Anyone Else Have Problems Putting the Floor Mats Back In?

[sjp3003]

Decided to give the Floor mats a decent cleaning...they come out easily enough. Putting them back in is a different story. The plastic cover surrounding the shifter's base doesn't allow the carpets back in. Fair enough...maybe they can get wedged under with flat head screwdriver...get the toolkit...no go. All right, I'll take the base out & lift it up...looks like two screws are holding it in place. To my middle aged eyes it looks like a phillips head...I grab one and insert it...no go. Closer inspection reveals it is a torx screw...oh yeah, that's what those torx wrenches were for in the small Lotus toolkit...get the toolkit from the trunk...none match the screw...quick trip to Sears...back to the garage...take out the two screws...lift the base...fit the mats...base lowered back in place...screws back in after contorting inside the Elise...wonder how many times I can complete this procedure befor the torx screws or the base they screw into get stripped...hope my back allows me to enjoy this car a few years...floormat plastic screws back in place on top of the mats...wonder where I'll store the torx wrench set in the car...WHAT THE HAY??? I just wanted to shake down the floor mats. Anyone figured out a better way to do this?

[reganfin]

My mats have the same problem. However, I can wiggle the mat to wedge it back under the center console.

I usually vacuum with a 12 volt hand held vacuum which works pretty well most of the time and has the advantage of getting the dirt off of the aluminum floor.