MOSS premium cut pile carpet sets

[6/2/2004] Reviewed by: Samuel Zhao - zhaodesign@hotmail.com

Applicable to: '90 - '97 1.8 liter

MOSS premium cut pile carpet sets. replacement of OEM carpet.

I ordered the MOSS premium cut pile carpet sets for my 95 miata because well my carpet was getting old and looked worn. The box arrived with a bunch of pieces with no instructions. This didn't look good as I tried to figure out what goes where. Later I found the instructions online, but still it wasn't easy. The holes were marked but you have to cut it yourself. Trying to align the holes to the sheet metal and installing the seats back in place was a pain in the you know where. After a couple of hours I finally got the carpet installed and completed. There were sags in the transmission tunnel and some puffing in the doorsills. The new carpet is a static magnet for lint and other materials after the installation and was difficult the remove with the vacuum. With the multi piece design dirt and other debris can easily get underneath the carpet and into the body. I particularly didn’t like that idea and would prefer the one-piece molded design of! the OEM.

Get the OEM molded one-piece design either from the dealer or another aftermarket. This multi-piece design is not worth the headache. I would rate this product a poor and would not recommend it to anyone.

Over 30 minutes to remove completely


Moss Motors 1.6 Black Carpet Set

[7/5/2001] Reviewed by: Adam Giansiracusa - giansiracusa@ix.netcom.com

Applicable to: '90 - '97 1.8 liter

Moss Carpet Kit. Comes in several pieces of medium grade very black carpet that is far better than the original crap that came in my '97. Along with the carpet is high grade under padding that greatly improves the feel of the car over the stock kit.

I received no instructions with the kit which was either an oversight on Moss's part or they figure that you don't need any. I never called them to complain. The kit is easy to install if you take your time. Other reviewers have noted that the plastic buttons provided in the kit are smooth and glossy and don't look stock. That is true but many of the old ones you pull out can be reused in places where they show, so it's no big deal.

The kit fits very well and is a huge upgrade over the "felt" like crap that comes stock in the car. (I can't believe that Mazda used that stuff.) I noticed that many of the pre-made holes for the mounting buttons were in the wrong places - which doesn't affect the look of the job when fully installed - kind of lame though. I reused some of the original under padding (on the rear deck and rear vertical behind the seats). For some reason the manufacturer of this kit felt they didn't need to provide under padding in these two areas which is odd in my opinion - so I used the original padding that came with the old kit. The heel pad on my kit was thick high grade rubber - no problem. There seems to be no readily available kit on the market besides this one offered by Moss. Understand that removing the stock carpet requires that you cut out the pieces on either side of the radio console and wrestle the remaining piece out from under the console.

Over 30 minutes to remove completely


Reviewed by: Keith Gray - Driver3014@aol.com

This is an addendum to the review I placed last Fall, in which I kicked Moss around a little bit about some aspects of their product that I was less than satisfied with. I did call Moss about two of them...the ugly heel protector pad and the lack of "ears" to cover the seatbelt attachment points on the transmission tunnel. I asked Moss to send me a replacement drivers side floorpiece without the ugly pad, since that was all they had. I also asked for enough carpet and edge binding to have the ears made locally. Moss agreed to do both, and I got a new padless floorpiece and enough extra carpet and binding to make about 50 of those ears...really! I went to a local trim shop, and selected a heel pad that matched the ribbed pad on the gas-pedal side of the transmission tunnel very nicely, and had them install it. I also had them stitch the binding on the edges of the ear pieces that I cut out myself in advance. I installed these on the carpeting myself. Cost about $15 for everything, and I am pleased with the results. I shouldn't have had to go to all this trouble, but I do want to recognize that Moss was willing to listen to my concerns, and gave me what I asked for.

Difficult to remove without leaving damage


Reviewed by: Keith Gray - Driver3014@aol.com

Replacement carpeting kit for the Mazda Miata. Includes fiber underpadding. Elastomer heel guard and transmission tunnel guard for the drivers side are attached. Plastic fasteners are also included.

LRC's factory carpeting would have been 9 years old in February (It's hard to imagine any Miata being that old!), and it was due replacement. The car had recently received a repaint and new Robbins glass rear window top (get one, now!!) and the carpet just looked tired compared to the brilliant exterior. Moss offered the only replacement kit I could locate (no...I did not look in JC Whitney's catalog). I am sort of a purist. I actually liked the factory loop pile carpeting, and I try to keep things original. But past experience told me the Mazda dealer would want some outrageous price for the factory carpet, so I ordered the Moss kit with matching floormats with white embroidered Miata logo.

The kit and mats arrived promptly, and were packaged well enough to survive a direct hit from a Hellfire missile unscathed. My first impression was that the carpet and mats were BLACK!!!! and thick and heavy. The OEM carpeting, by comparison, looked cheap...and actually tore like paper during removal. One thing really p----d me off though. The Moss heel pad was this thick ugly looking thing that MUST have been something they had laying around and used it because the ran out of the real ones. It looks akward and VERY CHEAP, and Moss' gonna hear about it. Two other disappointments were the lack of velcro attachments at the corners of the rear kickup and those little flaps that cover the attachments for the seatbelt on the transmission tunnel. I hot melt-glued some velcro onto the corners of the kickup, and have temporarily installed the flaps from the original carpet. But I am going to have Moss send me enough carpet and edge-binding to make some new ones, so that everything will match.

This kit is really a kit. As compared to the factory carpeting, which is essentially three pieces, this set contains something like eight...which brings up another irritation...they are not identified as to which goes where, and the instructions do not address this. Some of them obviously only go in one place only...but it's possible to install some of these in the wrong position unless you're careful. So check before gluing down. That's another gripe...the instructions mention that you need some sort of glue...but Moss should have gonen out on a limb and made a recommendation. Luckily, prior experience had made me aware of a really nice 3M spray trim adhesive, which worked great. But some poor guys have probably used contact cement, Elmer's glue or god knows whatever was lying around. Shame on you, Moss Motors. One last note...the plastic fasteners that come with the kit have smooth heads...not grained like the factory parts. I had the foresight to order all-new factory fasteners in-advance of this project, and I'm glad I did. They look better. The padding looked to be of good quality.

It took about 2 hours to install the carpeting. This does not include removing the seats,belts, console, top-stop thingies, dead pedal, old carpeting etc, and reinstalling them (but not the old carpet, of course). Once you figure out what goes where, it's a pretty simple project. Just be careful to make holes and cuts only as big as needed...and in the right places. Be patient....relax.

So....am I happy with this purchase? On a scale of one-to-ten, this rates about a seven. Plusses include: it looks good (as long as nobody sees that stupid looking heel pad), is very BLACK!, and since it's thicker the interior noise level is lower. And the interior smells..... new. Not surprisingly the stereo sound quality was different....mellower...the highs are slightly muted. Dr Bose is probably smiling knowingly.

Oh...my wife like the way it looks, too.

But the minuses noted above took a lot away from this project. And, one last gripe...the instructions were not very good. Too many steps left to the imagination. A little attention to some minor details would upgrade this to an eight or nine.

Difficult to remove without leaving damage


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