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Floor mats are a funny thing. If they are too fluffy like the shag carpet in a 1970s split level house, they look swell but are impossible to keep clean. If they are tough and durable, they are easy to keep clean, but they make the inside of your car look like a bivouac site for the 10th Mountain Division. Is there no middle ground?
Now, thanks to 3Wliners, there is an alternative. 3Wliners makes rugged, deep ribbed floor mats for the passenger compartment and storage areas of most vehicles, and they are as durable and easy to clean as any owner would want. But they have an added feature that will appeal to those who don’t want to feel like they are driving a 1947 Willys Jeep.
The floor mats for the front and rear of the passenger compartment begin with a shell of extra heavy duty rubber that is precision cut to match the contours of the car precisely. They are tough and durable and can be easily removed for cleaning.
But what comes next is the key to these premium floor mats. All of the interior pieces also come with a well made carpet section that attaches to the rubber mat underneath with two big snaps. No struggling with retaining clips. Just lift up to release and press down to install. Once in place, the carpets stay put. They don’t slide around when you get in or leave the car and they don’t shift position, so they can’t interfere with the safe operation of the pedals.
The 3Wliners system makes it super easy to remove the carpeted sections when it is time to vacuum the interior. If you know you are going for a walk in the woods or doing some other activity that is likely to track dirt and debris into the car when you are done, simply remove the carpeted pieces and store them somewhere like the frunk until you get cleaned up.
And if you do track some mud or wet snow into the car, simply remove the rubber sections, hose them off, and reinstall them after they dry, then put the carpeted pieces back in place and you will feel like you are driving a brand new car again.
Recently, 3Wliners sent me a full set of floor mats and cargo area protectors for my Tesla Model Y. The first thing I noticed was how heavy the box was that they came in. Usually a set of mats like this might weigh 10 to 15 pounds. This set was easily three times that. As I unpacked it, I couldn’t help but notice how heavy each piece was. These floor mats and cargo compartment covers are built to last through many years of the harshest conditions. Wet ski boots or muddy motocross gear? The 3Wliners pieces can handle anything you throw at them.
The pieces are all precision cut, so they fit exactly. Because the fit is so exact, they are easy to install and easy to remove with no guesswork involved. One feature of the mat for the driver’s side is a molded-in rubber piece that covers the carpeted area where the driver’s left foot rests.
I have a set of floor mats from another company that have been in the car for three years and they have a floppy bit of rubber about a foot long in the left front corner. It never stays in place and is always leaning into the driver’s foot well. That won’t be an issue with these new mats from 3Wliners.
I mentioned that to my wife after I installed the 3Wliners mats and at first she was a bit skeptical. But after she drove the car with the mats installed for the first time, she raved about how perfectly they fit, how luxurious they feel, and how nice it is not to have to worry if that floopy rubber extension on our previous floor mats was going to get stuck under a pedal or interfere with getting into or out of the car.
The inserts for the frunk and rear storage area fit like a glove, as does the cargo floor cover, which looks tough enough to handle anything an owner might ask of it. Here are photos of the floor mats after they were installed in my Model Y:
Note that while these fit my Model Y perfectly, that doesn’t mean they are only for the Model Y. The company says that they are “designed with a perfect fit for each vehicle model.”
Obviously, I cannot report on the long-term durability of the mats from 3Wliners quite yet, but I can say they are extremely well made and should protect the interior of any vehicle for years to come.
In addition, the floor mats have several green features worth highlighting: 100% TPE material, recyclable and eco-friendly (Thorex™).
The company does one other thing that bears mentioning. Instead of discarding the box the mats are shipped in, adding one more thing to the local landfill, it provides directions for converting it into a hobby horse. Any company that pays so much attention to details gets our vote.
There’s a Christmas special going on right now, so if you’re thinking about getting floor mats, now is probably a good time. Importantly, you can get a CleanTechnica discount on the floormats with the discount code CLEANTECH35 — you get 35% off.
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