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The floor mats in your vehicle, if you haven’t upgraded them to aftermarket floor mats, were put in there with anyone and everyone who would possibly purchase that vehicle in mind. This means that, whether you live in Maine or southern Louisiana or northern Washington, you have the same floor mats, even though all of those places have vastly different environments.
Aftermarket floor mats can add quite a bit of style to your vehicle, but it’s important to remember that floor mats are primarily designed to be practical. They need to protect your car against the specific threats that your environment presents. This is why aftermarket floor mats are so useful, among other reasons.
Customizing Protection
If you live in a desert environment, such as in Arizona or New Mexico, you’re going to need floor mats that are good for collecting dirt and debris and that make it easy to pull out the floor mat, shake it off and have a clean car. If you live in an environment such as northern Minnesota, you’re going to need a floor mat that can handle mud, ice, road salt and other materials that could utterly destroy your carpet, much more than any little bit of dust from the desert could ever do.
The most significant advantage of aftermarket floor mats is that you can pick floor mats that are designed to handle what your environment is going to throw at them. Whether you live in the humid, wet conditions in Mississippi or the rough, saltwater environments of Southern California, your floor mats can be chosen to preserve your vehicle against the damage it is most likely to be threatened with. Stock floor mats are just designed to cover up the carpet; they’re not designed with any specific threat in mind.
There are floor mats available made out of advanced materials that can take this protection even further.
Style
Floor mats can add a lot of style. In fact, style is one of the main reasons that people choose one floor mat over another. Many people choose a floor mat that is designed to go along with the brand of their car, which has the brand of high-end racing accessories or some other type of branded accessory that shows off what they like. This is particularly the case when people modify their cars heavily, such as for racing or simply showing off on the street.
Other people go for floor mats that fit the theme of their car. For instance, there are aluminum floor mats available that look great in diesel pickups and in other heavy-duty vehicles, in which they go along perfectly with the very rugged look of the vehicle overall.
For people who really want to get into style, however, floor mats can get very sophisticated. Some of them have custom designs and, combined with LED lighting, some floor mats have features that will glow brightly in the light, giving a very high-tech and appealing look to the interior of the vehicle.
Aftermarket is an Upgrade
As is the case with most car accessories, going aftermarket usually means getting an upgrade. Floor mats that are included with vehicles when you purchase them really aren’t worth keeping. In fact, one of the least expensive and easiest ways to upgrade the interior of your vehicle in terms of aesthetics is to get custom floor mats and, beyond that, you will most certainly be preserving your vehicle for the long haul. Look for designs that match your interior well, but make sure you get designs that suit your environment. If you live in a particularly challenging environment, there are some great options out there that are excellent for holding water away from the carpet and being very easy to dump out when the ice, snow and sleet these environments tend to have melt.