Michelin Bed Mat now available for 2024+ Tacoma 4th Gen

[SilverSurfer]

I guess my comments and questions were too difficult.

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[Mercedes]

I installed the Michelin bed mat yesterday. I purchased the mat from the TreadAuto site.

Of your bed mat options, I'd consider the Michelin bed mat.

I'll occasionally use the truck bed for any number of things. A mat would work well. Someone using their's all the time or for severe duty might consider an actual liner instead.

I studied one Toyota-made mat. It was an all-rubber unit, looked good and rated highly. But it didn't have a raised lip around the perimeter. Long-term, I thought a lip would help contain any liquid spills or prevent small debris from getting in-between the mat and the bed.

One mat made by Weathertech I didn't care for. While it had a raised lip, it was pretty high and off-putting. The word "Weathertech" was etched in huge letters across the bottom.

The Michelin mat seemed to hit the sweet spot. The piece is made from Thermoplastic Elastomer (TPE) or Semi-rigid plastic. It's a rubber-like plastic. The surface of the material is textured. The plastic itself is somewhat grippy.

This mat is licensed by Michelin and made in China.

Out of the box, the mat will have waves and be misshapen. The recommendation is to place the mat in the Sun for up to two days. With mid-day temps in the 70s F / 20s C, I took the mat out of the box and spread out on the driveway. In two hours, it was ready for install. The TPE material was plenty floppy and very easy to work with by then.

Temperature is something to take into consideration with this product. The Michelin mat is not something most are going to install after getting for Christmas. It needs heat to relax and lay out.

At temperature, the material is very flexible. Once out of the Sun and cooled off, it's firmer, but not stiff like many of the plastic products you might otherwise use. It does not take on the feel of a rigid liner.

If you purchased the mat with the tailgate protector, you'll need a Torx wrench. One is supplied with the kit.

The mat and tailgate protector have no reliefs or cutouts. After initially laying in the bed, I found I needed to cut access ports for the bed anchors. Following the lines with a blade was easy. When installing the tailgate protector, I removed a few screws at a time, punched a hole with an awl and re-installed the screws.

Overall, install was easy with simple hand tools. Once in, the mat just sits. It does not move or shift. With the tailgate closed, I attempted to grip and lift the liner and really couldn't.

Things I'd change:

- In the box, holding the mat, is a large Michelin tote. There's really no purpose for this tote. The bag is the same as plastic shopping bags in the US, just huge. Given the amount of material, it could make two or three shopping bags for food and other things. Those I could use. Blue/yellow-themed with the Michelin logo would be nice

- The product is marketed as recyclable, and that might be true. But I did not readily see a TPE logo identifying it as such. Typically, TPE recycle marks are a triangle of arrows with a number, often 1-7. If that mark is not there, my local recycler could mis-identify the product and throw it in the trash

- The instructions are nice, but can be boiled down to one, single sheet of paper. The use of an envelope and card stock is a bit formal

- The use of the term "blue laser measured" is a gimmicky. I'd simply say, "laser measured", "exact fit" or something else

Light can act as both a particle and a wave at the same time. Energy waves higher in frequency are bluer in color, shorter in wavelength and smaller in size. If using a laser to measure an object, you'd want a beam "bluest" in color for one of the most accurate measurements. It's akin to using a feeler gauge (short wavelength) to gap spark plugs versus a tape measure (long wavelength).

^ That's a bit more detail than needed when shopping for a mat. I'd simplify the verbiage.

 

[Miqie]

I installed the Michelin bed mat yesterday. I purchased the mat from the TreadAuto site.

Of your bed mat options, I'd consider the Michelin bed mat.

I'll occasionally use the truck bed for any number of things. A mat would work well. Someone using their's all the time or for severe duty might consider an actual liner instead.

I studied one Toyota-made mat. It was an all-rubber unit, looked good and rated highly. But it didn't have a raised lip around the perimeter. Long-term, I thought a lip would help contain any liquid spills or prevent small debris from getting in-between the mat and the bed.

One mat made by Weathertech I didn't care for. While it had a raised lip, it was pretty high and off-putting. The word "Weathertech" was etched in huge letters across the bottom.

The Michelin mat seemed to hit the sweet spot. The piece is made from Thermoplastic Elastomer (TPE) or Semi-rigid plastic. It's a rubber-like plastic. The surface of the material is textured. The plastic itself is somewhat grippy.

This mat is licensed by Michelin and made in China.

Out of the box, the mat will have waves and be misshapen. The recommendation is to place the mat in the Sun for up to two days. With mid-day temps in the 70s F / 20s C, I took the mat out of the box and spread out on the driveway. In two hours, it was ready for install. The TPE material was plenty floppy and very easy to work with by then.

Temperature is something to take into consideration with this product. The Michelin mat is not something most are going to install after getting for Christmas. It needs heat to relax and lay out.

At temperature, the material is very flexible. Once out of the Sun and cooled off, it's firmer, but not stiff like many of the plastic products you might otherwise use. It does not take on the feel of a rigid liner.

If you purchased the mat with the tailgate protector, you'll need a Torx wrench. One is supplied with the kit.

The mat and tailgate protector have no reliefs or cutouts. After initially laying in the bed, I found I needed to cut access ports for the bed anchors. Following the lines with a blade was easy. When installing the tailgate protector, I removed a few screws at a time, punched a hole with an awl and re-installed the screws.

Overall, install was easy with simple hand tools. Once in, the mat just sits. It does not move or shift. With the tailgate closed, I attempted to grip and lift the liner and really couldn't.

