Hey guys, I have a question about carpet and jute backing. Should I still use sound deadening on my floor if I get carpet with jute backing. Also as for padding should I get it loose or non loose? I see Hawks sells the whole carpet set.

 

Honestly, it depends on your preference. Most of the jute padding on aftermarket carpet kits is quite a bit thinner than the factory pieces. Also, the placement and shape of the padding seems to be different than original. With my'89 GTA I'm going to get the premium carpet, without padding, then go to my local upholstery supply store and get some jute padding in the correct thicknesses, and cut out the proper sizes and shapes. I would still recommend doing the sound deadening as well, but that depends on your personal preference.
DR.K.

 

Jute is padding, not backing. It will come attached/glued to the back of the new carpet, as a standard feature, whether you choose the standard backing or the optional Mass backing.

The backing is a sort of semi-rigid plasticized material that the carpet is stitched/bonded to. Standard backing is as manufactured and is clear-ish looking, like on the backside of this carpet sample, I'd assume.


Optional Mass backing, which the factory carpet has, below,


and which I think most people get on new carpet, below,


is like a "rubberized" coating applied to the backside, kind of like being painted with Flex Seal lol. It's considered to have sound-deadening and insulating qualities.

But whichever backing you choose, the jute padding will come attached to it, as you can see in the two picture above. And the thickness of the jute padding is sufficient, far less of an issue than poor workmanship of the finished carpet, itself.

As for additional sound deadening material, I have no experience with it, nor do I feel the need for it. I suppose it depends upon what you'll be doing with the car, as to whether or not you feel it's necessary. But with the Mass backing, it would seem that additional sound deadening would not be necessary.

 

I bought mine from Rockauto and chose to go with ACC brand with Mass backing and the console cutout and for the full set shipped was $350.

I also put down Fatmat (bought on eBay) on my floors to cut down on vibration and road noise. You can see how it looks in post #19 in my build thread. (post #19)

 

If you've gotten a chance to test it out, how did the FatMat compare to name brand Dynamat quality, in terms of noise mitigation? Also did the extra layers of sound material make fitting the carpet under the plastic trim pieces any more difficult (because its thicker)?

 

I have not installed he carpet yet, but the Fatmat is maybe 1/8" thick so I don't feel it is going to cause a fitment issue. As for the sound quality it is a night and day difference when you shut the doors or tap on the roof. I've owned a bunch of third gens and all of them had a "rock in a tin can" sound while driving them down the road. The only real experience I have with it is that i recommended it to a friend when he was building his '68 suburban and it worked out real well. Since I have a roll left I've considered putting some in my daily driver Denali 1 ton to see if it will quiet her down just a bit.