Truck Floor Mats or Auto Floor Mats – Make a Great Holiday ‘Adult’ Gift
Finding a meaningful gift is sometimes impossible during the holiday shopping season. Are you running out of gift ideas that the recipient will appreciate and won’t have to worry about returning the gift? The answer is Truck Floor Mats or Auto Floor Mats make the perfect gift for anyone on your list with a luxury car, sports car, sedan, van, SUV, pickup truck, virtually for any type of vehicles.
Today’s interior auto floor mats or floor liners are superior aftermarket products that provide extra protection for your vehicle’s floor against spills, crud, mud, slush, grime and daily foot friction. Floor mats are a great, thoughtful gift because the recipient will think you every time they get in and out of their vehicle, many times throughout the day. You may even get the extra appreciation when the kids spill their fast food fries followed by the spilled pop – all of which is no big deal because the gifted floor mats or floor liners you gave as a gift, protected their vehicle’s interior and clean up was a breeze.
You’ll be amazed how easy is to give a meaningful gift this year, to even that most difficult ‘hard to buy for’ person on your list. To help you with a flawless purchase, before you buy floor mats be prepared to have the following information ready:
# Vehicle’s year
# Make and model
# Basic vehicle layout (bench seats versus buckets)
Shopping online for custom, fitting floor mats, floor liners and cargo liners will also save you time and avoid the mad mall shopping scene. Easy search terms like “rubber floor mats”, “truck floor mats”, “car floor mats” “all weather floor mats” will aide in finding e-commerce sites selling quality floor protection products.
Some of the top automotive manufacturers for floor protection with products that provide protection, function and style are:
# WeatherTech All Weather Rubber Floor Mats
# WeatherTech Extreme Duty Floor Liners and Cargo Liners
# Husky Heavy Floor Mats, Floor Liners and Cargo Liners
# Nifty Catch-All Premium Floor Mats and Cargo Mats
# Nifty Catch All Extreme Floor Mats and Cargo Mats
Mats and liners provide a custom fit to the vehicle’s interior dimensions. Custom fit floor mats and liners are achieved by today’s digital manufacturing capabilities that can match virtually every type of vehicle interior. Common materials used are carpet, rubber, or a high-tech poly-based material, each with different application strengths. For example, carpet floor mats are generally more common in warmer, drier climates. While all rubber or the poly-based materials in floor mats, liners and cargo liners are for all weather climates where moisture is prevalent.
This year forget about giving gift cards or booze! Give something you’ll get a sincere thank you! Floor mats, floor liners or cargo liners make a great gift for anyone on your holiday list.
If you own a pickup truck or SUV chances are your vehicle looks quite a bit different than from the day that you bought it home from the dealership. Im not talking about wear and tear, scratches or dings, or any other thing that may have happened to it over the course of time. Rather, I am suggesting that you have customized it to look the way you want it to look. Lets take a peek at some popular accessories on the market for pickups as well as for SUVs.
There are literally hundreds of after market parts and accessories available for trucks and SUVs. The following list is an alphabetical example [well, almost] of add-ons for your consideration:
Air Filter Reusable air filters are growing in popularity as motorists see both the performance and environmental benefits of using one.
Bed Mats Scratches and stains are a thing of the past with a properly installed bed mat on any pickup truck.
Car Bras Also known as hood protectors, many truck and SUV owners are opting for this important accessory to keep their vehicles free from flying debris as well as to give their vehicle a custom look.
Dog Box Even poochie needs his place. Especially a great idea for protecting your GMC Yukon from pet hair and dander.
Engine Module Looking for more power? An engine module will allow your truck or SUV to obtain higher horsepower and acceleration.
Fender Flares Going for a custom look? If so, fender flares are the way to go and they offer additional coverage for the fender area too.
Grille Guard Especially helpful if you have to round up cattle or want to offer extra special protection to your front end.
Hitch Great for towing!
Intake Tube More air for your engine, means more power.
Jumper Cables You never know
Knock Sensor Not really an accessory, but listed because I needed a K to complete the example.
Liquid Tank When you just have to keep it all cool
Mud Flaps A cool as well as useful accessory to keep your wheels looking great.
Nerf Bars Tubular free form bumpers beat out stock bumpers every time.
Overhead Storage Hey, you have to store your firearms somewhere, dont you?
Performance Chip A great way to crank out more horsepower and thrust.
Q Not much use for this letter, is there?
Running Boards Sometimes you need something more than a pole vault to enter your 4 x 4.
Seat Covers Custom fitted seat covers can protect your seats from rips, tears, and stains.
Tailgate Door Remove the door and go with the net. Keeps everything in its place.
Umbrella Youll need one to get from your truck to your home.
Vent Visor Keeps the water from drenching you while exiting your GMC Suburban.
Winch You just never know when youll get stuck
X+Y+Z – Okay, close enough. They dont name hurricanes with these letters, so why should accessories be any different?
If you were to fully accessorize your truck or SUV with all of these parts you would pay thousands of pounds for the privilege. Your vehicle would also look overdone too! Of course, it would be better for you to be selective and choose those accessories that mean the most to you. Shop an online wholesaler of automobile parts and accessories for the best prices too.
Most people who buy pickup trucks are interested in the ability to haul cargo easily. Many are farmers, construction workers, movers, or otherwise. But how many times have you been speeding down the highway or interstate only to come up on a pickup truck and realize that the driver has not properly secured the cargo he or she is carrying? Unsecured cargo has been the cause of many fatality and non-fatality accidents, and these accidents were completely preventable.
What is the best way to secure cargo in the bed of a pickup? Here are some tips.
