I'm looking for updates from those who have redone the interiors of their 7's. I've read a bunch of threads and seen people use various paints and stains. Well, as time has marched on, how have they held up? What worked and what would you do different?

I currently have two interiors that I could use for the car I am starting to work on, one red and one brown. Both dashes are perfect, but most other items need some sort of help. I am also debating which color to use, or to make the brown one black. The car will be white.

Wadda ya think?

 

i just dyed my mis-matched brown and grey interior balck. all i used on everythin was dupli-color spray dye. it worked great on the plastic, cloth, dash, everything. the headliner still had a barely noticable brown hue to it though

 

Search for a thread that I did my SE color conversion on with SEM paints. SEM paints are much more durable and matching than other ones on the market.

 

+1 for SEM paints. Mine was done 3 years ago and has held up well. Ever wonder why auto body paint supply stores sells SEM and not DupliColor? If you look through their paint chart, they have the colors that are an almost perfect match to all 3 S3 colors. If you look through the last link in my sig, it has some interior shots of my restored gray interior. SEM has the correct gloss factor where most of the other brands don't.

I had a TII that PO decided should be black instead of gray, so he used another brand of paint on the headliner. By the time it was done, it felt like sandpaper.

 

i used SEM on a few cars. oldest one was done in 2001ish, still looks great today.

 

I used duplicolor vinyl paint on the rear-bay interior wheel-hump covers I had to replace (old ones had chalked way from sun), 5 or 6 years ago.

Held up pretty good, but I have had some minor flaking & blistering issues & it scratches quite easily. I cleaned things pretty carefully first, so I'm not sure what happened.

 

there is a thread in the archives by 100$t2 , he did a total transforation of his interior and it turned out graet looking.
Justin

 

Looks like SEM is the way to go with the paints. I would assume there are proper colors for whatever color I end up going with.

I'm thinking that gray would be my preference over black, but I haven't totally ruled out the red yet. I think I've decided against the brown, though.

I'll go back through the threads and get some more specifics and info on seat upholstry, carpets, and other fabrics used on the doors, etc...

I do appreciate the honest feedback. Thanks!

 

trochoid- I just went to the link on your sig, and that would be the black I would want. Looks good! Would you by chance still have the paint code for that color?

btw, does the roll bar swing open at the door, or does the bar bug you, or get in the way while driving?

 

Door bars swing out or can be removed. They sit in the shop most of the time. Unfortunately, I didn't write down the color # of the SEM. Take anyone of the plastic trim pieces with you to the paint store and match the color on the backside of the plastic. There are 3 grays that close to each other, which mine is, it's not black.

 

I guess I'll have to take a piece in from the Protege. It's a gray I like. Otherwise, I could go with the red. I have that or brown from the sevens.