OEM Floor Mats Vs. Husky & WeatherTech Floor Liners

OEM Floor Mats Full Review & Comparison To Husky & WeatherTech for the 5th Gen 4Runner

Floor mats and liners take seconds to install but make a huge difference in the cleanliness of the interior of your 4Runner. For my 2016 SR5, I have purchased the OEM floor mats to replace the stock carpet mats from Toyota. No matter what floor protection you choose, they can be extremely helpful in protecting the interior of your car.

The stock fabric mats look nice at first but quickly get dirty and are very hard to get clean. Replacing the floor mats is easy, but how do you know which one brand is best for you?

The three main brands for floor coverage are:

• Husky Liners
• WeatherTech Liners
• Factory Toyota Rubber Floor Mats

Find them online:

• Husky Floor Liners: Check Price
• WeatherTech Floor Liners: Check Price
• OEM Toyota Floor Mats: Check Price

Fitment

All three brands are specifically designed to fit your floor.

However, they each have their own distinct looks. I prefer the OEM mats because they look factory (mainly because they are), but they look like they should be a part of the car.

Difference Between Liners and Mats?

Pictured: Husky Lines Left and WeatherTech Mats Right

Floor liners are laser designed to perfectly fit your vehicle and its contours and crevices.

Floor mats are a bit more uniform because they are made in large numbers to be more cost-effective.

The difference between floor liners vs floor mats: 

• Liners typically go higher up the sides of the floor to better control spills.
• Mats are more malleable so they can more easily be removed from your car, cleaned, and then put back in. The OEM Toyota mats are similar to liners in that they perfectly fit the 4Runners contours, which is different from other mats that don’t. However, the Toyota mats don’t reach as far up the sides of the floor.

It comes down to your lifestyle; if you only drive your car to and from work and school, you probably would do just fine with a floor mat to protect you from water and small amounts of dirt.

On the other hand, if you’re off-roading every weekend and getting lots of muds and spills, floor liners might make more sense for you. Since floor liners are designed to perfectly fit your needs, they tend to have a higher cost than the mats. So if you have a lower budget mats might be the best option.

Performance: Floor Liners vs. Floor Mats

Pictured Above: Floor Liners from Husky

All the mats have ridges and reservoirs that hold onto mud and liquids to keep them from going everywhere. Liners, on the other hand, can go higher up the sides of the 4Runner because they are built to fit exactly. The mats are more uniform because they can be used with multiple vehicles.

Liners have a tendency to bow and curl at the edge which over time, can look really bad. Mats tend to lay flat for the length of their life providing a consistent look and feel for the life they live in your 4Runner.

Retention Areas

The OEM floor mats have the smallest ridges and retention areas. Husky Liners and WeatherTech Liners have similar retention areas but Husky Liners have the largest ridges. The OEM mats are the most flexible and have more give, whereas WeatherTech Liners are very stiff in structure and don’t bend. The Husky Liners have some give but not as much as the OEM.

If you easily get annoyed by loud clomping noises you might want to steer away from WeatherTech. With the stiff, plastic-like, material they are much louder than the other coverage when stepped on and used.

I have a sliding rear cargo deck in my 4Runner and only one of the three companies had a mat that would fit it, Toyota. It made my decision a little easier because I wasn’t going to buy two different types of protection, I wanted everything to look uniform.

OEM, Husky, Weathertech 0r Other Options?

Pictured Above: WeatherTech Floor Liners

There are a lot of floor protection options out there and plenty of different ones you could buy on Amazon for less money.

However, they do not meet the same standards that the three brands in this review do. If you want a Hello Kitty floor mat off of Amazon, then, by all means, go ahead, but they won’t provide the protection your car deserves. Also, these mats will not cover the contours of your vehicle and can often leave gaps and slide around.

Also, there are some options that use Velcro to attach the mats to the flooring of the vehicle. I did not consider those options because I didn’t want the Velcro picking the carpeted flooring and ripping up the carpet upon removal. If you have to take the mats out, floor cleaning the velcro could mess up the carpeting over time.

My OEM Experience

I bought the OEM Floor Mats from Toyota about 4 months ago and so far I could not be happier. I have not had any issues with the mats and they work perfectly. They can easily be maneuvered into place and they fit the factory floor clips in the 4Runner.

When I want to clean off the mats, all I have to do is unclip the mat, fold it up to keep the debris on the mat and pull it out. Then I take it to the laundry room and rinse it off in the sink. Grass, rocks, dirt, pet hair, it all washes right off and the mats look brand new.

Install and Cleaning

Pictured Above: Factory Cargo Tray Mat/Liner Hybrid

Step 1. Remove Old Floor Mats

Unclip the factory carpet mats and simply pull them out of the car, I suggest safely storing them so that they don’t get messed up and in case you ever decide to use them again.

Step 2. Place In New Mats & Secure Clips

Place the new mats into the vehicles, lining the floor clips up with the designated holes in the mat, then turn the clips to lock the mat into place. It is extremely important to follow these steps correctly because if the floor mats aren’t put in correctly they could get caught in the pedals and mess with your ability to brake.

That’s really all there is to the install!

Now for cleaning the mats.

Personally, I just use a wet rag and the sink to clean off my mats. If you want to use cleaners that is fine too, but for me, it just isn’t necessary. Also vacuuming is extremely easy with these mats because stuff doesn’t get stuck in them so it comes right off.

Final Thoughts

You could spend hours vacuuming and scrubbing dirt off your factory carpet mats, or you could spend 2 minutes at a hose or sink rinsing off your mats and liners.

Quality upgrades to the floor protection are not cheap but in the long run, are so worth it. They keep spills from getting everywhere, they are easy to clean, and they keep the floor and interior of your car looking the same as when you first drove off the lot.

I choose the OEM Floor Mats and I still stand by my decision because they best fit my needs and lifestyle. Maintaining the look of my vehicle for years to come was very important to me and I was willing to invest in quality floor protection for my 4Runner.

Still, looking for more info?

Try these articles:

• WeatherTech All-Weather Floor Mats
• WeatherTech Floor Liners
• Husky Floor Liners
• Best 4Runer Floor Mats