Use a cargo net. For only $60, Isuzu sells a Bed Web Net made of a tough elastic material and designed to stretch. The mount hardware is included and installation is easy. The net keeps cargo from flying out or sliding out of the back even during hard stops or fast turns.
Buy a bed extender. Designed for the Isuzu i-370, the Bed Extender, made of steel, retails for well under $300 and gives pickup owners additional truck bed length. This particular bed extender has the ability to swing in to provide a contained cargo area as well.
Bed Covers work well too. Many pickup models also can be accessorized with bed covers that not only keep cargo inside, but help to hide it and prevent theft as well.
Cargo Sports Bags are another option. These are often used in SUVs as well and do an excellent job of keeping smaller items from rolling around or flying out of pickup truck cargo beds.
Use a safety flag or light. Laws differ by state, but many require a red cargo flag or safety light be used when transporting cargo that extends beyond the cargo bed of a pickup. For example, in the state of California, when the load on any vehicle extends at least four feet from the rear of the pickup’s body, the driver must use a fluorescent orange flag, or solid red flag at least twelve inches by twelve inches at the extreme end of the load. In addition, if the vehicle is operating after dusk, there must also be two lighted red lights at the end of the load visible at minimum of 500 feet to the side and the rear of the vehicle for safety.
It’s also important to keep in mind that using these precautions, as well as others will protect the cargo itself. When hauling cargo, it’s important to drive more cautiously than normal and make slow, steady turns. The added weight of your load can make turning more difficult and brakes may not respond as quickly or efficiently as when driving without cargo.
Every pickup truck has cargo weight guidelines. It’s extremely important to obey these guidelines. While it might not be simple to actually weigh the load you plan to haul, it is better to err on the side of caution if estimating. Hauling additional weight beyond the manufacturer’s guideline can significantly increase your chance of an accident or damage to your vehicle. There is also a chance you could be ticketed by law enforcement for hauling a load heavier than your pickup is designed to carry.
It was bound to happen. You lend your truck to a friend who says they have a couple of pieces of furniture to move and it comes back to you with scratches in the bed area of your truck. It wouldnt have been so bad had they apologized, but now you have to deal with unsightly scratches that can only make your trucks value deteriorate quicker. Had you thought about it, you would have stuck a bed liner in your truck ahead of time to prevent the problem from happening in the first place.
The above account actually happened to me as I was trying to help a young couple out with a good deed. I was warned in advance by a friend that the couple would take advantage of me and he was, unfortunately, correct. Lets just say that it was a bitter lesson learned.
Twenty years have passed and I no longer have that old F-150. My current people mover is an SUV, so I have no open area to deal with. Yet, I likely will have a pickup truck again in the near future and I have looked closely at some of the products available to owners today, particularly bed liners.
Advances in technology have brought new products on the market that either did not exist a few years ago or were too expensive for the average driver. Some of the bed liners you can purchase include:
Spray on liners. Thats right; you can have super-thick polyurethane sprayed right into the bed of your truck. At one quarter inch thick, you can receive protection from scratches or fluid and it is completely air tight. One manufacturer says this about their product, It’s scratch-resistant, slip-resistant, and really easy to clean.
Roll on liners. Similar to spray on liners, are roll on liners. Everything that I have read about roll on liners means a lot of work for the person who does the job, which typically is the trucks owner. After sweeping and cleaning the bed free of all debris, you will then need to sand the entire truck bed as well as the sides before applying the rubberized coating. The sanding forces the coating to adhere to the bed area and I must tell you that between the sanding, masking tape, rubbing alcohol, newspapers, and particle masks, this is one smelly and messy job!
Installed liners. Okay, I am biased. If it were up to me, this is the product I would purchase. Option number one is too expensive; option number two is too messy; while the third option – an installed liner — makes the most sense to me. Still, you need to be careful in this area too as some bed liners are certainly better made than others. Look for those liners that are scratch and dent resistant, waterproof, chemical proof, stain resistant, and durable, i.e. not subject to cracking, chipping, or fading.
In all, a bed liner makes perfect sense for any truck, particularly if you can put one in that covers the sides and the wheel wells. All the decent ones I have seen are nicely padded and can easily be cleaned. Learn all about the product you want before making a decision to buy.
Parts of most trailer hitches are removable. The ball part of the hitch, the part that is used to fasten the cargo to the truck usually rests in the trailer hitch receiver opening. When the ball is removed, the receiver opening is left hollow. This opening protrudes from the tail of the truck and has sharp edges. People could bump into the metal rod or cut themselves on its sharp corners.
It is a good idea to use a trailer hitch cover to protect the trailer hitch receiver opening. Trailer hitch covers can cover 
the opening and keep any debris from clogging it. Trailer hitch covers also protect people from cutting themselves or bumping into the hard edges.
It can be inconvenient and time consuming to remove foreign objects from the hitch receiver opening. Dead, wet leaves, mud, sand, and other disgusting substances can clog the opening and make it difficult to secure the hitch to the truck. No debris can get into the opening if a cover blocks it. The trailer hitch cover fits into the receiver opening and covers the sharp and hard edges. Many trailer hitch covers are padded, so that people who bump into them do not get bruised. The covers are secured in the opening so that they do not fall out when the truck is in motion.
There are a wide variety of trailer hitch covers available. They can have nearly any type of theme imaginable. Some have college logos, animal shapes, catchphrases, emblems, or cartoon characters on them. People can add their own personal touch to the appearance of their truck by choosing one of these unique covers. Other trailer hitch covers contain working break lights that help alert drivers behind the truck when the truck is slowing down.
Trailer hitch covers provide safety to a pickup truck. People cant injure themselves on the trailer hitch receiver opening if a protective cover blocks it. With the wide variety of covers available, anyone is sure to find a cover that fits their personality.
