Anyone have a junk GD sitting around I could nab a few interior bits out of? I want to try a few things for changing my trim color and would prefer to experiment on spare parts first. Looking primarily for windshield visors and seat belts, condition does not matter as they likely won't be put to use. I am also looking for an upper steering column cover in good shape to replace mine that had holes drilled into it for an OEM boost gauge at one point.
I probably have everything you need but I'm on the north side of the metro. Let me know if you're interested. Can take pics. Actually, I think we're heading to Cedar Lake on Saturday as well...
Definitely. Like I said, just need the visors and seat belts to see what works and what doesn't for trying to change the color. If they're beat up or torn I really don't care so long as they're the same color and material as mine. The column cover would be a nice bonus if you have one as that would be going straight into my car. I am back out in the field for work now so I'm in the general Twin Cities area regularly. I still have your number from a while back unless it's changed so I'll shoot you a text. Thanks.
You are correct. My tentative plan is to do the headliner and probably the pillars in some sort of faux suede but making all the other parts match is what I'm trying to work out. The visors, light housings, and a few other little pieces I'm sure I could paint with SEM Color Coat or something similar but the tricky bits would be the seat belt guides/adjusters and the visor clips. In every example I can find of someone blacking out their interior they either leave those parts gray or paint it, which of course doesn't last because they're moving parts and it wears off. A lot of people seem to have success using Rit dye on interior pieces (appears very popular for dyeing RC car bodies), but the effectiveness varies depending on the type of plastic. If it works, then I should be left with a black finish that won't wear off because it actually penetrates into the plastic instead of going on as a coating. If it doesn't work then I'd rather not ruin a part that I need, so I want to test it on some spare parts first.
I used masking tape and taped off my seatbelt when I did my guides in black. Lasted a few years before I really needed to touch them up. I tried suede on the headliner and it sagged and got bubbles. So I got another one and painted it black with fabric paint. The visor paint also held up quite well with the exception of where it connects to the clip mounted to the ceiling. Would have had less wear if I would have used them less. Lolol
I've read several DIY guides and browsed a couple upholstery forums to figure out how best to do the headliner, seems like most people use 3M aerosol spray but it generally doesn't last. Best route sounds like more of an industrial adhesive applied with a spray gun so I'll likely try that. I really hope that dyeing the seat belt guides and visor clips works because it'd probably be the most durable and permanent method, just need to find out how well the plastic will take it.
Maybe try plastidip? I found out that if you’re too liberal with the spray adhesive, it can soak through the suede. Either way, I gave it a go @readymix ’s house and it looked good when it was done...just not so much a week later after subjecting it to a car in the summer with the windows up and sun baking it(and the glue). fwiw, the black fabric paint painted directly on the carpeted headliner lasted up until when I sold the car. Probably still good today despite the owners that have had it after me.
It does seem like it takes some skill and luck to get right but I think I should be able to tackle it. Finding the right adhesive has been one of my main concerns, most promising one looks to be Weldwood landau top and trim contact cement so I'll probably give that a shot.
The other day I got an assortment of interior pieces thanks to @Krazylegz1485 and gave dyeing them a shot today. Used Rit DyeMore for synthetics in graphite and most of it came out pretty well. The little cylindrical bit on the visor that clips into the retainer is the only thing that didn't get very dark, but I'm good with it as is. I did a second visor fully submerged (only dipped the corner in on the first one due to space limitations) and wiped that little piece with acetone first to see if that would help, but still came out about the same. The only really odd thing is that the little frame around the mirror seemed to get only slightly darker than it started. With it being hidden under the mirror cover flap I don't think it'll really be a problem but I could always paint that one piece. Dyeing the whole visor actually seemed to work nicely so as long as it isn't warped or anything once it dries I'll probably do the same to mine instead of painting or wrapping them. I am still planning to paint the pillar trims, grab handles, and lamps so I picked up a couple sample charts from SEM and found a color that (hopefully) matches the OEM dark gray. I have a can of that and some satin clear ordered, along with a few sample swatches of Synergy II Suede headliner fabric since I'm not 100% sure yet if I'll go with black or a dark gray.
That dur Thanks, I'm pretty excited to see the final results. This is something I've wanted to do for a long time but haven't just because I couldn't figure out a real proper way to go about it. Might still take a few weeks to get it finished but I really want to make sure it's done right, ideally as clean and durable as if it were OEM. I'll probably move this to a new thread in Mod/Maint once I get the real work started.
Did a little more experimenting with dye today with mixed results. The grab handles worked well and so did the center visor retainer, but the visor itself and the grip end caps didn't (different types of plastic apparently) I also tried using Plasti-Dip to "mask" the warning labels on the visor I hadn't fully dyed since tape would likely come off in the dye bath and. Peeled it off after dyeing and it worked pretty well. The vinyl behind it still got darkened from dye soaking inside the visor so you can't see some of the text, but it looks decent. The corner that's scraped off is just from me trying to get the printing off with chemicals first but it obviously didn't work as hoped. Everything that didn't take dye will obviously need to be painted, so in order to avoid having mismatched colors I think I'll be going with a black suede for the headliner and paint everything attached to it black (center visor, grip caps, lights). Then the pillar trims and seat belt covers I'll still try to color match to the OEM gray, which I think will end up looking better than just blacking out everything.
Spoke with a local upholstery shop today and arranged to bring my headliner in to them for the actual fabric wrapping. I'll still be pulling the headliner, stripping the old fabric off, and supplying them with the new fabric but the amount they quoted me for installation ($65) is about equal to what I was planning to spend on the adhesive and a cheap spray gun. Should be getting my sample swatches by tomorrow so from there I'll be able to order up the fabric and schedule with the shop, hopefully will have all this done within a couple weeks or so.
Excellent price! I would have paid that in a second, as stretching and manipulating the material sucked!
Minor update on this project, tried out the paint I thought would match the GD dark gray interior (SEM Classic Coat 79223 very dark pewter) but no good. Turned out quite a bit lighter than the sample card, even trying it over a black basecoat. So now I've got some other stuff ordered into a local parts store to pick up either tomorrow or Monday that's reported to be a closer match (SEM Bumper Coater 39163 medium smoke). Hopefully I'll have better luck with that, but the first color actually matched my Honda Pilot interior pretty well so I may still find a use for it. Also had to order the headliner fabric from 3 different vendors because the first 2 called to tell me they didn't have enough of the color I wanted. Little bit of trial and error with every step so far but should be worth it in the end.
Got the new paint and tested it today. Color is just slightly off but still a pretty good match, probably the closest I'll be able to get. Seems very durable too, only sprayed it maybe an hour ago and it's already not scratching off with a fingernail (full cure time is 48 hrs). Should have the fabric in a few days so by next weekend I'll start disassembling and recoloring everything. At this point I think I've done enough testing and practice runs that it should go smoothly.
Of course! Like I mentioned earlier, I'll probably put something together in the photo/video or instructables section too when I'm done.
Here's how that SEM medium smoke gray looks compared to the other trim. It is just a little bit lighter but again, probably as close as I could hope to get. I ordered some satin clearcoat too so I'll see how it looks with that but the luster is already pretty close.
