Car mats for rain, snow, winter and the beach

The car floor: the forgotten part of the cabin

Over a year in Spain, a car goes through just about everything: heavy autumn downpours, ski trips to the Pyrenees or Sierra Nevada, and months of beach runs in summer. Every one of those ends up in the same place — the floor. And original carpet mats, however nice they look, aren't designed to take water, salt or sand every day.

This guide looks at what happens in each case and how to protect the interior without fuss.

Rain: the damp problem

A rainy day doesn't sound like much, but every time you get in you bring water in on your shoes. Carpet mats soak it up and, because the car is closed, it takes days to dry. The usual result: windows fogged up on the inside every morning, a musty smell and, eventually, mould under the mat or in the car's carpet.

Honeycomb EVA mats avoid this because the water stays trapped on the surface and never reaches the carpet. Once the rain stops, you lift the mats out, tip them out and they're dry in no time.

• Knock your shoes against the door sill before getting in — it sounds silly, but it cuts down a lot of water.
• If your windows fog up often, check the carpet under the mats: it may be damp.
• Run the air conditioning with recirculation off to dry out the cabin air.

Snow and cold: water, slush and salt

If you head to the mountains or live somewhere cold, it's a double challenge. Snow on your boots melts inside the car and forms puddles, and the salt spread on the roads sticks to your soles. When it dries, that salt leaves white tide marks on carpet that are hard to shift.

What helps most here is a mat that holds the water and can be rinsed without a second thought. With EVA, meltwater and salt stay in the cells; back home, a good rinse with water and they're clean. Flexible materials like EVA are also easier to handle in the cold than some stiff rubbers.

• Keep a pair of dry trainers for driving if you're in snow boots — you'll have a better feel for the pedals.
• Rinse the mats after salty-road days rather than waiting until the end of the season.
• Make sure chunky boots don't catch on anything when you press the pedals.

Beach: the sand that never leaves

Anyone who drives to the beach knows it: sand stays in the car for weeks. In carpet it works its way between the fibres and even a vacuum won't get it all out. Wet sand and seawater can also leave marks.

EVA cells work like a dustpan: sand falls in and stays put instead of spreading across the floor. When you get home, lift the mats out, shake them and most of it is gone. For a perfect finish, give them a quick hose down.

• Shake out towels, chairs and umbrellas before they go in the boot.
• A boot mat stops sand and water from beach gear reaching the boot floor.
• Don't leave freshly washed mats drying in the August sun for hours; the shade is better.

Heat and summer

In summer, a car parked in the sun gets extremely hot inside. Some rubber mats give off a smell in the heat. EVA mats are lighter and behave better in that respect, although, as with any material, there's no point exposing them to extreme heat outside the car unnecessarily. A windscreen sunshade helps keep the whole interior in better shape.

One set for the whole year

Plenty of people swap between carpet mats in summer and rubber mats in winter. With custom-fit EVA mats you don't need to: they work the same in rain, snow or sand and clean up just as quickly in any season. What matters is that they're made for your car and clipped to its fixings, so they stay put whether you're getting in with snow boots or flip-flops.

If you want your car's interior to cope with the whole year, start by finding your model and choose the set that fits how you use it: front, front and rear, three rows or boot.