Westin Custom Fit Tailgate Mat - Rubber - Black

Video Transcript for Westin Custom Fit Tailgate Mat Review - 2012 Chevrolet Silverado

Today we're gonna be taking a look at the Westin Custom Fit Tailgate Mat on our 2012 Chevrolet Silverado. Oh, this is just gonna prevent the tailgate of your truck, from getting all scratched up. Might as well, throw it on there before all this happens. Or if you're just trying to prevent this from getting any worse, it's gonna be a great way to do it. And it's also made of a hundred percent recycled plastic. So that's always good.

But basically what this is gonna do is just protect the tailgate, it's just a rubber mat, which is gonna give you a little bit more traction and also just not really have to hear metal on metal, if you're taking some of your equipment or tools and stuff and lay it on a tailgate. Our mat is gonna be about 5/16th inches thick. So when it comes to some of the other options you have on our website, there's not gonna be any more that are gonna be more heavy duty. This is pretty much the thickest one you can get. And when it comes to the custom fit tailgate mats, there's a weather tech option, which isn't gonna be near as thick.

And it's not really made for those heavy duty type stuff. And it's less rubberized than what this is. This is 100% rubber and it's recycled, which is awesome. But then there's also gonna be a carpeted option for you as well. I'm not using the carpeted option, just because this is a work truck and that carpet's probably gonna get a little gross.

So if you did have a tunnel cover and you usually use your truck for light duty work, you can go with the carpeted one. In my opinion, the custom fit Westin is the way to go, when it comes to protection. And if you're really gonna use your truck in a lot of different situations. If I we're to add anything to the setup, I would definitely get one for the bed, just because if you're protecting this might as well protect that as well. Dee Zee makes one if you want it to kind of look universal and the same pattern for each.

But if you really wanted to go super heavy duty, what I have in here is just the black armor, which is a half-inch thick rubber mat, with the truck bed mats, you just throw them in and they're good to go. But with this, we are gonna have to drill a couple holes, and supply our own hardware. So if you wanna see how we installed it, stick around, we're gonna show you. Before I actually install this, I just want you to see this tailgate, it is destroyed. So I wish I would've put this on a lot sooner, but we bought this used. So this mat is going to prevent this from getting any worse. If you have a newer truck and it doesn't look like this and it looks brand new, I would definitely put one down just because, why not protect your investment So to start, we're gonna need to grab a 9/64 drill bit. And basically what I did was take a little bit of tape just to mark, I just don't want to go too far through and drill all the way through the tailgate. So kind of do something like this to give you an idea. And then once we get it completely kind of set, what I've found to be best, 'cause this kind of runs around a little bit, so kind of get right in the middle and really just push down, try to poke a hole through there. And then once that's done, it shouldn't really wanna run. And with drilling, sometimes slow and steady wins the race. Just gonna prolong the life of this drill bit, 'cause we do have about 14 holes we need to drill in our tailgate. All right, there we go. Perfect. So we will have to supply our own hardware, so what I recommend doing is just grabbing a washer of sorts, one that kind of fits in that little hole. So the size that's best that fits perfectly in this little hole is a inch diameter washer, so grab that and whatever kind of hardware is gonna be best for you. And I'm just using self tapping screw, to kind of go through here. And once we kind of get it, down to where we want it, don't wanna over tighten it, and we could do the rest of them, which there's 14. So drill 14 holes and put the hardware in and we should be done. Last one. It went pretty smoothly. I basically kind of just put two in and then just started sitting on it just to make sure it's nice and flat. Just so it's not really trying to raise up in the front, but I think we did pretty good here, and that's pretty much it for the install. And that'll do it for a look at the Westin's Custom Fit Tailgate Mat on our 2012 Chevrolet Silverado..