In this video, I’ll be showing how I carpeted my van doors and created a really neat edge using black rubber u-channel edging trim, so that when you open the doors, there are no jagged, frayed carpet edges. Amongst other methods I saw online, I thought that using lengths of rubber u-channel glued around the edge of the doors looked very smart but was also practical for protecting the edges of the door carpet from knocks and bumps in everyday use.
Essentially, once the rubber u-channel is glued around the van door, the edge of the carpet tucks into it, creating a very neat finish.
The first step was to measure how much rubber I would need. This was a fairly simple process of working my way around the 2 back doors and 2 side doors with a tape measure. When ordering the rubber I ordered a little extra to account for any mistakes.
Off-camera, I closed the doors and drew a pencil line onto the metal of door where I wanted the rubber to eventually sit and then taped next to this line with masking tape, so i had a permanent and very visible reference when glueing the rubber down.
After this was done, I cleaned areas I would be gluing over with methylated spirits, as per the rubber manufacturer's instructions.
The rubber trim is an EPDM rubber, which I found is standard for this type of automotive trim, however it has a very limited number of adhesives which can be used with it, but I’ll cover this in more detail later.
I opted for a very small rubber trim and needed 14 metres to cover all 4 doors. It is 10mm in height, 4.7mm in width and the channel in the rubber fits items with a thickness of 1-2mm.
The advice from the manufacturer for good adhesion is to abrade the side of the rubber to be glued - which I did with 40 grit sandpaper - and then wipe it all down with methylated spirits.
Once done, I taped the rubber around the edge of the door, following the inside line of my masking tape and then cut the length from the roll once I knew I had the right quantity.
I mentioned previously that adhesives were hard to find and that's because EPDM is a synthetic rubber. The information on adhesives available was pretty scarce, and often contradictory. Some said that cyanoacrylate superglue was the only way to stick it, others said it wasn’t suitable. There were a couple of adhesives suggested, including araldite, neoprene adhesive and silicone sealant.
In the end, I went for silicone sealant which, so far, holds really well.
I used Geocel Silicone Rubber Sealant to stick the rubber u-channel to the metal.
I worked my way around the van door, sticking a section at a time and then, once each section was completed, added strips of masking tape to tension the rubber to the metal for a good bond.
I then repeated the process for the small back door and the two side doors. The drying time for the silicone adhesive was 12 hours. For its purpose, which is covering a small edge of carpet, I think it is a more than strong enough bond.
As can probably be seen from the video, the side doors were much trickier to access, as when the doors open they move away from you and the gap between the door and the side of the van is narrow.
The best method I found for lining up the u-channel with the edge of the van was to keep closing the door after completing a section to make sure that the new rubber edge met but didn’t obstruct the existing rubber seal on the van.
I ran out of masking tape towards the end of the final side door, however I had some duct tape to hand and, if anything, I’d recommend using duct tape over masking tape as it holds better.
With all the rubber siliconed on, and when it had dried, I could turn my hand to carpeting the doors. The carpet is smoke-coloured 1.4m long 4-way-stretch automotive carpet, stuck in place with Trimfix high temperature contact adhesive. I needed a 4m length of carpet to cover all 4 doors.
Once the doors were carpeted, I used scissors to cut the edges off, being very carefully to leave an adequate overlap to sit in the rubber channel, which worked out at about 10 mm, and then used a plastic trim removal tool to gently tuck the edge of the carpet in.
And with that, the carpeting of the entire van is now completely finished.
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Music credits:
Intro song: 'Trefusis' by James Lewis
Song 1: 'Next Time' by James Lewis
Song 2: 'Red Cloud' by James Lewis
Song 3: 'Trefusis' by James Lewis
All music copyright © James Lewis 2020. All Rights Reserved. No copying, using or distributing of this music without permission from the author.
DISCLAIMER: In this video, I am in no way stating that this is the proper way to undertake the conversion of a van, however after research and experience using the van, I believe this to be the way that is best suited to my van and the way I intend to use it.
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