Anything I should know before I attempt to remove my carpets?

Hi, This is my first post as I�m preparing to undertake removing my carpet and thought I should really seek advice before i proceed. I have a 1999 996 c2 manual Cabriolet. Recently my drainage blocked and my car flooded in the back, the carpet is so and sound deadening is so wet that the only course of action is to get it out and hang it up to dry out. My questions are: How easy is it to get the carpet out? Is the carpet glued anywhere? Do I need any special tools? Will I trip the air bag light when I take the seats out? Are there any walkthroughs in existents for this? Anything else I should know or consider? Also has anyone else gone though this? It doesn�t seem that hard of a job but I have been wrong in the past I don�t expect anyone to answer all of these questions but if you can help I would be very grateful. Thanks all! Jack

If this was my car I would simply take the job very slowly as there is a great likelyhood that the carpet could be rotted (depending on how long it has been damp or wet). Putting a humidifier inside the car might help if you could close the door on the electric wire so it doesnt drag damp from the garage instead of the carpets.Thats a thought and leave it in there for a week or so, emptying the humidifieer when full. Then there is a vacuum that can draw up water. It may be an industrial vacuum. Only at the last resort would I attempt to remove the carpets. Does the seats have to come out for sure? If not then I would remove the carpet. Another thought is to stanley knife around the seat mountings without taking the seat out and tuck it back into place when re-carpeting. Glue it if need be back where you cut it. Be careful of any hidden wiring under the carpet of course when putting a knife through it. which ever way you go, good luck. I will keep looking for other solutions. Race care drivers have to take the carpets out and there is a link here you might check out. https://rennlist.com/forums/performa...pet-964-a.html

Take pictures of everything that you take apart with your cell phone... trust me on this one... you will remember the first few things you took apart, but as the list grows, you will forget some things hear and there. As for tools, something long, and flat, like a spackling knife, and a tire iron. Don't dry the carpet in direct sunlight, This would be a good time to shampoo the carpet, so it smells fresh. If you do take out the front seats, you will need new bolts are they are one time use... they are cheap The rear seats have round disks that snap into place under the rug, easy removal get a diagram of the interior and study it first to familiarize yourself with the cars interior.

Disconnect battery before removing seats or you will trigger airbag light. I wouldn't use a blade to cut any areas loose. The wiring harness runs underneath the carpet along tunnel then branches out. It is clipped in numerous areas. I had a flood in another car of mine once. I pulled up the carpet, removed all wet matting and used dehumidifiers, shop vac, and fans to remove as much moisture as possible. If you have a decent detail shop nearby you may want to us their ozone generator to remove the smell of mildew/mold etc. Here is the drain schematic for future reference. Good luck.

If it was me, I'd try to shop vac it out first, then fans and maybe a dehumidifier. Leave top down and park in the sun for a couple days.

Thanks for all of your suggestions. So the general feeling here is don't take the carpet out, dry it?

Depends how bad the flooding was.... How much water is there? a cup or bucket or..?

There was near on a litre or two. But I noticed it straight away so it wasn't standing for long. I have cupped and mopped a lot out. It's really the sound deadening that's wet still.

I'd dry it

The location of the water has a lot to do with removing the carpet .Where is it wet ? Under the front seats or in the jump seat area ?It is a pretty big job to remove the front carpet .The rear section is pretty easy . .I would try every other remedy you can find before removing .Nothing is glued down and you can finesse some of it to get air circulation under it .For example the rear floor sections are just tucked into the rear section .

The water is just at the passenger rear footwell. I think I will take the advice of most and vac, dry and use a dehumidifier hopefully that will sort it out

Jack, here are a couple pictures that should help you. If you want further, check out my thread by searching "Burnt 996 Rebuild " on about page 5 or 6. It is a pretty easy job removing the carpet. I do not believe that you can dry the padding out, without at least lifting up the wet area of the carpet(if the carpet is soaked and not just damp). The backing on the carpet is like a giant sponge. It can hold gallons of water and you will need to squeeeze the water out, if it is soaked. I have had to do the same on a few cars. If you do not get the water out, it will mildew and smell nasty. The only special tools that you will need are a couple of Torx bits.

Clogged sunroof drains is a pretty common issue on nearly every car VW/Audi/Porsche made in the early 2000s, I had to deal with the same thing on my 2000 Passat about a year ago. Yanking the whole carpet can be a real pain. Instead of doing that, I would recommend removing the seats and enough trim to pull the carpet up and away from the floor. Then get in there with a ShopVac to suck as much water out of the carpet and padding as possible, then use something (like pieces of 2x4) to hold the carpet up so air can get under it to dry. I got lucky and there was nice weather for a few days after this happened, so I just propped the carpet up and parked the car in the sun for a couple days with the doors open. Everything dried out no problem with no mildew smell.

Thanks for the pics, I can see what you mean about the giant sponge! I think I'll use. Vac and prop the carpet up. Let's hope for some nice weather. Thanks again everybody you have ALL been a great help.

Another thing you can do is to pile folded newspaper on the carpet with some weight on them. This will help to pull a lot of water into the papers. Change them as soon as they get wet. Don't do this if you have tan or other light colored carpet.

Hey, that's a good idea! My carpet is black!