Things I'd change:

- In the box, holding the mat, is a large Michelin tote. There's really no purpose for this tote. The bag is the same as plastic shopping bags in the US, just huge. Given the amount of material, it could make two or three shopping bags for food and other things. Those I could use. Blue/yellow-themed with the Michelin logo would be nice

- The product is marketed as recyclable, and that might be true. But I did not readily see a TPE logo identifying it as such. Typically, TPE recycle marks are a triangle of arrows with a number, often 1-7. If that mark is not there, my local recycler could mis-identify the product and throw it in the trash

- The instructions are nice, but can be boiled down to one, single sheet of paper. The use of an envelope and card stock is a bit formal

- The use of the term "blue laser measured" is a gimmicky. I'd simply say, "laser measured", "exact fit" or something else

Light can act as both a particle and a wave at the same time. Energy waves higher in frequency are bluer in color, shorter in wavelength and smaller in size. If using a laser to measure an object, you'd want a beam "bluest" in color for one of the most accurate measurements. It's akin to using a feeler gauge (short wavelength) to gap spark plugs versus a tape measure (long wavelength).

^ That's a bit more detail than needed when shopping for a mat. I'd simplify the verbiage.

Quit your day job. You could be a professional reviewer. Well done!

 

[TreadAuto]

I installed the Michelin bed mat yesterday. I purchased the mat from the TreadAuto site.

Of your bed mat options, I'd consider the Michelin bed mat.

I'll occasionally use the truck bed for any number of things. A mat would work well. Someone using their's all the time or for severe duty might consider an actual liner instead.

I studied one Toyota-made mat. It was an all-rubber unit, looked good and rated highly. But it didn't have a raised lip around the perimeter. Long-term, I thought a lip would help contain any liquid spills or prevent small debris from getting in-between the mat and the bed.

One mat made by Weathertech I didn't care for. While it had a raised lip, it was pretty high and off-putting. The word "Weathertech" was etched in huge letters across the bottom.

The Michelin mat seemed to hit the sweet spot. The piece is made from Thermoplastic Elastomer (TPE) or Semi-rigid plastic. It's a rubber-like plastic. The surface of the material is textured. The plastic itself is somewhat grippy.

This mat is licensed by Michelin and made in China.

Out of the box, the mat will have waves and be misshapen. The recommendation is to place the mat in the Sun for up to two days. With mid-day temps in the 70s F / 20s C, I took the mat out of the box and spread out on the driveway. In two hours, it was ready for install. The TPE material was plenty floppy and very easy to work with by then.

Temperature is something to take into consideration with this product. The Michelin mat is not something most are going to install after getting for Christmas. It needs heat to relax and lay out.

At temperature, the material is very flexible. Once out of the Sun and cooled off, it's firmer, but not stiff like many of the plastic products you might otherwise use. It does not take on the feel of a rigid liner.

If you purchased the mat with the tailgate protector, you'll need a Torx wrench. One is supplied with the kit.

The mat and tailgate protector have no reliefs or cutouts. After initially laying in the bed, I found I needed to cut access ports for the bed anchors. Following the lines with a blade was easy. When installing the tailgate protector, I removed a few screws at a time, punched a hole with an awl and re-installed the screws.

Overall, install was easy with simple hand tools. Once in, the mat just sits. It does not move or shift. With the tailgate closed, I attempted to grip and lift the liner and really couldn't.

Things I'd change:

- In the box, holding the mat, is a large Michelin tote. There's really no purpose for this tote. The bag is the same as plastic shopping bags in the US, just huge. Given the amount of material, it could make two or three shopping bags for food and other things. Those I could use. Blue/yellow-themed with the Michelin logo would be nice

- The product is marketed as recyclable, and that might be true. But I did not readily see a TPE logo identifying it as such. Typically, TPE recycle marks are a triangle of arrows with a number, often 1-7. If that mark is not there, my local recycler could mis-identify the product and throw it in the trash

- The instructions are nice, but can be boiled down to one, single sheet of paper. The use of an envelope and card stock is a bit formal

- The use of the term "blue laser measured" is a gimmicky. I'd simply say, "laser measured", "exact fit" or something else

Light can act as both a particle and a wave at the same time. Energy waves higher in frequency are bluer in color, shorter in wavelength and smaller in size. If using a laser to measure an object, you'd want a beam "bluest" in color for one of the most accurate measurements. It's akin to using a feeler gauge (short wavelength) to gap spark plugs versus a tape measure (long wavelength).

^ That's a bit more detail than needed when shopping for a mat. I'd simplify the verbiage.

Thanks so much for the detailed and awesome feedback!

Here are a few thoughts and updates on your suggestions:

The Tote Bag: To be honest, we went with black because we were worried some buyers might not like a bright blue bag. We’re going to run this by the Michelin team and see what they think.

TPE Recycle Mark: Our material is fully GRS certified, but since our mats are vacuum-formed, we need to check with production to see if we can cleanly mold the recycling logo in during that process. We’ll definitely look into it.

"Blue Laser" wording: Our goal was to explain that our scanners use high-precision blue lasers for reverse engineering, which are way more accurate than standard red lasers. How would you recommend we word this to better convey that? We'd love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks again for taking the time to help us improve. Really appreciate the support!

 

[GSPHerder]

I have a camper shell so when Im in the bed I ususally have to crawl on my knees. Id love a totally smooth/flat bed mat with a small amount of cushion.

 

[OminousSkitter]

I have a camper shell so when Im in the bed I ususally have to crawl on my knees. Id love a totally smooth/flat bed mat with a small amount of cushion.

Have you considered a horse stall mat?

 

[GSPHerder]

Have you considered a horse stall mat?

I have not, Ill check them out. thks

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