When we bought our 2009 Cayenne one of the first things I did was to protect the outside of it with a clear bra. This turned out to be a great investment and my only regret is that I didn't do something to protect the inside of my Porsche at the same time. You see, we split our time between Maine, Florida and a little barrier island off the coast of Massachusetts. Each one of these locations offers something unique in the way of dirtying the caramel interior of my Porsche (sand, mud, salt and slush). After nearly two years of stepping in and out of my Cayenne, the front mats were in pretty poor shape. With the weather turning colder and snow on the horizon I knew I needed to do something before things got any worse.
After looking around on the web I found a number of choices for Porsche Floor Mats
- SuncoastParts.com (this is where we buy almost all of our parts and accessories) had a couple of choices including a relatively inexpensive set of rubber floor mats ($92.95) as well as a complete set (front and rear) of fitted and branded heavy duty Porsche floor mats ($189.95).
- Then there was AutoAnything.com
. They have a huge selection and are currently running a sale where you can save up to 35% off list on Floor Mats & get Free Shipping on top brands like Husky Liners, CatchAll, Hexomat and more!
What's nice about AutoAnything.com
- Lastly, I looked at WeatherTech mats. They offered two choices: 1. The WeatherTech® all-weather floor mats designed to keep your vehicle floors clean and clear of rain, snow, mud and debris.
but may require some cutting (in the rear to get the right fit) ($99.95). And, 2. The DigitalFitTM FloorLinersTM
which are custom cut to fit your Porsche perfectly right out of the box and offer even more protection that the "all weather mats". ($179.90)
What We Chose and Why
I wanted to buy the branded, heavy duty mats from SuncoastParts.com. Not only are they a sponsor of our site, but it's where we buy almost all our parts (for all three of our Porsches) and they always provide us with great service. Unfortunately, this one time, they simply didn't have the color I wanted available (I wanted to closely match our interior color vs. offset it) and I couldn't wait due to impending snow fall.
I considered the selection from AutoAnything.com (as they were by far the cheapest) but in the end I felt you really do get what you pay for. While some of their offerings were decent, none seemed to be a true custom fit and perhaps more importantly, none of them used our factory hardware to snap down. If this isn't a concern and you're cost conscious, they do have some good, inexpensive choices.
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- Rear Cargo Liner
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- Front Driver's Seat
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- Passenger Seat in Porsche Cayenne
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- Rear Seat with Mat Installed Below
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- Rear Mat is all One Piece
So, after careful consideration I ended up ordering the DigitalFitTM FloorLinersTM from WeatherTech (pictures above). While more expensive than their all-weather
floor mats, the Digital Fit mats are custom cut to match the shape of my Cayenne and they used the factory floor snaps to stay in place. Even better, I already had a WeatherTech® Cargo Liner
in the back of the Cayenne, so now everything matches.
Final Thoughts of New Porsche Floor Mats
When my new mats arrived all I needed to do was take them out of the box and snap them into place. For the front mats you must remove your carpets in order to install the WeatherTech mats. Not only does this ensure you won't further stain your Porsche mats, but you can use the those factory clips (in the Cayenne they're round snaps) to hold the mats in place. While they recommend you remove your carpets in back too, I found that the WeatherTech mats were simply too short (see picture in gallery of rear seat. Notice how the new rubber mat stops well short of covering the original mat?). They fit the floor space in the back of the Cayenne perfectly, but they didn't run under the back of the front seat the way the carpet does. After looking at pictures of all the various offerings, it seems this is a shortfall for any selection. As the rear mats don't snap in, I opted to keep my carpets in place to further protect the floors in the event that any of my long legged friends decide to stretch their dirty shoes beyond the reach of the new mats.
One last thing to note. WeatherTech calls the color I ordered Tan. However, as you can see in the pictures, and like my cargo liner in the back, it's more of a dark beige than anything else. It sill looks better than an even darker color like grey or black, but it's definitely darker than it appears on the WeatherTech site.
Do you run Winter Floor Mats in Your Porsche
What about you? Do you use winter mats in your Porsche? It doesn't matter if you drive a Cayenne or drive your 911, Boxster, Cayman, etc. year round. Any model can benefit from the protection these custom fit rubber mats afford.
Related Porsche Posts
Installing a Cargo Box and Roof Rack on a Porsche Cayenne
Will you drive your Porsche this winter or put it in Storage?
How to Wash, Polish, Wax and Detail your Porsche
I got some plastic Lloyd mats for my 996 C2. I thought they were going to fit tight, not so. I will purchase some Weather Tech if they fit tighter and over the sides .
Juan, the weathertechs fit much tighter (as long as you get the “Digital Fit” version. I’m not sure what you mean by “over the side”‘ but you can see how they fit in our Cayenne. Fit should be similar regardless of model.
Great decision! I love Weather Tech’s products; my wife and I use their custom mats in all our cars. Very durable.
Just for some added protection, you may want to consider using 303 fabric guard or Scotchguard on your original carpets. It will help to repel any slushy, dirty water that comes in contact with them. It is relatively affordable (you can usually find 303 at a marine supply store or online) and actually works. I have it on my couches inside and my carpets in all my cars (buy it by the gallon) and it is actually fun if something spills as it sits on top like you waxed it!
Dennis,
That’s a great idea. We do that for the carpets in our boat, but never thought of doing it in the Porsche.
I’d like to know how these aftermarket ‘all-weather’ mats compare to the Porsche rubberized mats that you can purchase at the dealership (quality, cost, color choices, fit, etc.).
@Gary,
While I can’t say with 100% certainty, if you look at the pictures of the branded floor mats http://www.suncoastparts.com/product/04480091XXX.html?Category_Code=955ncargo vs. the pictures of the WeatherTech Digital Fit mats we purchased ( http://www.dpbolvw.net/click-2798506-10593661 ) , they look exactly the same minus the branding and one other important option (the clips to lock the mats into place). It wouldn’t surprise me if the branded mats were manufactured by Weathertech. The patterns and cut look exactly the same. Cost for WeatherTech are slightly less than Porsche (about $10 to $25 bucks depending on where you purchase) and color choices are the same. As for fit, the WeatherTechs (like Porsche’s) are cut to fit so they are perfect in that respect (other than what we mentioned about the rear mats).
Hope that helps.
When we to our 2012 Cayenne in December 2011, I tried to buy Weathertech mats, which I have in my Carrera S Cab. However, they were not, at that time, making them and didn’t expect to do it anytime soon as the model was too new and the demand would be low. As far as I could determine, they also didn’t make them for the 2011 Cayenne, and even if they did, they didn’t know if they would fit the 2012.
We ended up ordering the Porsche Cayenne Techquipment mats from our Porsche dealer. Obviously they fit perfectly (we removed the carpeted mats to be able to use the clips), and they have a Cayenne silouette on the mats (front, back, and cargo space). They were not out of sight expensive, either. Our only complaint is that the cargo mat “tread” is slippery and things slide around unless they are secured. We regret not having purchased one of the cargo restraint systems as OEM.
Jim,
Do you run the weathertech mats in your 911 year round? We’re still looking for a good cargo restraint system for our Cayenne.