Reproduction door sill step mat installation?

[FarmerJon]

My car came with reproduction door sill step mats in place, but we're just laid over the edge of the carpet loose.

How are these supposed to be held down? They have no holes on them for hardware and the underside is smooth, other than the lip that the carpet is supposed to fit into. I see some of the grommets in the floor pan, but don't understand how the original would have used them. Also the way PO repaired floor pans, many of the grommet holes are covered by sheet metal.

 

Thanks guys!

[Eneto-55]

The original door plates were steel plates with the rubber bonded to the top.  There were steel pins with round ball-shaped heads that pressed down into the rubber grommets installed in the floor.  The pins that run along the inner edge extended through the floor where they were exposed under the car, but the outside ones went into the enclosed sill area.  Some people here have glued rubber tread to steel or aluminum, then screwed it down threw the top.  Real "permanent" solutions don't seem like good ideas to me, because at some point in the future you may need to be able to remove the floor pan w/o requiring a lot of destruction of previous work.  (I haven't decided yet what I will do, as the repo door plates are pretty expensive for someone in my financial position.)

[slatgrille]

I'm in the same 'boat' as Eneto-55. My sill plates are still usable, but the rubber has all but hardened and chipped away. I have removed them for now until I can figure out what to do. The repro's I see are expensive and have no 'plate', just thick rubber....although they are original style. 

[Eneto-55]

When I repaired my floor (1980-81) I had planned to just screw the originals back down, since some of the pins are rusted off.  So on the one stop where I put in new steel where there had been a grommet, I shaped the recessed area, but didn't cut a hole for it.  The grommets are all really hard, and I don't think they would work anymore.  If my door sill plates were in really poor shape, I would tear off the rubber, weld on new pins and try to glue some kind of rubber mat onto the steel.  And then buy new grommets.  I've done some reading about rejuvenating old rubber, but haven't tested it.  The solution mix would also not be cheep, considering the size of these parts.  (My car is also a 4 door.)  The other idea would be to check with a rubber molding company I know of in this area, to see what it would cost to make some like the originals, that would just snap down. (Either re-using the original steel plates, or having some new ones made.  Someone here had just cleaned off all of the rubber on theirs, and then painted them - I think with bed liner.  He put up some photos of them, and you could see that the steel had some corrugation pressed into it, and also some holes, to help the rubber bond well, I suppose.)

Edited May 13, 2022 by Eneto-55

[Sam Buchanan]

1 hour ago, slatgrille said:

I'm in the same 'boat' as Eneto-55. My sill plates are still usable, but the rubber has all but hardened and chipped away. I have removed them for now until I can figure out what to do. The repro's I see are expensive and have no 'plate', just thick rubber....although they are original style. 

 

A  very serviceable, almost original and inexpensive solution for you is to cover your original plates with rubber running board material. This is available from various eBay vendors. I didn't have good original plates, fabbed my own, but you can see the new rubber on the front door compared to an original on the rear. The new rubber was attached with contact cement. I bought 18" wide rubber and split it.

 

 

Here is one vendor, there are others:

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/220811540033?hash=item336964b641:g:xqYAAOxyaTxRQV2t

Edited May 13, 2022 by Sam Buchanan

[FarmerJon]

So short of fabbing a plate to glue the reproductions down to, external hard ware or glue in place are my options?

Edited May 13, 2022 by FarmerJon

[Sam Buchanan]

1 hour ago, FarmerJon said:

So short of fabbing a plate to glue the reproductions down to, external hard ware or glue in place are my options?

 

Maybe pop rivet your repros to the existing sill and paint the heads of the rivets black?

[FarmerJon]

Got carpet in, was able to trim it to fit nice, so step mat lays OK. Will likely put several sheet metal screws in selectivity, and paint the heads black, like you said. For now they will sit in place till I get interior back together

[Los_Control]

I have no experience with spray on glues, seems like they are making some pretty strong products nowdays, even if it is brush applied?

My first thoughts are moisture getting between the rubber & metal, also dirt & dust then it will be a perfect place to grow rust.

 

The glue should eliminate the possibility of moisture getting in?

 

Going with screws, I would think it a good idea to use beauty washers? The heads of screws are so small when you tighten them down they may actually try to pull through the rubber when tightening.

They also could be painted or use stainless steel screws/washers?

[Dan Hiebert]

I use the same repro sill mats in our D24.  FWIW, I have never permanently or otherwise attached them to the sills.  I don't drive the ol' Dodge as much as a lot of you, but I have never had problems with the mats shifting, moving, etc.