Oxford_Hippo

Hi,

just bought a 993 Cabrio, c4. ( 1995 model year, RHD, manual )

Previous owner has just had a new roof fited after it had been damaged = great news,

.....but seems there was a bit of a gap between the damage being done, and then the new roof being fitted - so lots of water has got in - as the front and rear footwells are wet - mainly the actual sound-deadening material - the ones fixed in place.

I have taken the floor mats out to dry, and tried to lever up a bit of the sound-deadening so it can dry out, and tried leaving some newspaper underneath to try to get the water out of the foam material.

anyone have any suggestions?

ps - Top smile factor - amazing drive and total change from driving our older 3.2 carrera cab. - superb brakes and handling!

Mark in Baltimore

In my experience, a good way to dry it out is to use a fan on a very high setting. Ideally, you'll want to have the car in the garage so you can leave the top up. Let her run for a few days. If you want to speed it up, you can buy a small fan/heater combo. Close the top and doors but leave one window cracked open a bit. Be very careful that your heat setting isn't too high and that the fan/heater isn't close to anything that might melt. I have used this "technique" on many cars, the last one being the blue Miata in my sig.

Good luck!

AOW162435

Mark,
You have skillz.





Andreas

TheOtherEric

The foam wouldn't naturally dry well without removing it due to the thick rubber surface. I'd remove those parts and hang dry them if possible, but lifting them and blowing a fan underneath would probably do it too. You may find them to be moldy, in which case you'd want new ones anyway. Unfortunately, they're not cheap. Somebody recently posted about this, but I'd imagine maybe $200 for fronts & rears. But having mold in there isn't good either. Also, the rears aren't foam but rather a cotton material, at least in coupes. So it would probably be even more likely than foam to get mold.

Felix

Make sure that the various ECU's under the seats remain dry and are not sitting in a puddle of water.

Another option is to put a smaller heater in the car and leave it running with the windows cracked open 1 cm or so to let the warm moist air out. Same principle as the fan mentioned above, just adds heat to speed up the process.

VNTGSPD

Go to an equipment rental place and get a de-humidifier. In the US they are readily available for about $40/day. These things are amazing. Leave them in a room you think is dry and they will pull a gallon of water out of the air. When you walk in you can FEEL the dryness - amazing.

They are probably a bit large to put in the car but you may be able to put it in the passenger seat. Then let it run overnight. It should pull most if not all of the moisture out of the carpets, padding, etc. If it won't fit in the car, I'd say next to the car with the door open would suffice.

Good Luck

Wreck Me Otter

How long has it been wet? Can you smell mildew? If so, I'd replace it all. It's a pain and it won't be cheap.

Oxford_Hippo

thanks to all for replies,

we don't have a garage - so can't use the de-humidifier option - and no way to run a power cable to the car from the house..

I'd wanted to try to dry out the original soundproofing - so I can leave the car looking original,

and it looks like it would be difficult to get the wet soundproofing cut out neatly?


But - if it can be done, then we've got plenty of replacement material
it's used in new houses in the UK ( for the latest construction regulations - Building Codes in the US?? )

15mm thick Acoustic Insulation pad, made up of 3mm rubber layer, 9mm chip foam and then a last 3mm rubber layer.

so looks about the same overal thickness as the stuff in the front footwells?

THanks
T

Mark in Baltimore

Now that I think about it, my footwell foam came out very easily and nicely. Maybe just pull it out and hang it inside to dry?

leosayer

This is a common problem on 964s due to leaky seals and it is not unheard of for 20kg of water to be contained in the soundproofing and for rust to start if it isn't dealt with in a reasonable time frame. I imagine that similar material is used on 993s.

With 964s, the best way is usually to rip out the old stuff and replace it with something else that can be cut to fit.

Oxford_Hippo

so far: driver's side just pulled out easily ( just have to peel away the edge of the carpet that is glued to it.

leosayer - you're right - soundproofing was pretty heavy - and dripping water.....

Passenger side - looks like the sundproofing is all one piece - that is it covers the floor as well as the passenger pedal board area - so not quite so easy to get out.

Rear footwell soundproofing seems very thin, so will just rip it out - carefully!


will try this tomorrow.


getting frustrated now - bought the car 4 days ago and it is still raining - so no drive with the roof down yet!

Oxford_Hippo

Got the passenger side foam out today,

there's a black plastic retaining 'plug/screw' up where passenger feet are,
then just peel pack the carpet - which is glued to the soundproofing.
you need to lever forward the pice of side carpet/trim - so you can pul the sound-proofing out from underneath it.

and the passenger sound-proofing comes out as one piece.....now in the laundry room at home drying out.

Now just need to get the engine blower temp-sensor fixed, and I can dry the footwells out....

T