Carpet tips???

I hope to begin work on my interior soon and plan to use black auto carpet (the short fuzzy kind, not loop pile) on some areas. The carpet will be covering plywood.

My plan is to use spray glue and attach it to the plywood. My concern is that I need to get a very flat fit - no bubbles. I've not done this before, and was thinking it wouldn't be too much of a problem, provided I was careful to "work" the carpet onto the wood. This would include using a flat surface "tool" like a piece of wood, carpenter level, etc. Spraying both sides first and letting the glue set up for a couple of minutes wil probably be necessary.

I really wasn't worried about this until my wife watched something on HGTV about attaching fabric to a window shade, and although I did it for her very carefully (using methods similar to above) the results were less than I had hoped for. There were bubbles, not bad ones, but definitely not what I was shooting for, and would be unacceptable to what I want to do with the Van. Perhaps the carpet will be easier to work with than this fabric was, but the fabric was kind of stiff, and hence my concern that the carpet could have the same issues, or worse.

Any hints - cautions?

I have always used foam rubber glued to the wood so it's not so hard on the knees if it is on the floor. Then I stretched the carpet over the foam and lapped it over on the underside of the wood and stapled it down. The carpet is heavier than the fabric you used so bubbles should not be a problem if you have a helper and stretch it tight when you lay it.

I would use some type of roller, they sell one for dynamat that I think would work. It is a small roller, maybe something like that but bigger.

I'm a Professional Carpet Cleaner and color of your carpet is important. The Black color you have picked is a good choice. Heres a tip for everyone do not put gray carpet in your van. It's the hardest to clean and the hardest to keep looking clean

Yes, black can hide a multitude of sins, spills, etc, so even though it is the best choice because of the color scheme I have in mind, it is also the most practical.

I am planning on lapping it over the sides and stapling it on the back, in addition to gluing it. The roller idea is a good one.

I won't have any carpet on the floor, at least behind the front seats. (That will be wood.) But I do have quite a bit of auto carpet padding that I was planning on using on the bed portion. Not as the final padding (that will ulitmately be a foam cushion that can be removed). But I started worrying that, particularly with the padding, it won't lay perfectly flat, with no bubbles.

Having a helper might be the best idea. My son lives nearby, and is into this project, so although he's busy with his own life I can probably enlist him for some help. He's already bought all of the sound system stuff fo rme and I have tasked him with the install.

Thanks!