Tips for faded/green discolored interior
 

I thought I'd share some tips for you guys who may be suffering from interior fading or worse, that green discoloration.
My current RX7 GSL is black with red interior. My door panels, handles and just about everything else turned green or faded. Here is a way to make your car look contempory for 15 bucks.

Take your door panels off. Carefully bend up all the tabs on the back and disassemble the door panel. Once you do this, the center leather is removed from the back panel. Now, go down and get yourself some special vinyl spray paint and alcohol. It has to be a specific type and will say for vinyl. Clean the door with the alcohol until all the grease is gone. Paint your door handles too. You can paint the little plastic bolt caps, but the vinyl paint won't stick so I used enamel and it worked good.

I used three even coats on the door panel and it took one can of glossy black for each door. When your done put the door back together and mount it on the door itself. If you want, you can even change the color of your leather center piece by rewrapping it with a new material.

I am not an expert painter but noone can tell the doors were painted. It has been too years and the paint hasn't peeled or rubbed off. I put STP on it and it doesn't hurt it at all. I live in CA and it withstands our 110 degree days very nicely.

I have a pick of what they look like now. I also painted my shift boot (didn't work too well) and my horn cover (worked great).

Wow!! Thats beautiful!! Why didnt you tell us earlier!?!? I love it!! Makes me want to go try it...Thanks for the great info :).

~T.J.

I just bought new ones offa eBay. This woulda been cheaper :)

I was surprised at how nice they came out and how they have lasted. My next endeavor is to get my red shredded leather seats redone. I am going to leave the red leather backing but have the black & white RX-7 checkered cloth on the front. That way my doors will match the seats.

I told you guys about this a while ago.

I did the same thing a few months ago, works great, and looks awesome. I never thought the crimson interior would actually look good, but it does.
http://users.pullman.com/jsjensen/io...7/iotus001.jpg

That's what the previous owner did to mine, but he went with the original color - deep red (I think) is the color vinyl spray that matches. I was thinking about swapping for a grey interior, but those two tone door panels look really good, imho. I may just do that.

BTW: I think he said it lasts about 5 years. He had the car for 17 years or so ... guess he's done it 2 or 3 times.

How does the door panel and center piece come apart?

Once you get the door panel off the door, look at the back. You'll see metal tabs that need to be bent up to remove the pieces (84 to 85 GSL). I think there may have been a couple of back screws on the back side to hold the tissue compartments on. The method will vary from model style but will be similar. If you cannot get the pieces to seperate, you'll need to carefully tape off the panel and paint it.

Does it work well for flexible surfaces (shift boot) or high wear surfaces (shift knob)?

I tried the boot but it didn't work too well. The boots made out of a rubber and the paint wouldn't stick too well. However, they may have paint for it. I put a black boot from my other car and the shift knob too. You can get those in black real cheap on ebay or whatever. They even have some nice aftermarket high performance looking boots that are under 20 bucks.

I painted my hand brake and shift knob both.

Been about 3 months, and its holding OK, and just ok. Its starting to flake a bit.

after you have sprayed it, try heating it up with a hair dryer and rub vasaline into it to protectc the paint from peeling

And then Kiss it to make it feel better.

http://home.att.net/~ChloeCreations/Kiss3.jpg