hideous tan interior
Full Member
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 206
Likes: 0
From: Springfield, MO
I've many times thought of ways to change the color of my interrior... Thus far, here is what I've concluded:
As far as the carpet is concerned, it'd be best to just get new carpet. It's usually old and fairly ratty (and it usually smells pretty bad). It's really stiff, modeled, and has a glued-on foam bottom. I suppose it COULD be dyed with fabric dye, but that'd be sort of difficult.
Seats: take the seats to an upholstery shop and have them re-upholster them with a different color fabric (leather?).
Roof material: This stuff is going to be the hard part. It's thin fabric on top of a thin mystery material foam. I'd use fabric dye (Rit make good stuff; usually in the fabric cleaning section of most stores) or if at all possable, get a new roof liner. Alternatively, you can just remove the farbic from the wood backing/foam backing and dye it with fabric dye. It's a bear to get it back on perfectly, so a upholstery shop would be of much help.
Dash and other "hard" parts: Spray paint them (I prefer a satin finish, but gloss works well, too) a different color. The dash is VERY easy to remove. Pull the steering wheel and the gauge pod. it's held on with 11 bolts. For the small plastic pieces, put them in boiling water with fabric dye to change their color permantly. Note that they may not come out perfectly, and that most plastic parts are brittle, so boiling them won't make them any stonger (it'll weaken them slightly). The door panels are 2-piece. The top vinyl comes off the bottom with little metal tabs. Be careful; the "almost-cardboard" backing is sort of fragile and will break easily if abused. The best method is to carefully remove the material from the wood and then wash it as recomended by the dye. Re-attaching it is a PITA though, so take it to an upholstery shop to do that.
Alternatively, you could just go for the ghetto look and spray-paint everything. Or, if you have a paint gun, load it with fabric dye and spray all the material with it. Or just track down a donor car and get all the interrior components from it (about a 2-hour job).
Try posting this in the interrior/exterrior appearance section; maybe more help will come from there.
Hope this helps,
Matt
As far as the carpet is concerned, it'd be best to just get new carpet. It's usually old and fairly ratty (and it usually smells pretty bad). It's really stiff, modeled, and has a glued-on foam bottom. I suppose it COULD be dyed with fabric dye, but that'd be sort of difficult.
Seats: take the seats to an upholstery shop and have them re-upholster them with a different color fabric (leather?).
Roof material: This stuff is going to be the hard part. It's thin fabric on top of a thin mystery material foam. I'd use fabric dye (Rit make good stuff; usually in the fabric cleaning section of most stores) or if at all possable, get a new roof liner. Alternatively, you can just remove the farbic from the wood backing/foam backing and dye it with fabric dye. It's a bear to get it back on perfectly, so a upholstery shop would be of much help.
Dash and other "hard" parts: Spray paint them (I prefer a satin finish, but gloss works well, too) a different color. The dash is VERY easy to remove. Pull the steering wheel and the gauge pod. it's held on with 11 bolts. For the small plastic pieces, put them in boiling water with fabric dye to change their color permantly. Note that they may not come out perfectly, and that most plastic parts are brittle, so boiling them won't make them any stonger (it'll weaken them slightly). The door panels are 2-piece. The top vinyl comes off the bottom with little metal tabs. Be careful; the "almost-cardboard" backing is sort of fragile and will break easily if abused. The best method is to carefully remove the material from the wood and then wash it as recomended by the dye. Re-attaching it is a PITA though, so take it to an upholstery shop to do that.
Alternatively, you could just go for the ghetto look and spray-paint everything. Or, if you have a paint gun, load it with fabric dye and spray all the material with it. Or just track down a donor car and get all the interrior components from it (about a 2-hour job).
Try posting this in the interrior/exterrior appearance section; maybe more help will come from there.
Hope this helps,
Matt
Full Member
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 191
Likes: 0
From: Colorado
Get an extension cord, 5 cans of Crylon black paint, and a microwave. Run the cord to the microwave inside the car with the paint inside the microwave. Set on high power for 3 minutes and run like hell!
Nurse I need 1300cc's NOW
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 1,261
Likes: 1
From: Hartford
Originally posted by onikageka
Get an extension cord, 5 cans of Crylon black paint, and a microwave. Run the cord to the microwave inside the car with the paint inside the microwave. Set on high power for 3 minutes and run like hell!
Get an extension cord, 5 cans of Crylon black paint, and a microwave. Run the cord to the microwave inside the car with the paint inside the microwave. Set on high power for 3 minutes and run like hell!
but i just got down completly stripping a eclipse dash and all .. and if the 7's dash is anything like the eclipse take it to a professional.. if it is easy to remove with 11 bolts. do that alot easier .. but if its something you dont feel comfortable doing ,, hold off and find another way
