my Open-Top. It works great and it is completely practical. Using the factory H1 floormats and a set of Adventure Accessories mats, I kind of made my own floor mat design. After cutting out the carpet, I took it to my local upholstery shop. They bound them all in black textured binding material that looks like leather. The floor mats in my truck make it look like it is fully carpeted, but I can pull them out for cleaning or to dry in seconds and they look like Mercedes AMG or Designo mats with the black edging. It has a very nice effect and increases the ambience of the cabin.

The Mercedes Maybach carpet is wool. I like the Mercedes carpet best because it comes in a myriad of colours. The backing material also keeps it together because it is stitched on an X and a Y axis. It is very plush and the wool is treated in some way so that you don't get the negative side effects of wool, like you have with Wilton Wool from a Rolls or a Bentley. It really does hold up well. It also comes in wide widths, which the Rolls and Bentley Wilton Wool is not available in. The Wilton Wool is very pretty carpet and it looks "Organic". The Mercedes Feintuft German Velour is also very pretty and it holds up remarkably. It is durable stuff.

Around this same time, I had my seats re-upholstered. I had some special elite density foam installed which makes the seats much more comfortable. I used the Mercedes AMG / Designo / Maybach leather that comes from the same tanner in Germany. The Mercedes AMG (Performance Division) / Designo (Haute Couture Division) / Maybach leather is some of the finest leather in the world. It is sourced from the South of Germany exclusively and they only source from Male Bulls. The hides generally are 60-70 square feet, which is huge. Most cow hides are 40-45 square feet each. The Bulls are fed a grass based diet, which keeps out the flies and insects that leave bite marks on ordinary cattle. Furthermore, they are contained in electrically fenced fields, so you do not see barbed wire marks and other imperfections on the hides. These hides are full grain, which means that they are completely natural. Tanned right off the animal. No stamping or pressing or artificial alteration of the grain structure. The leather has almost no texture to it because the grain structure is so tight. And it is butter soft. The hides are tanned chrome free, with natural tanning extracts, which is another unique process particular to Mercedes-Benz. Brabus, the Mercedes tuning firm also does this and Alpina, the BMW tuning firm, follows this natural tanning extracts "trend" as well.

I did the seats in a Charcoal Grey and then the inserts in a Medium Grey that matched the interior panels. Everything is French Stitched (Double Row) with Silver thread.

The inner section I had perforated for comfort during the summer months. The perforation is a big help in terms of providing adequate ventilation. Every 3 months, I use Griot's Garage Leather Care to nourish the leather and to replace vital nutrients. As long as you keep the leather conditioned and supple, it can last indefinitely. Take care of your stuff and then you don't have to replace it.

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