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A wet carpet can rapidly make driving uncomfortable. Except for occasional accidental spillage of beverages and other liquid that sometimes go unnoticed and end up under the car’s driver carpet, every other sign of wetness should call for concern.
If you find your driver side carpet always wet, various factors may be responsible for this. It requires you to pay attention and have them fixed as soon as possible.
While it is conceivable to clean the carpet and carry on driving, the issue may keep happening except if you address the reason. We will be looking at some of the factors responsible for wet carpet on the driver side. Additionally, we will offer some recommendations on how you can fix these issues.
Leaking Sunroof
The sunroof is the open space where you let in air or sun. In most cars, it is located above the driver and front passenger seat. It is also mostly operated by the driver for ease and comfort.
A few factors are why your driver’s side carpet can be wet due to leakage from the sunroof.
Due to the sunroof’s peculiar location above the driver seat compared to other side windows, it is ubiquitous to forget to close it as you do with others. Consequently, rainwater can enter and trickle-down under the carpet.
In some cases, it could be that your kids played with it due to its fascinating nature. Or maybe someone forgot to close it properly.
Poor Installation Of The Sunroof
An ineffectively installed sunroof is another significant reason for water spilling in your vehicle’s driver side. Indeed, anything from a sunroof to a rooftop rack system will cause water leakage in a car if not installed appropriately.
If you have a manufacturer-installed sunroof, check the drains for leaks. That is why a factory recommended sunroof has an implicitly plate with four channels, one in each sunroof edge.
Weak Or Worn Out Tubes
When channel tubes become disconnected or clogged, they will make water spill into the vehicle. Locating the channels and checking them can take some time since they are typically covered in bumpers and bodyboards. However, it will be worth the effort in the end.
An alternate way to find the channels is to fill the sunroof plate with water and watch where it goes when it drains. As a rule, it will pour out in the front and the back of the rocker panels.
Recommended Solutions
To correct the human error aspect of this leakage, you need to be more attentive. Where you need more work is where you cannot identify how water ends up under your driver’s side carpet. You are most likely going to need a professional’s expertise to help identify and fix the issue.
See Also: Car Hood Vents & Rain – How Rain Affects Your Hood Vents?
Weak And Punctured Weatherproofing
Your car doors, windows, and windshield are designed with weatherproofing intended to keep the weather outside. After some time, these seals might get split or penetrated, causing the driver side of your vehicle to get wet.
The driver side weatherproofing is quite vulnerable to wear and tear. Also, it is the most used of all the other entry points. Therefore, you will find the driver side carpet wet more than any other.
When this occurs, it is simpler for the downpour to trickle inside through different splits.
If you observe water always entering and settling under the driver side carpet, faulty weatherproofing is presumably responsible. You might have a damaged window, door seals, or obstructed channels.
This can permit water to get into the door panels and leak into the driver’s side carpet.
While this may not be a significant issue, you need to quickly address it to avoid foul odor while driving. Failure to address it can also lead to other more considerable damages in the future.
Poorly Installed Windshield
Your vehicle windshield is uniquely designed to cope with all manner of weather conditions. Additionally, it protects you from being directly touched by rain, snow, and other conditions outside the car.
However, when you start to notice wetness or moisture under the driver side carpet, you may need to take a critical look at your windshield.
Your windshield could be the reason why water enters your car and ends up under the driver’s side carpet. Rainwater or other forms of liquid contacting the windshield are expected to drain down to the floor outside the car.
However, the poor installation of a windshield can allow water to come into your car freely. If you have had a windshield replaced lately, carry out a thorough check of the job done.
Recommended Solutions
When fixing a windshield, it is vital to carry out a detailed analysis of why the replacement was needed.
More work might need to be done around the edges where the replacement windshield would be installed. In the case of an accident, all the edges must be smooth and returned to an almost “factory-setting” standard. All other processes must be followed before installing a new or another windshield.
Suffice to say, when it comes to windshield installations, this can mostly be done at a professional auto mechanic shop. Avoid people who remove the previous windshield and slap another on the spot without detailed work.
All forms of leakage require immediate attention, but when the driver side carpet starts to get wet frequently, it calls for more urgent attention. In other to arrest the situation to make the car and your driving experience comfortable.
Additionally, if not immediately investigated, this can lead to other more significant damages and cost a lot more to fix. You must genuinely observe where the water is coming into the vehicle, not just where it is going alongside a panel.
James has been a car enthusiast since his childhood when he learned the differences between a ford and a chevy from his father. He loves to drive and restore old cars with a special drive for Italian marvels. Currently, he has a 1968 Alfa Romeo. He has studied aeronautics and civil aviation in his college and still gets smitten by Galant SS and Lancer GSR.
He is a New York-based product training director working with a giant automotive retailer. He loves to review and uncover the vehicles and their fascinating stories. He believes in keeping it legitimate with a keen passion for research on the latest technological upgrades in cars. While reading his articles or blogs, you can sense the extensive research and dedication backing the piece of text. He loves fried chicken, music, and spending quality time with his pet dog.
