I will give major props to the folks at Apex Restoration. What I thought was impossible, they proved wrong. I am friends with the owner and we could possibly setup a package, send your interior in, get it repaired, and sent back. Would you guys be interested?
No they will not do tan to black- however it is possible- just much harder.
This would be aimed at the dash, arm rest, HVAC, shifter surround, passenger arm rest.

These parts were trash before. The shifter surround was faded, spotted from mold (dont ask), and scratched. The gauge pod was scratched.

Here is the end result, the spots are dust from my shop. It was not that bad, but it wasnt cheap either. The 2 coatings they used will not wear away, fade, or scratch off. I will report back in a few months. My finger nails cant remove it. This is not krylon, dupont, or any of that crap. Apex restoration is a interior repair/dying, paint, detail shop in Beaverton Oregon that opened 3 years ago.

They just did Afromotogt1978's complete black interior. It removed 90% of the scratches and made everything look new.

 

Looks brand new!

 

Suhweet

 

That's good stuff,
You should tell them to come on, introduce themselves, their process and pricing, and they'll probably be flooded with business. I've got some stuff I could send 'em

 

Not to **** on your thread,but I did my center console,a/c panel,driver and passenger side plastics myself,and they all came out as nice as that center console did.All it takes is some proper sanding and paint,and a few good clear coats..Also will not scratch off easily as well.But if people are interested,good luck..But with the cost of sand paper,paint,and clear coat,I didn't even spend $40 to re-do all of my interior plastics.

 

Thats the thing. There is no sanding, paint or clear involved.

But I completly agree, If I could do what they do, I would do it myself. But I can not order the commercial products they use, and I have not been trained in them like they have.

 

So how much did it cost to do the center console?

 

X2

 

Your pieces look very nice. But if there are chips or scratchs in the original finish, and they're shop process involves no sanding or paint, how are the surface flaws filled so they don't show?

 

Duh, it's magic.



I am interested in what the process is, I already restored my panels myself, but am very curious as to how they do it .

 

So your time is worth nothing?

That sounds like a horrendous time-consuming pain in the ***.

 

The real "pain" is the R&R, which you'll be doing yourself regardless. My "Krylon crap" has been holding up since 2001.

I think the real question is the pricing of the work. No doubt, the finished product is nice. So your question comes back, what's your time worth?

 

I personally have never seen a Krylon job that doesn't look like one... unless it's impeccably prepped, wet sanded, and buffed... otherwise they have orangle peel and look painted to me. That's a TON of work, as evidenced by the price people have asked for already refinished panels... it's typically almost the same as buying new ones.

I bought one of the "new" OR 93 replacement panels, and the finish, while it looks the same, appears to almost be some sort of dip or powdercoat that's super smooth, but not a film (that peels) like the original.

I've seen few home jobs that look as nice as the pictures above, so if they're less than buying Mazda replacements, I'd say it's worthwhile.

 

From a rattle can, but it's not spray paint. I get in and out of my car like it's made of gold, so these all should last a very long time.


So I really want to know, what's the cost of that, turnaround, and maybe a little hint on the process.

 

The time consumption was offset by being able to look at my brand new-looking interior and thinking,"I'm sure glad I had the satisfaction of doing this myself with some patience and elbow grease,rather than handing it in to someone else who doesn't care about my car as much as I do.."

But maybe that's just me?

 

^^ I agree, you get enjoyment and pride doing it yourself. If you don't have the time and you have money, by all means pay someone else to do it.

 

They use a adhesive remover (that I accidentally discovered... opps) completly removes the factory coating, does not damage, discolor, or soften the plastic. They then carefully rebuild the finish from the base.

I will post full pictures of step 1 to end with my gauge cluster and hvac controls.

I have been at the beach, but I will get Bobby, who is who did this work, registered. I promised I wouldnt name the products or process. But I can give good hints. It would be a fraction of new OEM pieces.

 

Oh,

They also have a coating for the front lip/ R1 lip/ 99 lip that has a UV base to it, its the same color and texture, but will not fade.

They can also do plastic welding, repairing the center console cracks. This is a PITA. Epoxy does not last and you have to remove the leather wrap. This means removing the covering, repairing the cracks, and re wrapping it. What does a new OEM console cost? This may not be worth it depending on cost of new.

I will get photos.

 

I discovered it too, it's at walmart and it's called purple power.

They look good man. Hope they last.

 

or nail polish remover took that factory coating right off..then I sanded it with 400 to get all the gouges out, 800 to soften up the heavy sanding marks then 1000 to completely rid of them and then used some pep boys interior paint and it looks brand new again.

 

thats what im talkin about restoration options!! lookin nice

 

That sounds like a good process, minus the interior paint. I'm going to be doing the same thing soon, only using that Plastidip stuff to see how close it comes to the stock '93 feel.

 

Akkk. I need a clone. Too busy!

What they did was strip, scuff (to get out the marks), coat, coat, coat, finish.

I "paid" $180 to get everything re done, dash, guage pod, ac, shifter surround, passenger door arm rest+box.

Mind you almost an hour is spent disassembling, cleaning, and reassembling everything off the pieces.

 

i personally want to get my side arm rest covered in thin suede to match my seats, then I want to do exactly what you did with the center-dash console.

has anyone ever tried covering anything in suede? Pics?

 

Why is this thread dead?