Armorlite washout floor coming for Tacoma

Hey guys, wanted to share something we are working on.

Armorlite makes an ultra durable flooring to fully replace your carpet and designed to be easily washed out.
Features water retention walls and drain plugs to allow you to spray out with water or just wipe clean.
Our surface layer is made with a thick TPO material, tough enough to offer a lifetime warranty that you won't even wear out the grain. Backed by a polyester insulation that resists mold or mildew unlike the factory cotton blend insulation.
Kinda like doing a spray liner but with a softer touch, and insulation.

Here is a rendering from our cad data to give you an idea what it will look like. Tools are in production and we hope to do first hits in September.



The drain plugs will utilize holes already present in your body. And we will offer it for those that have or don't have the rear storage compartment.

Here it is in the new Bronco:

 

It's about time somebody made flooring for our trucks. I'd love to switch over to it, but I don't know if I can commit to the process


Is there a rough price on what this will cost?

 

If you offer this for 2nd gen I'd be all over it.

1. Would the pricepoint be similar to the gladiator floor?
2. Is shipping crazy on these?

 

Pricing will be just above Bronco, which is currently $728. Actual price TBD, reason it is more is the cost to make the 2 sizes of plugs required, plus there is a spacer block under the toe boards that we had to replicate.

Shipping should maintain at our $35 flat rate ground UPS, we plan for this one to fit in the same box. It actually folds up and will always make it back to its original shape. On this model we did not glue the insulator to the floor to better mimic how the oem floor is constructed. This will help with packaging as well.

 

Seems fair to me. Hopefully the 3rd gen goes well enough for you to invest in tooling for 2nd gen. Id expect the market to be fairly similar size even though the 2nd gen is 20 years old at this point

 

The market size is big because Tacomas don't die.
But it comes down to owner demographic and will enough of the G2 owners pay this price point. We know we are a luxury item, we threw a lot of engineering into this floor and it is expensive to make. I think there is a good business case still, just need to take the time to prove it, I have a full schedule over the next year to get to know them more outside of the couple close friends who tell me they would buy it

Armorlite is a small company owned by the very large Tier 1 auto supplier Auria Solutions. Armorlite products were developed by our advanced engineering group realizing the Jeep market wanted an alternative to carpet and we took an approach of "what is the best things we can make, if we didn't have an OEM restricting us"

 

I really like this. I remember when trucks had rubber throughout so you could hose them out.
A truck to me is about utility not comfort.

How does this material respond to cold weather? will it get fragile in cold?
I would buy this product if Access Cab was supported

 

I too am interested, though I also have some questions.

• Does this go over the insulation that is already there or do you need to remove that insulation pad?
• Do the drains seal to the holes in the floor so water can not get between the sheet metal and the floor (from both under the truck and inside the truck)?
• How do you prevent water from going back into the holes under the front seat for the floor vents? Like if I am spraying out the salt in the back seat foot area, what will prevent that water from just draining into the cutout for the vents.
• Are there seals or raised bit around the seat bolts to prevent water from leaking into those low spots?
• Is this slippery when wet?
• Did you design it to go up a little higher against the firewall than the stock carpet?

I am mostly interested in this for winter time. I keep a towel on the my floor mats right now to soak up the melted snow from my boots as it tends to overflow the mats and into the carpet. Having a drain would be nice.

 

See my reply in BLUE

• Does this go over the insulation that is already there or do you need to remove that insulation pad? We made our own polyester insulator that replaces the factory cotton jute insulator.
• Do the drains seal to the holes in the floor so water can not get between the sheet metal and the floor (from both under the truck and inside the truck)? The urethane plug goes through the sheet metal with a series of ribs to seal off to the sheet metal, the flange on the top that touches the Armorlite floor has a lip and when installed pressure is applied to provide a seal. It holds water well, I have measured it in our current vehicles to hold for roughly an hour before seeing any seep past. So for the purpose of a quick rinse out I believe there to be no issue of water making it under the flooring.
• How do you prevent water from going back into the holes under the front seat for the floor vents? Like if I am spraying out the salt in the back seat foot area, what will prevent that water from just draining into the cutout for the vents. These areas are either raised or have ribs to protect them. This is assuming the customer has logical reasoning when it comes to rinsing it out with a hose and doesn't blast it with firehose or pressure washer from 10 feet away.
• Are there seals or raised bit around the seat bolts to prevent water from leaking into those low spots? Yes we built up ribs to help retain water while it drains out the plug. We are held to some restriction by the design of the vehicle but believe that with care this process will work fine.
• Is this slippery when wet? More slippery than carpet maybe, but compared to most vinyl or rubber mats it has more grip (my boss calls it "gription"). We built the chevron pattern also to help cut through mud on your shoes like a tire tread to give grip to those getting in with muddy shoes.
• Did you design it to go up a little higher against the firewall than the stock carpet? It doesn't go up much further than stock on the firewall, but can't see much reason why it would. We did build a large bead next to the trim to help keep water from running back under the floor. Again the idea is to protect from a light rinse out. Generally we recommend keeping a small tire brush to break up mud and debris and then rinse it out. We offer a spray cleaner also that helps with anything stubborn.

One thing I forgot to mention, we have not found anything that stains it. I personally have applied everything in my shop cabinet. Axle grease, brake cleaner, acetone, even Jasco paint stripper for 2 hours, no damage left behind. Also coast to coast we have wheeled through all the mud, including Georgia red clay and nothing stained it. We did notice that dish soap if used often can make it look tan/grey, but using our floor cleaner spray restored it without making it slippery.

 

Thank you for the detailed response. Very interested in this. Salt crust is the killer around here as it gets into the carpet and just doesnt come out unless you soak it in water... but that just spreads the salt.

 

interested in 05-15

 

Love the idea, I'd probably buy it.

 

Does this change the interior noise level up, down or no change observed?

Another vote for an Access cab version.

 

sub'd

This will definitely make cleaning the dog hair out easier.

 

@Road_Warrior

 

That’s pretty cool! Super functional.

 

Windows down and all the hair will just fly out!

 

In my experience on current platforms we have tested and proved a reduction in floorboard heat compared to carpet in the Wrangler JK models. We have customers say that it helped on all other platforms but those have not been lab tested.
Also in Wrangler JK models we did acoustical testing, we saw a very slight overall reduction while on our acoustic dyno. But the data did show that lower frequencies like tire noise had a noticeable reduction, which is why most of our customers praise the reduction in tire noise. Most of the vehicles we outfit are giant bricks and not the best for wind noise and that noise will reflect on any solid surface. I expect with Tacoma that the interior environment will likely remain the same as before, possibly a reduction in tire noise if you have an aggressive tire tread pattern.

Just so you know we aren't messing around, this is one of our sound measuring devices, it can record from an anatomically correct ear. It can also project audio from a mouth location to then be recorded by another device in a different seat.


This is our Wrangler JKU we ran on the dyno for the above mentioned tests, we saw above the catalytic converter the sheet metal reached 240 degrees, the top of our floor in the same location was only 100 degrees, so yes a differential of 140 degrees.


Here is a picture I have handy to show you the size of our sound lab.

I need to find the video but we blew out a gladiator with a leaf blower once.

 

Another lost 2G'er here saying I'd be game, this is similar price point of the OEM rubber floor I think, but with some very practical design features beyond just not being carpet. Hell, I spent $250 or so just on Husky mats that still leave a lot to be desired..