Best Floor Mats: Wipe Yer Feet

Top 8 Best Floor Mats

Floor mats are, much like your author, routinely ignored until needed or they fail to work properly. These things serve faithfully to keep your car’s carpets clean yet are hardly given a second thought — unless they’re annoyingly bunched up near the base of your seat, at which time they’re cursed to high heaven. They’re the Rodney Dangerfield of car accessories, I tell ya.

Okay, maybe that’s too much hyperbole but you get my point. A good set of floor mats make the difference between a salt-stained mess that scuppers your car’s trade-in value and a clean whip that you’re proud to show off.

You guys know my flamboyant personality, so there will be a mix of practical and retina-searing suggestions on this list. We don’t care which one you choose, so long as you choose something. A clean car is a happy car and, if the placebo effect is of any consideration, it runs better too.

This is the sole pick on our list of best floor mats that isn’t a universal fit item. Why? Two reasons. First, WeatherTech primarily sells only mats which are precisely measured and cut to fit specific applications. Second, I’m writing this post so I get to make the rules (well, until Tim yanks the reins). These mats will fit my 2018 GMC Sierra Crew Cab. You can find a set for your own rig.

These babies have a breaking strength that probably outstrips the curb weight of your entire vehicle. They’re heavy, too, meaning they won’t slide around like a newborn fawn on ice. Be sure to order the specific ones which fit your vehicle, as WeatherTech prides itself in having exact measurements for just about every new car and SUV on the road. You’ve surely seen this claim in their ads; after all, every buff book has at least six pages of the things. If their marketing spend is as big as I think it is – they also sponsor an entire racing series, don’t forget – that may help explain the eye-watering price tag. That and the perfect fit, of course.

Simply looking to fire a set of floor mats to improve the perceived value of that car you’re trying to flip on Craigslist? At less than 10 bucks for a set of four, it’s tough to beat these mats on price. Shaped to roughly fit the footwells of most cars, these mats are a quick and cheap way to spruce up the place.

Available in a variety of colors, the front mats are listed as being roughly two feet long and a foot and a half wide with the rears being about half that size. This knowledge allows you to break out the measuring tape to see if there’s a chance in the world these things will fit your car instead of instantly crumpling up like a discarded chip bag. Owners of a Chevy Ventura van and its weird shaped footwells, for example, likely need not apply.

Yeah, you know I had to choose a set of bright red mats. These are of the carpeted variety, meaning they won’t do squat to improve the situation if you live in a place where salt and slush reign supreme. I’m also not convinced that’s a totally authorized use of the Momo logo.

They’d look dandy in that slightly hooptified Civic you’re trying to sell, though, especially when customers get a bit silly around tax time. Forty bucks for a set of four isn’t bad value but only five reviews pop up on Amazon for this product. Most give the mats a five-star rating but one user makes some very specific complaints about the quality of both the front and anterior sides. As with all things, caveat emptor, folks.

Wait a minute, Motor Trend has slapped their brand on their own set of floor mats? Don’t they run a paper mill’s worth of WeatherTech ads every month? Do these mats make your car smell like Jonny Lieberman? So many unanswered questions.

Reviews are good, with most customers being happy with the heft and quality of these things. This particular set comes as a quintet, providing a rear cargo liner to match the front a rear floor mats. The seller keeps banging on about the material used to produce these mats, alleging they don’t throw off the typical odor of a new rubber floor liner. While they are of a universal design, they’re also able to be trimmed to fit your exact application. Don’t run with scissors, kids.

As proof that a person can buy literally anything on Amazon, we present this three-piece set of Amazon branded floor mats for your car. They’re made of flexible rubber in black, tan, or grey. This suggests they won’t freeze up in when they get soaking wet cold weather, a situation in which some cheap mats shatter like ceramics under the duress of ice and snow. This is after they curl up like so much kudzu.

The front mats each measure 17.4 by 28 inches, while the rear runner-style mat measures 17 by 52.2 inches. A runner style mat has a bunch of advantages, not the least of which is its ability to protect the carpet across the whole length of the backseat’s floor. Hey, that hump can get dirty, too. A non-skid design is said to not slip or slide around on the floor while the rubber material means you can hose ‘em out with water.

Bright metallic chrome finished floor mats? As a former VP candidate used to say — yewbetcha. Your author thought that mats like this disappeared in the ‘80s... but here we are. Featuring bright blue coloring and a diamond tread pattern, these things would look right at home in your Chevy Beauville van to protect its shag pile carpeting.

Still, those who bought them seem to like them a lot, if the reviews are any indication. They are allegedly easy to clean and stay in place better than some of the other mats on this list, so at least they’re practical. These mats are marketed with matching steering wheel and seat covers in case you’re interested. But you shouldn’t be.

Apparently this company doesn’t just lend its name to a line of car cleaning products and gas station air fresheners (if you’re popping for the latter, get one from Little Trees). This set of four looks more like two sets of two in the pictures, as the mat design is the same for both driver and passenger instead of being reversed.

The description says these mats have a raised heel pad area, something which usually only pops up on driver’s side mats to prevent wear through. But hey, your passengers have heels, too, right? All other mats boast of features on the mat’s anterior side designed to keep them in place but only this manufacturer has patented that stuff under the name Carpet Claw. That alone is almost worth the cash.

Here we have another entrant into the anonymous universal black rubber mat club. The front mats are said to measure a maximum of 28 inches long by 20.5 inches wide, meaning these would be a good choice for a big car or pickup truck. They’d likely be overkill for a Corolla, however, where’d they probably try to climb the walls of the footwell and curl up in jig time.

Here’s an odd one: customer feedback says these mats smell weird. Not as in a rubber off-gassing smell, apparently, but some sort of floral scent. Perhaps it’s an inadvertent built-in air freshener. Keep your expectations in check — they’re cheap universal rubber mats that will need trimming — and you should be happy.

From time to time, TTAC will highlight automotive products we think may be of interest to our community. Plus, posts like this help to keep the lights on around here. Learn more about how this works.

(Editor’s note: This post is meant to both help you be an informed shopper for automotive products but also to pay for our ‘90s sedan shopping habits operating expenses. Some of you don’t find these posts fun, but they help pay for Junkyard Finds, Rare Rides, Piston Slaps, and whatever else. Thanks for reading.)

[Main photo credit: Gargantiopa / ShutterStock.com. Product images provided by the manufacturer.]