Noticed the trunk floor of our 2013 (and several others we have checked) is supported only by the top of the spare hold down bolt. It acts as a point load and punctures through to the carpet leaving the floor deck unsupported. Anyone else seeing this problem? You might want to check how your trunk floor is supported before you load it with a suitcase or other heavy items.....

Is anyone else seeing this on their truck floor? You have to lift the floor and look at the under side of the floor to see the problem.... unless the bolt has pushed through the carpet and then you will notice the floor is virtually unsupported....

 

Video describes the problem better...

 

Interesting. Consider this:

https://themustangsource.com/forums/...2012-spare.jpg

There, you'll see a cap on the hold down bolt that the trunk decking is supposed to rest on. The decking is not specially reinforced or protected in any way. This same system shown on the '11-12 is also what is on my car.

I have put a *great many* things in my car, various weights, sizes, densities, etc. None of the trials and tribulations I've put my poor trunk decking through has caused it to either warp or punch through. It's as good as the day it rolled off the line for the '06 year model.

Is it possible they changed things for just '13-14? I don't know. I'm not sure I'd follow the logic. I wonder if it's more likely someone had taken the spare out, lost their cap, and done this patch thing in an attempt to fix the problem. I also notice that your spare tire stowage kit isn't there. This further indicates that perhaps a previous owner jacked things up (if you'll forgive the pun) when they put the spare back in the car, and therefore caused this problem on this particular car.

In any event, I would suggest investing in and acquiring this cap, as it seems to be the key y'all're looking for. I unfortunately do not have any part number, or I'd post it here. Anything from '05 to '12 ought to be able to be found at the parts counter, though, at your local Ford parts place. Also, you might check a regular parts store for a similar item, perhaps something can be modded in that way.

Of course, if your decking is already punched through, you'd want to repair/replace that first, as the cap at that point is not going to work well, if at all.

Hope this helps!

 

Houtex, Thanks for the reply and the photo - yes that's a big help! We had planned to weld up a flat plate with a nut to make a cap similar to the one showing in your photo. I have checked several 2013 trunks and found that the new design was changed to use this flat plastic plate glued to the bottom of the floor but in every case so far the adhesive has failed and the plate is laying on the spare and the top of the bolt is chewing a hole in the bottom of the floor. I will see if I can get a part number for that cap. Thanks!

 

Yes, My son has that same problem with his '14 GT. We removed the spare, and found that the bolt was going right through the board. We have a hole in ours. Our problem is that my 18 year old is an established bowler and carries two bowling bags in the trunk of the car. The bags are 3 ball carriers, so he has about 90# of bowling ***** on the poorly supported trunk floor. I just built a support yesterday out of wood, but I don't like it. I'm thinking about buying a 4x8 sheet of 2" thick Foamular insulation and building a support by cutting the foam in pieces that fit the cavity and stacking them until I get the proper height. That will allow me to have a very light weight support structure that will support whatever we put in the trunk. That foamular is closed cell foam, so it won't collapse easily.

 

OK - thanks for posting your findings - sorry to hear yours has a similar problem. Definitely like to see more owners checking theirs trunk floors before the board is damaged. This is not the most exciting problem to solve but it is worth looking into before the floor is damaged even more....

Post a pic if you get the fix to work the way you want... might help the rest of us come up with a good support.

 

I have put a 1/4 in. piece of plywood under the trunk floor panel for support. I used the floor panel as a template.

 

When I saw the title of this thread, with all those exclamation points, I thought it was gonna be about the metal trunk FLOOR ... not the stupid spare tire cover.

Not a big deal, and at least you have a spare tire.
Many Mustangs don't/didn't come with a spare from the factory, and they have a foam block under there that houses the air pump they provide.

Put a piece of 1/4" plywood under the cover and call it a day.
I'm certainly not gonna cut a bunch of 16 inch round pieces to take up the room under the cover ...