I looked into doing bedliner, but once you pull out your carpet and see how the metal floor pan is shaped you will likely change your mind. I ended up going with custom carpet. It worked out well, but if I had to do it all over again I would have pulled out the carpet and taken it in to be professionally cleaned as opposed to buying new. The original carpet was of better quality and quieter.

 

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/1st-gen...or-carpet.html









As you can see, getting an exact color match wasn't possible.

 

try a rental steam cleaner and spray 9, it's a great cleaner. if you use it on your white letter tires it's the best i've found.
i also used it on my jeep carpets and it worked great and i fish in a lot of bogs so the carpets where bad.
the paint in body liner is a good idea for the floor along with the cleaned carpet. i put that on my rocker panels and it's a tough as nails and will keep the floor from rotting out.

 

Take out the carpet, spray on some heavy duty degreaser, and go to town with a powerwasher.

 

I know stylintrucks.com has Formed carpets for 1st Gen Dakotas.

 

Drive it south, at least as far as Las Vegas, and get some used carpet from a junkyard in a DRY climate. Pretty sure any dakota from 87 to 2001 or so will be a close match in floor shapes.
The yards in Phoenix, where I spend winters, have lots of fairly clean trucks. If the drivers side is messed up, buy a second carpet and patch the bad spot. Know any carpet layers? They have the funny tape and the glue and the "irons" to patch any carpet.

Mine is Red, and messed up mostly in the foot well areas, so I will be cutting those parts out and putting in some black. The interior will be red and black once it gets done.

Commercial carpet, like they use in stores with high foot traffic area, comes in a lot of colors. It's the cutting and shaping to fit the floor that is hard to do.